COVID-19 Response
In response to the pandemic, which continues to have a devastating effect on small businesses and nonprofits, we shifted gears to help. We took some major steps to help our partners effectively weather the storm.
Mailchimp illustration
In early March, we made all of our grants unrestricted for our partners, so they can use the money however they see fit through this crisis.
We also announced $500,000 in new, unrestricted funding to organizations spearheading COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. We chose organizations that were overlooked in the initial philanthropic response to COVID-19, but are well positioned to help a large number of families through direct service. These groups can address immediate needs such as food security; emerging needs such as housing assistance; and long-term recovery for the ecosystem of organizations that serve our communities.
Unrestricted Grants
We granted $100,000 each to these five special organizations to further enable the important work they’re doing.
Brooklyn Community Foundation
Established a fund to help local nonprofits addressing the social, health, and economic impacts of the coronavirus on the borough’s most vulnerable communities.
Center for Civic Innovation
Supports social entrepreneurs that exist between the nonprofit world and the business sector, and who are currently overlooked.
Goodr
Our social impact partner that’s helping feed Atlanta Public Schools students who may not benefit from food security at home.
Keep Oakland Housed
A partnership between three East Bay nonprofits that provides legal representation, emergency assistance, and supportive services to help families stay in their homes.
New Story Charity
Provides 3 months of rent assistance to metro Atlanta families most vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic.
In addition to these grants, we’ve also supported several smaller relief projects. We helped C4 Atlanta launch a Lost Gig Fund for artists to receive cash assistance for cancelled work. We’re also joining with a few local funders to help Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation scale up their Eviction Defense program.
SXSW Support the Shorts
Blocks by Bridget Moloney
Aside from basic needs during a crisis, we realized that many artists across the country were struggling and making sacrifices, and they weren’t getting much attention. We’re firm believers in the importance of the arts in our communities, so we launched 2 creative initiatives to make sure emerging artistic voices could weather the pandemic.
In response to the cancellation of SXSW, we licensed most of the short films scheduled to premiere there and created a new digital home for them on our streaming platform, Mailchimp Presents.
Blocks by Bridget Moloney
SXSW is one of the biggest opportunities for independent filmmakers to have their work seen, so we set out to bring them the views that they would have missed out on. Our campaign garnered national press coverage and attracted 55x the views for these films and to help spread their visions.
By the Books
By the Books
By The Books started as Mailchimp’s summer reading program and long-standing partnership with the Decatur Book Festival. Each year, we’ve invited a diverse group of authors to the festival and encouraged our employees and the whole world to read, listen, and watch.
This year, the emerging authors who depend on independent book festivals and tours that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic lost their chance to present their page-turning perspectives to the world. In response, we hosted this virtual book festival of essays, films, original podcasts, and books curated by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow of Shine Theory.
