In September 2015, two creative friends living in Berlin wanted to pass the gift that is art to the younger generations and have a real impact on people’s lives. Their names are Sevin and Martin and they are the founders of Pass the Crayon.
Pass the Crayon is a creative nonprofit organization that provides art workshops for refugee children in Berlin; seeking to empower these children by using art as a way of growing their social and emotional skills.
Over the past three years, Pass the Crayon has provided workshops to over 4,590 children* living in reception centers in the Berlin region. From a small team of two people, the organisation has flourished into a vibrant community of a thousand artists and volunteers*. Pass the Crayon has experienced amazing growth over the past few years and now we are ready to expand our work further and help more children discover the joy of art!
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Drawing by Maëlle Foix
What we need
For the past three years, we have dedicated all our time to building and growing Pass the Crayon from scratch. Running an organization based on voluntary support, with very little resources, can be very challenging. Nevertheless, we have overcome these obstacles and managed to flourish. We couldn’t have done this without the help of nearly a thousand volunteers and a solid core team. Their dedication along with the support from the welcome culture community has enabled us to connect with nearly 5,000 kids*. Next to the volunteers, we also established an advisory board that guides us throughout our journey.
In 2018, we started to collect data in order to evaluate the impact of our program. We are using the Social Reporting Standard (SRS) to compose the report that will be released in the beginning of 2019. Our 2017 annual report shows that Pass the Crayon is growing, with more team members, volunteers and more kids attending our workshops.
Drawing by Maëlle Foix
Since we are a nonprofit organization, we depend entirely on external support. With the additional support we hope to gain through our crowdfunding campaign, we will be able to ensure our continued growth and further improve our workshops. In order to achieve this, we are in need of €12000. We are confident that with your help, we will be able to reach this amount!
Most of the funds raised will be used to improve the quality of the workshops and to offer even more workshops to more children. And with the money raised, we can buy new art supplies, which enables us to offer more diverse activities to the children. Next to that, the support from this campaign will also enable us to expand our work and include more refugee children in the workshops. This will help us to achieve our ultimate goal of inspiring and nurturing the self-expression of as many young people as possible. One workshop for 15 children costs €45. Imagine how much more impact we can make if we raise €12000!
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Drawing by Maëlle Foix
What you get
A part of the money raised will go into making and distributing our rewards. As a thank you for supporting Pass the Crayon and the children, we have some very exciting gifts for you!
- One of the gifts is a very special coloring book for children. The book is designed by Studio Satël and features drawings made by the kids during one of our workshops in 2016. The children were asked to draw people by giving them a list of combinations to make. For example: a girl + a big nose + a necklace or a boy + a dress + curly hair.
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- Instead of the book, you can also opt for this tote bag featuring one of the drawings from the coloring book! This drawing has also been made by one of the children during one of our workshops in 2016 in collaboration with Studio Satël.
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We are offering more exciting rewards, check them out on the right side of this page!
Other ways you can help
Even if you don’t have the resources to support us, you can still help us! You can share our campaign and spread the word about Pass the Crayon or even start volunteering for our organization!
Questions? Please don't hesitate to contact us!
And feel free to email directly at: info@passthecrayon.com
Thank you for supporting us!
*Video credits: A massive thank you to Jamie for directing, filming and editing our campaign video and to Media Residents for letting us borrow the equipment!
*Pass the Crayon 2017 annual report