INK WELL FOUNDATION INC
Drawing together for children facing illness and hardship
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Many children facing illness and hardship such as abandonment and neglect feel isolated, fearful and unsure of their worth and their futures. Long hospital and foster care stays can have a lasting impact on children, making them feel not wanted or supported. We want to ensure that no child feels that way regardless of physical conditions, economic status or any other aspect of their lives that is beyond their control.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Free arts activities for children facing illness and hardship
Since 2005, our team of top professional artists from the illustration, cartooning and animation industries have provided free arts activities to children facing illness and hardship. We travel to hospitals, health and foster care centers, do a demo of an activity and then create along with the children, encouraging them to express themselves through art, learn new skills, and recognize talents they may not know they had. The children keep all the art and also receive their own art kit so that they may continue creating on their own.
We hope to provide supportive comfort and company during what are often isolating and frightening times, inspiration to explore art as a means of self-expression, and also to just give the kids the joy and thrill of creating with the artists behind many of their favorite TV shows, films, and books.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our organization strives to improve children's sense of self and well-being. As professional artists, we feel it is our duty to bring our skills and imaginations to help these children imagine a brighter time and to picture themselves in it. We feel encouraging them to create and simply providing them with some company and laughter can be a powerful way to begin healing.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our themes are usually geared toward self-esteem building like, "draw your super hero self-portrait" or "design a dream pillowcase with visions of what I want to be." We leave the children with evidence that they accomplished something by not drawing for them but drawing with them. Both the pro artist and child sign the artwork we create and the kids keep all the art. We use high quality durable paper so that the art will last a lifetime. The kids can use this art to decorate their walls (often livening up sterile, bland hospital rooms or foster care center walls) and to see daily evidence that they made something they can be proud of.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We are top professionals in animation, illustration and cartooning. We are in a unique position to provide these children with a one-on-one experience with the artist who create the films, shows and books that they love. We have a pool of over 100 very dedicated artist volunteers and many years of events under our belt that enable us to continue to succeed.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
This year we created storybooks with the Gilda’s Club kids, we taught puppet-making with at-risk youth in L.A., and helped children losing their hair due to cancer treatments to create their own designer ball caps at Ronald McDonald House. All this in addition to our regular visitation to hospitals and health care centers like Bellevue, Mount Sinai, Childhelp, Covenant House and more.
Our professional volunteer artists, coming from companies like Nickelodeon, Disney, Pixar and more give free art kits to each child, and then sit with them to teach creative skills and hand craft something special together. We make sure that all supplies are top of the line so that the children may keep their artwork and continue creating for all time.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
INK WELL FOUNDATION INC
Board of directorsas of 05/29/2023
Elizabeth Winter
The Ink Well Foundation
Term: 2005 - 2025
Elizabeth Winter
No Affiliation
Heather MacDonald
Toots Crackin Productions
Peter de Séve
Blue Sky Studios
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/04/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.