Designers have used the Sappi Ideas That Matter grants for over two decades to make social and environmental impact. This has included reforms in justice, education, and healthcare and to address diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. While these projects support the work of nonprofits around the globe, they allow designers make a direct impact to their immediate communities. These funded ideas rethink local issues to support specific populations, audiences, and individuals in need. More than 500 design projects have earned up to $50,000 each to help meet the pressing social, economic and cultural needs of communities.
Who decides which projects get funded? Your peers in the design community make all the decisions. Sappi invites a team with expertise in print design, packaging design, and social impact to determine the grant-winning projects. The 2022 judges included Andrew Gibbs, Founder of the Dieline; Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Co-Founder of UnderConsideration; Dian Holton, Senior Deputy Art Director at AARP; Gage Mitchell, Principal and Creative Director of Modern Species; and Libby Cole, Principal of The Work Department.
The six grant recipients for 2022 are:
Reading in the Deep: Illustrated Children’s Books about Life Below Water
On behalf of Reading Partners
Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Todd and students from Art Center College of Design
This collection of illustrated children’s books will motivate children to develop their literacy skills by providing visually interesting short storybooks about ocean life.
Here to Stay! A poster and advertising campaign
On behalf of The Door
Grace Han and Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
Many young immigrants come to the US fleeing violence or oppression, sometimes even from their own families. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is a form of immigration relief that protects these youth. For this poster and advertising campaign, the nonprofit, The Door, collaborated with CUP and designer Grace Han to create materials with comprehensive information that breaks down what SIJS is, the criteria to qualify for SIJS and eventually a green card, the process young people need to work through with the support of a lawyer and the long-term benefits of SIJS.
Model Maternity Spaces
On behalf of Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
MASS Design Group
MASS Design Group has partnered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to develop a human-centered design process to improve maternal-newborn facilities in traditionally underserved populations.
Yasuní: our rainforest, our life.
On behalf of La Poderosa Media Project
Natacha Poggio, Design Global Change/University of Houston-Downtown
Yasuní, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is a tropical rainforest in Ecuador and one of the world’s most biologically diverse places on Earth. This integrated multimedia campaign will support La Poderosa Media Project’s ongoing conservation education activities and its vision of transforming communities one story at a time.
Rent For Moms: More than Toys for Tots
On behalf of Done for DiDi, Inc.
Sara Barr
This grant project will help educate existing and potential supporters about the work that the nonprofit, Done for DiDi undertakes to address poverty and will help to raise funds to provide monthly micro-funding rent stipends and seed money for programs that support Black women and Black Marginalized Genders.
For Colored Girls Who Weather Life’s Storms
On behalf of Trauma & Resiliance Initiative, Inc.
Rija Khan Designs
Statistically, because of social and structural inequalities, women of color are more likely to be impacted by adverse childhood and community experiences, leaving them vulnerable to a host of physical, social, and feelings of unwellness and social disconnectedness. This innovative project offers a suite of creative resources to empower, encourage and support healing.
You can apply for an Ideas that Matter grant in the fall of 2022. For more information about Sappi’s Ideas that Matter grant recipients, please visit our website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.