The Period Collective

Charitable Featured Charity

The Period Collective

The Period Collective

Ensuring Access to Period Products For All in Chicago

Period poverty affects far too many people in Chicago. For some, it means choosing between purchasing menstrual products or buying dinner. For others, it means missing school or work because they have nothing to manage their period. With more than 65,000 individuals experiencing homelessness in Chicago – nearly 40 percent of whom menstruate – and inflation putting additional strain on low-income families, this issue quietly affects thousands every day.

The Period Collective fights back boldly, distributing over 2 million products to shelters, schools, and food banks, restoring confidence, health, and normalcy for all.

Volunteer Power Driving Real Change 💪❤️

The Period Collective, a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) organization, is working to change that reality. Their mission is simple and powerful: to ensure that everyone who menstruates has access to the products they need with dignity and respect.

They’ve teamed up with 50+ partners like A Safe Haven, Deborah’s Place, Heartland Alliance, YWCA, and Youth Guidance, reaching Cook, Lake, and McHenry counties. From migrants to DV survivors, students to pantry visitors, their discreet kits ensure privacy and respect.

​The Period Collective operates with remarkable efficiency. With no paid staff, the organization is powered entirely by volunteers who give their time.

Their streamlined flow turns your help into impact:

  • Collect 🛒: Donated products from you, drives, or Amazon wishlists; $35 buys a full year’s supply for one person.
  • Kit Up ✂️: Volunteers assemble thoughtful bags at the NW side warehouse.
  • Deliver 🚚: Partners distribute directly, bridging gaps even as prices soar.

Each kit is designed with care, offering individuals a private, respectful way to manage their period. The organization’s streamlined approach transforms community support directly into access:

Massive Wins Against Hidden Stigma 📈🌟

Period poverty is often invisible, yet it has profound consequences. Students miss school, workers lose wages and individuals face health risks when they cannot access adequate products. Although Illinois has taken important steps, such as requiring free products in schools, many needs remain unmet at home and in everyday life.

The Period Collective is addressing these gaps with persistence and compassion. Their work reinforces that menstrual access is not a luxury or an afterthought. It is essential – a matter of health, dignity and equity. By supplying millions of products even as prices rise, they affirm that everyone deserves the ability to manage their period safely and confidently.

How to Support the Mission

Anyone can take part in this work. Support can come in many forms: donating funds or supplies, organizing a product drive, volunteering at packing events or offering professional skills ranging from design to logistics.

Every contribution helps someone maintain dignity, stay in school or work and navigate daily life with comfort and confidence.

To learn more, donate or get involved, visit theperiodcollective.org.
Together, we can help ensure that no one has to face period poverty alone.

Giving Tuesday showcase

If you’d like us to spotlight your charity next, sign up below.

💙 At Charitable,

Your Mission Matters

At Charitable, we’re not just about fundraising — we’re about helping your cause thrive. Our goal is to help you create more impact, raise more funds, and move your mission forward with confidence. 🚀

We share proven nonprofit strategies, real success stories, and practical tools to empower changemakers like you. Stay connected and never miss valuable insights 👇

✨ Join our newsletter
Get weekly tips, expert guides, and exclusive resources straight to your inbox.

🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Watch step-by-step tutorials, best practices, and inspiring success stories from nonprofits like yours.

💼 Follow us on LinkedIn
Join a growing community of nonprofit professionals and get daily insights to help your organization grow.

📸 Follow us on Instagram
Discover fun reels, creative inspiration, and powerful nonprofit moments.

🎬 Follow us on TikTok
Get quick, actionable tips and engaging videos to boost your fundraising efforts.

💡 Get Fundraiser Tips on TikTok
Follow for general fundraising advice and fresh ideas to help your next campaign shine.

Stay Connected With Us

Let’s change the world – together with compassion through action.


Join over 10,000+ smart website owners who trust Charitable for their donation websites.

Get free tips and resources right in your inbox, along with 60,000+ others

Join our Newsletter

We won’t spam you. We only send an email when we think it will genuinely help you. Unsubscribe at any time!

Featured Video:

Watch more videos on our YouTube channel.

What's New In Charitable

View The Latest Updates
🔔 Subscribe to get our latest updates
📧 Subscribe to Emails

Email Subscription

Join our Newsletter

We won’t spam you. We only send an email when we think it will genuinely help you. Unsubscribe at any time!

Feature New

🎟️ Introducing Charitable Events: Sell Tickets Inside Your Campaigns!

