The Big Soup Initiative by Soup the Magazine

Hello! This is kind of a second “about us” page, but with more information on our immediate future. Listed below are some of our goals for the 2024 year, along with partnerships and steps we hope to make these goals happen.

Donate 1000 Soup Cans by December 31st
After discussing with our team, we feel that this goal may be on the low end, but we hope to hit that mark through a variety of sources. We are hoping to generate over $400 in Soup Can sales this year, by hosting micro-events, pop-ups, and our soup drives. Personalization will be a big component in this, along with bringing fun and cool content each month from our team. The remainder of our Soup Can donations will come from donations from supporters + matching donations from partners & team.

Release Two Issues of our Magazine
-Issue Two, The World Needs More________. (Pages to be released digitally)
-Issue Three, The Big Soup (Late 2024)

Host Three Soup Drives in the St. Louis Area
Touching base with the community and also giving faces to our initiative is very important to us this year as we have operated primarily digitally out of college dorm rooms for the last year. We hope to reach our followers in the South City, Forest Park, and Metro-East areas and hear from them on what projects and partnerships they hope to see out of us. 

Host a Launch Party for the Big Soup
Last year, we hosted the Bring Your Own Soup Show at High Low in May. This was meant to be a launch party for Issue One, but unfortunately we had to push the launch just one week. We showcased five artists, featured two live performances, and were able to collect over 100 canned-good items in the event. This, along with the profit from ticket sales + magazines, allowed us to donate funds to SIX different charities and items to FOUR food pantries.

So, what have we done/hope to do to make this goal happen?
What we have done:
-Built out a team in Issue Two, featuring Clarke Taylor (Editor, SLU Graduate), Alia Holland (Research Lead, SCAD MA Creative Business Leadership), Jordan Hawkins (Fashion + Design Lead, St. Louis local artist) and many more writers, visual artists, and business owners willing to help
-Connected with several out-of-state art intiatives in Atlanta, Houston, and Chicago, to gain inspiration on our goal and learn ways to identify & enter creative spaces
-Built new ways to make our products + content more inclusive, and established plans for new ideas

What we hope to do more of:
-Connect with a handful of key organizations and creatives in the St. Louis area
-Gain research on the food pantries that our supporters work with, along with identifying one’s that need help
-Develop a strong branding on social media for our project, and showcase work that is inline with our mission
-Build a database of resources to fight food insecurity, direct supporters to artists who are actively helping, and highlight the areas impacted the most