Top Designers Donate Talent to Help End Hunger with DesignGivers

The best ideas often come to us in our quietest moments. This is precisely what happened to Annette Jaffe, Principal Designer at Annette Jaffe Interiors, one day while walking her dog. “I visualized the people in the houses I passed who now had to work or study from home and how their homes needed to function differently than they did prior to the Coronavirus outbreak,” said Annette. “This inspired me to give a design consult for a donation to a charity helping those facing hunger. Then I thought, what if every interior designer did the same?” And thus the idea for DesignGivers was born.

The Co-Founders of DesignGivers
Annette reached out to a friend she had done volunteer work with in the past, Kim Poulos Lieberz. The CEO of KGI Design Group immediately joined the cause. Next, leading interior design philanthropist Keith Baltimore of The Baltimore Design Group joined as a key team member. The trio got to work immediately developing the organization and calling on friends, family, professional associations, and their communities. Instantly designers and sponsors embraced the humanitarian idea and signed on, and within a few days, DesignGivers became a reality.

The DesignGivers Mission
DesignGivers is a 501C3 pending non-profit organization born in crisis. The mission is to coordinate design industry professionals to give back and support our communities in times of need by offering virtual interior design consultations while collecting donations to support the most pressing needs and crises facing our communities.
COVID-19 & Feeding America
Currently, DesignGivers focus is providing aid to families struggling with food shortages due to the COVID-19 by supporting Feeding America. Feeding America is the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization with a network of 200 food banks across the country. New York’s local food banks, Island Harvest and Food Bank for New York City, are all a part of Feeding America’s network.
How It Works
Interior designers and other professionals in the industry are donating their time, expertise and even their own funds to support DesignGivers current effort of domestic hunger relief. Through the DesignGivers website, donors select a designer and set a consultation. After making a minimum donation of $150, they schedule a 30-minute video consult. The proceeds are then donated to the DesignGivers cause, currently Feeding America.
Home interior design services available to donors include: creating work spaces, designing school study areas, accommodating additional guests and visitors, pantry & closet organization, furniture rearranging, paint color suggestions, recommending online purchases within a budget, and answering specific design challenges.
Now & Beyond
Today DesignGivers is helping those at home improve the aesthetics and functionality of their environment while simultaneously helping the millions of Americans who are facing hunger as a result of the pandemic. And while COVID-19 and hunger is the charity’s current focus, DesignGivers larger mission to coordinate the design industry to support humanitarian aid and improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies will certainly go far beyond the needs of today!
Learn more and join the cause at www.designgivers.org.