“Irresistible—young people mobilizing to help nonprofits in a crisis and winning support in a polarized political climate.”
American Business Awards
to everyone who supported us along the way
we say “thank you”
it began as a simple social enterprise project
with little more than an idea and a lemonade stand budget
Masks4Missions isn’t so different from many social enterprise projects. We were founded to do good in our local community. We’re volunteers motivated by a mission to serve and a belief in the extraordinary power of collaboration. And we have been inspired by all those we’ve met, helped, and learned from along the way. What we’ve found, with 100,000+ masks delivered across all 50 states, is that a little social enterprise can go a long way.
As a result of our community's support and embrace, Vermont Business Magazine named Masks4Missions as the "Best New Business of 2021." Our work has been profiled on radio in Doing Good in the Neighborhood and you can learn more about us in our "thank you" video we recently made to thank our many partners and supporters of all types.
and has grown into something so much more meaningful
through the lives we’ve touched
It all began with a few branded masks produced custom for our nonprofit partners and a massive effort to engage the public by our work with Vermont's legislature and Governor to create Vermont Mask Day on October 6, 2020. Our work and success with Vermont Mask Day led to Masks4Missions' receiving a national Gold (top prize) award from the American Business Awards for Best COVID-19 Information Campaign of the Year/Public Engagement/PR Campaign. We're so proud of our work with and through our partners to help educate the public on the importance of masks during the pandemic.
But as we’ve widened our distribution network, we’ve focused on serving vulnerable communities across the country: survivors of domestic violence; children from unstable homes; those fighting cancer; migrant communities across the US-Mexico border; and countless others.
The experiences we’ve had serving these constituents have been powerful, and we hope to share them. We encourage you to listen to the stories of these vulnerable communities by following the social media profiles of nonprofits whose mission it is to serve them: The Home for Little Wanderers, The National Breast Cancer Association, and PATH. We are so grateful for their partnership and the opportunity to join in their life-changing work.
a national effort spotlighting nonprofits and their missions
both safely and meaningfully
Showcasing nonprofits and their missions is at the core of everything Masks4Missions does. After more than a year of social distancing, nonprofits have faced unprecedented challenges getting out in front of their supporters, constituents, and community members. We’ve tried to help with that through producing nonprofit masks, profiling our partners on social media, talking about our partners in the press, always passing profits back to our nonprofit partners.
We’ve also brought nonprofits visibility through in other ways: Masks4Missions and its nonprofit network were honored to win the American Business Award’s Silver Stevie Prize for Best Nonprofit COVID-19 Response, as well as Best in Biz International‘s Gold Prize for Crisis Response of the Year and a place on their “Most Awarded Companies” list. The award is a recognition of the outstanding work our partners have done with us to help keep communities safe and has helped shine a spotlight on our nonprofit network through social media posts and newsletters to tens of thousands of followers and subscribers.
that
protects and connects our communities
saving lives and strengthening the ties that bind us
Masks4Missions’ first major effort, Vermont Mask Day, was all about raising awareness and bringing Vermonters together safely through mask-protected and socially-distant gatherings. With a week of design-your-own mask events, free webinars available to the public with medical experts, and a live Grace Potter concert to top off the week, we wanted to bring a sense of community to public engagement around mask compliance. While Masks4Missions helped sponsor and lead the effort, it was what it was because of the people who showed up: our nonprofit partners, our volunteers, students across the state, and countless Vermonters united by the value of community.
As a result of Masks4Missions’ work with Vermont Mask Day and beyond, our founder, Doug Altshuler, has been recognized as Nonprofit Entrepreneur of the Year by the American Business Awards, International Business Awards, and Best in Biz International. While all of us at Masks4Missions, and Doug especially, feel humbled by this honor, social enterprise is an inherently communal effort. In that spirit, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the countless people without whom Masks4Missions and Vermont Mask Day would have been little more than a dream. To all who celebrated Vermont Mask Day with us and all who held your own mask events elsewhere, all our nonprofit partners and community members, this award is as much yours as it is ours. So congratulations!