Pollen Midwest

Good moments are easier to share, but often it’s most important to be open about the hard moments. It’s a hard moment at Pollen.

Over the past few years, Pollen made a strategic choice to invest in our growth. Like any investment, it came with a degree of risk. Unfortunately, our growth in capacity did not bring about the growth in income we’d anticipated. Despite our best efforts, we reached a point where we had to make some difficult choices — saying goodbye to some of our beloved colleagues in the process.

Pollen has been through hard times before, but this is one of our most difficult moments. Simply put, we need your help. 

Pollen is raising $50,000 by August 15 to continue delivering the storytelling that has been part of our work for over a decade. We are extremely grateful that one of our Pollenites has offered a $20,000 match towards this goal.  If you value Pollen’s role in our community, now is the time to show your support. If you and everyone in the Pollen community can donate $25, we can raise $50,000 by August 15 and continue our efforts to change our community's shared story for the better. 

Justice is rarely offered freely. It is instead demanded and fought for by a populace ready to move beyond the inequities of the status quo, and toward a world that is freer, more just, and more loving. 

But a community can’t be ready for change if it’s mired in old narratives. To leave the status quo behind, communities need to imagine a new path forward. 

Pollen explores those paths through stories, art, and the power of human connection. We break down harmful narratives, and build up narratives rooted in justice, community, and our shared humanity. 

INVEST IN NEW NARRATIVES

Stories encourage us to fight for each other when our beautiful and flawed humanity is threatened. Right now, those threats are numerous and compounding. That’s why Pollen exists — to create and share narratives of possibility that inspire us to imagine something better, connect us, and ready our hearts and minds for the work ahead.

Every story Pollen publishes, every event we host, and every job or action we share is an opportunity for the personal, collective, and systemic transformation that narrative change requires. When you donate to Pollen, you make it possible for transformational change to take root in your community—the kind that shifts power and makes way for a new narrative that reflects our shared humanity.

Support Pollen. Support new narratives. Imagine something better.

The financial support of Pollenites like you power our work to:

• Reveal the stories of individuals who help us find hope in a future that we cannot yet see, reshape our culture’s values, and rethink the narrative of poverty. 
• Connect with a community of cross-sector influencers, civic leaders, creatives, culture bearers, and justice-seekers who are working to change our collective story for the better. 
• Host multimedia story events that bring our community together to tackle the thorniest of issues and examine new perspectives through narrative explorations. 
• Curate and distribute meaningful jobs, events, and actions that support people working to change the narrative of their own lives and communities. 
• Work with and support a community of more than 140 creative freelancers—writers, illustrators, designers, animators, photographers, filmmakers, performers, musicians—every year.

We know Pollen is just one part of a larger ecosystem of change. Our region is full of visionaries, organizers, collectives, organizations and leaders of all ages who are pushing for a better future in so many ways. We are proud to be part of that ecosystem, doing our part to help our communities get ready for the future we need.

Thank you for being in community with us.

Meg Lionel Murphy, Jerome Rankine, Melanie G.S. Walby, Tom Loftus, Michaela Schmidt, and Emily Mauter.