Most nonprofits sell event tickets in one tool and collect donations in another, which leaves two sets of reports and a manual match at the end of the year. Charitable Events brings both together, selling tickets through the same donation forms and payment gateways you already run in Charitable. Why this is important:

  • 🎟️ Every ticket is a donation: Ticket sales run through the gateway you already use and count toward the campaign goal, with everything managed under Charitable » Events.
  • 📱 QR check-in from any phone: Each attendee gets their own QR code on the receipt, and volunteers scan at the door through a check-in link that needs no WordPress account.
  • 🧾 Receipts ready for tax time: Give each ticket type a fair market value, and Charitable puts the correct tax-deductible amount on every donor receipt.
  • 📋 Attendee details at checkout: Ask every guest for a meal choice, shirt size, or access needs, with a separate attendee record created for each ticket.
  • 🗓️ Blocks and calendars included: Three editor blocks plus Sugar Calendar and The Events Calendar support put your events where supporters already look.

Check out our announcement here.

ai New

🚀 Unleash AI Power in Charitable!

Your AI assistant can now build, edit, and manage your Charitable fundraising campaigns directly — just by asking. With Charitable Pro adding write support for the WordPress Abilities API, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor can handle full administrative actions safely through MCP. Why this is important:

  • 🤖 Campaign creation in plain language: Prompt your assistant with a goal like “Set up a fundraiser for the shelter with a $5,000 goal”, and it builds a real draft campaign complete with suggested donation tiers.
  • 🎨 Instant donation form tweaks: Add custom fields, change button colors, or reorder elements without diving into form settings.
  • 📝 Offline gift logging: Tell your assistant about cash or check gifts, and it will match donor emails and record transactions into your history.
  • 🛡️ Safety and control by default: Write access stays strictly off until turned on in Charitable » Tools » AI MCP, keeping read-only reporting safe by default.
  • 📜 Full audit logging: Every change made by an AI assistant is tracked under Charitable » Tools » Logs, so you always know who (or what) updated your site.

Check out our announcement here.

Improvement Payments

💰 Accept Recurring Donations with Windcave and Charitable

A donor sets their gift up once on Windcave’s secure payment page, and Charitable bills every renewal after that on schedule. Why this is important:

🏦 Organizations banked in New Zealand or Australia: monthly giving on the gateway your bank already set you up with, with no second processor to onboard.
⛪ Churches taking regular tithes and offerings: congregants set their own schedule once, which is the simplest way to launch recurring church giving without a separate platform.
🌏 Groups with donors in several currencies: Windcave handles more than 20, so a supporter can give in the currency they actually hold.
📅 Operating funds rather than one-time campaigns: switch on Recurring Only mode and the one-off option disappears, so every gift to that campaign is a subscription.
🧾 Teams with no developer on staff: 3 sets of credentials pasted into a settings page, and no code anywhere.

Check out our announcement here.

automation update

⚡ Visual Automation Builder: Drag and Drop With No Code!

Charitable Automation Connect 2.3.0 introduces the Visual Automation Builder, a full-screen canvas that lays each automation out as a flow of connected cards: a trigger, optional conditions, and a list of actions that run in order.

🧩 Many actions, one trigger: Tag a donor, send an email, add a note, and fire a webhook from a single event, dragged into any order.

✉️ Act inside Charitable: New Send Email, Tag Donor, and Add Donor Note actions run with no external service required.

🔤 Merge tags: Personalize emails and notes with live fields like {first_name}, {total}, and {campaign_name}.

🔁 Apply to existing donors: Run Tag Donor and Add Donor Note against the donors you already have.

🖥️ Canvas or Simple: Switch views anytime, and automations built before 2.3.0 keep working unchanged.

Read more here.

Integration updated

📬 Introducing Brevo for Charitable: Turn Donors into Subscribers Automatically

The moment a supporter makes a gift is when they are most engaged. With the new Brevo integration for Charitable, you can automatically turn those one-time donors into long-term subscribers without touching a single spreadsheet.

Simply collect donor consent right on your donation form and start your welcome series immediately.

What’s New:

🔄 Automated Subscriber Sync: New donors who opt in are added straight to your Brevo contact list as soon as their payment clears—no manual exports or CSV imports required.

🎯 Granular Consent & Opt-In Control: Customize your checkbox label, choose whether it defaults to checked or unchecked, or turn on Brevo double opt-in to keep your list clean and compliant.

📋 Per-Campaign List Mapping: Route supporters to your global email list or map specific campaigns to targeted Brevo lists to tailor your follow-up messaging.

⚡ 5-Minute Setup: Connect instantly by pasting your Brevo API key into the Newsletter settings, map your contact fields, and start building your email list on autopilot.

Ready to grow your mailing list? Brevo is available now starting on the Charitable Plus plan—connect your account today!