EXCLUSIVE: MAC Viva Glam and Elaine Welteroth Team to Fund Safer Births for Underserved Families

MAC Cosmetics is expanding its philanthropic efforts with a $200,000 Viva Glam Fund grant to The Victoria Project in partnership with BirthFund, the nonprofit founded by journalist and maternal health advocate Elaine Welteroth. The grant will support midwifery-led, maternity care for 30 underserved families across the U.S.

“I met with the team , they were already leaning in, super supportive of what we did,” Welteroth said. “It felt really exciting to know that we had this additional funding in our pocket. We applied it toward covering the full amount for all of our families in cohort four, which is being distributed basically, imminently, so August through September.”

Since its 2024 launch, BirthFund has raised more than $3 million to cover midwifery bills for families losing insurance or otherwise falling through systemic gaps. The organization is expanding to support midwives in training, addressing a shortage exacerbated by lack of funding.

“There is no funding available for community midwives,” Welteroth went on. “Many have been in training for years while working other jobs just to keep the lights on.”

Beyond funding, MAC will help amplify the message through social storytelling and postpartum makeovers for mothers.

“The entryway is beauty, but really, what we’re addressing is so much deeper,” said Welteroth. “Beauty is a universal equalizer, just like motherhood.”

According to the World Health Organization, midwifery care could avert 80 percent of maternal and infant deaths. And yet access to this care remains limited, especially for marginalized communities.

Welteroth’s own home birth experience inspired the creation of BirthFund and its partnership with The Victoria Project, which together aim to address systemic barriers such as cost, racial inequity and lack of access to trusted providers.

Launched in 1994 to support those impacted by HIV/AIDS, and now focused on broader equity issues, MAC Viva Glam has raised more than $535 million. Its campaign continues to donate 100 percent of the selling price of its Viva Glam lipsticks to global causes.

“For decades, Viva Glam has championed communities that are too often overlooked,” said Rachel Lockett, vice president of marketing for MAC North America, as part of a statement. “With this grant, we’re honored to help fund holistic, midwifery-led maternal care for families who need it most.”