Sappi North America’s Ideas that Matter program supports designers partnering with nonprofit organizations to bring social impact design campaigns to life. Sappi, a maker of high quality printing papers, packaging, release papers and dissolving wood pulp, has offered this program to the design community for 20 years and has funded more than 500 projects with grants totaling over $13 million worldwide. Annually selected projects receive funding from $5,000 to $50,000 to produce communications campaigns to raise awareness of important social issues such as healthcare, education, sustainability, nutrition and more.

The 2019 deadline to apply for an Ideas that Matter grant is July 19. The jury for this 20th anniversary year includes Sam Aquillano, Founder and Executive Director of Design Museum Foundation; Ashleigh Axios, Creative Director, Obama White House and Executive Board Member of AIGA; George Aye, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at Greater Good Studio; Antionette Carroll, M.A., President and CEO, Founder of Creative Reaction Lab, and; Christine Taylor, Licensing Creative Manager at Hallmark Cards and Creative Director of PopMinded by Hallmark.

If you’d like to submit a project you care about, you can do so until July 19. To learn more about the program and process, visit sappi.com/ideas-that-matter.

Below are a few of our favorite winning projects from the past.

826 LA

With an Ideas That Matter grant in 2015, 826LA was able to conduct its most successful holiday giving campaign in its then eleven-year history. Design elements included a holiday mailer as well as life-size versions of the characters featured in the mailer. These were displayed in 826LA’s storefront windows, facing busy Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. By bringing the story out of the mailer and into real life, the campaign generated interest and conversation, and ultimately more donations, than it otherwise would have.

Adopt Ugly

Julia Radke received a grant in 2014 for The Bella Foundation SPCA. The campaign, called AdoptUgly, promoted an adoption event in Oklahoma City with a fun and lighthearted design approach. The event included over 250 adoptable dogs, food trucks, and a photo booth for attendees. Adopters received receive an “Ugly Little Kit”, which included shampoo, a toy, a brush, and vet information for their new pup.

Project Dose

A winning 2012 Ideas that Matter project, Project Dose is a program which addresses the issue of improper medication delivery affecting millions of sick children in developing countries. Developed by Bao Design Lab in collaboration with Ugandan partner Technology for Tomorrow, the project uses a prototype-based system to enable nurses, pharmacists and parents to safely and reliably divide and re-package adult tablets into smaller doses for children. As a result, this program is providing children with the dosage they need to stay protected from life-threatening diseases such as malaria and HIV infection.

You can see all winners at the Ideas That Matter web site.

Source: core77