FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chicago Says No More, Artemis Center and FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture Win Top Three Fundraising Awards
NEW YORK, NY – April 4, 2016 –Three non-profits working to combat domestic violence and sexual assault, Chicago Says No More, Artemis Center and FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture were recently named the winners of the first NO MORE CrowdRise Challenge, a fundraising competition that ultimately generated more than $600,000 in donations to support groups in the field.
The NO MORE Challenge was started by NO MORE, a national awareness and bystander engagement campaign to end domestic violence and sexual assault, in partnership with CrowdRise, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, and sponsored by Verizon. It secured participation from 197 qualifying non-profits.
A grand prize of $50,000 for raising $97,275 by crowdfunding was awarded to Chicago Says No More; the second place prize of $30,000 for raising $84,680 was awarded to the Artemis Center; and the third place prize of $20,000 for raising $48,111 was awarded to FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, from Verizon.
“We are grateful to NO MORE and Verizon as well as Chicago business leaders and philanthropists who supported us during the NO MORE Challenge,” said Kristie Paskvan, founder of Chicago Says No More and CFO of Mesirow Financial. “The value of the NO MORE Challenge is not only the money raised, but also the spotlight placed on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. Raising awareness in communities leads to enhanced education and engagement.”
“The funds we raised and the first prize bonus will help fund our various task force initiatives including: training salon professionals about how to assist clients who ask for help; recommending best practice employee assistance programs; additional education about domestic violence and sexual assault for university and college leadership positions as well as the eight university-based law clinics in Illinois; and efforts around the long-term effect of domestic violence on children,” she added.
“The original vision for NO MORE included the hope that it would help generate resources and support for the domestic violence and sexual assault field,” said NO MORE Director, Virginia Witt. “We so are grateful for the supporters nationwide who donated to the Challenge, and to the many partners who helped us get the word out, for helping these wonderful groups raise much-needed funds.”
The NO MORE Challenge kicked off on Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. ET, when domestic violence and sexual assault were spotlighted in a powerful Super Bowl PSA. The spot was released on YouTube and then aired just after halftime during Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. The Challenge concluded on March 15, 2016 at 1:59:59 p.m. ET, just after the annual awareness and activation effort called NO MORE Week of Action sponsored by Mary Kay (March 6-12) that involved more than 280 events and activities nationwide.
“FORCE is very grateful for the efforts of our team and our supporters for rallying together in this challenge and to the organizers of the challenge for the opportunity,” said Winter Miller, of the leadership team for FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, the 3rd place winner. “We run almost exclusively on volunteers, so all financial gifts play a significant role in our mission to create safer spaces for survivors of rape as well as to offer individual and community healing through the Monument Quilt.”
The award will also support FORCE’s largest display to date of the Monument Quilt, a collection of stories on fabric from survivors of sexual and domestic violence (North Ave and Howard Street, Baltimore, Saturday April 9th).
The NO MORE Challenge is just one example of the many ways that the NO MORE campaign is empowering individuals and communities to support prevention efforts and raise awareness for two issues that remain stigmatized and underfunded.
“NO MORE is vital to agencies like Artemis Center,” said From Lori Halley, Director of Marketing and Development from Artemis Center, the 2nd place winner. “We are a small but mighty team, and don’t have the resources in house to create all the fundraising and awareness campaign materials that we receive from NO MORE. This is an invaluable cost savings to Artemis Center and allows us to keep our fundraising expenses at a minimum and put more dollars toward client programing.”
The NO MORE campaign has engaged more than 66,510 individuals to join the NO MORE Network as online subscribers. More than 900 organizations have become Allies of NO MORE and dozens of localized NO MORE campaigns have emerged across the country and the globe. And the NO MORE Gallery has given a voice to more than 6,520 survivors and advocates. To learn more about NO MORE and how you can get involved, visit www.nomore.org.
About NO MORE
NO MORE is a public awareness campaign designed to engage bystanders around ending domestic violence and sexual assault. Launched in March 2013 by a coalition of leading advocacy groups, service providers and major corporations, NO MORE is supported by hundreds of national and local groups and by thousands of people who are using its signature blue symbol to increase visibility for these hidden issues. Learn more about NO MORE or download our free tools at www.nomore.org. And for regular updates, follow NO MORE on Twitter (https://twitter.com/nomoreorg) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NOMORE.org) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/nomoreorg).
About CrowdRise
CrowdRise is the world’s largest and fastest growing online platform dedicated exclusively to charitable fundraising. CrowdRise is used by millions of individuals, tens of thousands of charities, hundreds of companies and many of the most famous artists and athletes in the world to creatively leverage their resources and networks to unlock the power of the crowd and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support positive social missions. Founded by actor Edward Norton, film producer Shauna Robertson and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe, CrowdRise has conceived, implemented and powered campaigns that have raised over $300 million to date. For more information, visit CrowdRise.com.