The day after the election in November, the editors of Sight Unseen woke up, as so many did, with a heavy heart and an urge to do something that matters. And so we launched Design for Progress, a call to action for the design community to rally behind progressive causes and vulnerable groups that are most in need of support under the current administration. Our first initiative was an online fundraiser for seven organizations doing important work to protect those groups and issues, which raised more than $20,000. Our spring benefit auction raised more than twice that amount, and we will continue to find new ways to galvanize our community to enact change.

Design For Progress Benefit Auction

The 2017 Design For Progress benefit auction took the form of a two-week sale on Paddle8 of more than 40 high-end furnishings and objects created by some of the top talents in contemporary design, including Kelly Behun, Thaddeus Wolfe, Misha Kahn, Cody Hoyt, Apparatus, Lindsey Adelman, Kelly Wearstler, and more. Proceeds from the sale were donated to the ACLU, Run for Something, the Sierra Club, and the Campaign Legal Center. The auction also served as a public statement that Design for Progress and its supporters demand fair and ethical governance and refuse to support intolerance, discrimination, or regression.

Special thanks to our auction partners Calliope, RoAndCoTito’s Vodka, Yola Mezcal, Morris Kitchen, Camron PR, Monogram, The Spaniard, Annona Wine, and Nourish Kitchen.

Support Design For Progress

Fundraise

If you’d like to host a fundraiser event or project under the umbrella of Design For Progress, please email us and tell us more about your event — plus how you plan to collect and disburse donations, and to which organizations — for approval to use the name and logo.

Purchase

feminists“We should all be feminists” poster by Kathryn Bentley, David Scheid, and Morgan Thoryk, benefitting Design for Progress, $60, available at radicalequality.biz

Purchase

ArloSkye_smThe new smart-luggage brand Arlo Skye has generously offered to donate 40% of any sales generated by this link to Design for Progress.

Purchase

DFP_tshirt_Colorfix2Purchase one of Monogram Studio’s “Resist, Insist, Persist” t-shirts ($65), and they’ll donate 20% of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood on Design For Progress’s behalf.