This project runs lean, but it is not free. Paper, printing, translation and the annual prize all cost money — and every one of them is the difference between a school taking part and a school being left out.
These are indicative costs, not tiers with rewards attached. We would rather show you the actual arithmetic of running the project than invent giving levels.
We are in the middle of setting up online payments, and we would rather tell you that plainly than send you to a broken checkout. In the meantime the fastest route is simply to email us — we will reply personally with bank details or an invoice, whichever suits you, and confirm exactly what your contribution will fund.
Email us about givingAn online donation button will appear here as soon as it is live.
If you work for a funder whose remit covers conservation education, children and young people, or open research data, we would welcome a conversation about a multi-year grant.
Art supplies, printing, postage and books for the prize are all things we buy. Donating them directly is often worth more than the cash equivalent.
A named sponsor can underwrite one country's prize cycle — the books, certificates and art sets that go back to the winning classrooms.
Universities, museums and conservation organisations can help by hosting the work, contributing coding capacity, or opening doors to school networks.
Roughly, and honestly:
| Cost | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Materials and printing | Paper, pencils and printed packs for schools that cannot print or buy their own. |
| Translation | Native-speaker translation and back-translation of the five sheets, so the prompt means the same thing everywhere. |
| The annual prize | Books, certificates and art sets sent to winning classrooms, plus postage. |
| Coding the drawings | The central analysis that keeps classrooms comparable across countries. |
| Teacher support | Answering emails, helping schools send work back, returning results. |
First, we are a small project, not a large charity — if you need a formal tax receipt, email us first and we will tell you exactly what we can and cannot issue in your country. Second, no donation buys influence over the findings. The drawings are coded the same way regardless of who funds the work, and the dataset is published openly.
Coordinators, translators and drawing coders are just as valuable — see the roles. Or simply run the activity with a class; that costs nothing and is the whole point.