Jessica Rappé, Alison Mankowski, Christina Nall, Victoria Primicias and Julie Yuen

Rainbow House

Grant Awarded: $43,400

Rainbow House is Chicago’s largest domestic violence agency. It offers a variety of programs that strive to help and empower victims of domestic violence focusing on providing shelter, meals, clothing, counseling and legal and financial aid to battered women and their children.

Due to funding cuts, increased business costs and lack of donor support, the organization faces constant struggle to keep its doors open. Synergy, a design firm comprised entirely of women, thought that they could provide empathetic and passionate input. Annual reports and donor folders were handed out to current and prospective donors. Survivor journals are distributed to women as they enter the shelter. Emergency room handouts in both English and Spanish are stocked in appropriate venues. Rainbow House uses its new business collateral for all professional correspondence.

Since the launch of the campaign, Rainbow House has experienced 100% donor retention, despite a very difficult fiscal situation. The campaign helped raise the profile and boost the morale at Rainbow House. The campaign will be featured in Print Magazine’s Regional Design Annual, and the Chicago’s Mayor’s Office on Domestic Violence deemed it “the best printed materials for domestic violence victims in more than a decade.”