THE CRAYON INITIATIVE

Our mission is to preserve the environment by recycling used and unwanted crayons and to enrich the lives of hospitalized children through art and imagination.

While crayons unlock creativity and spark growth, they are also not biodegradable. We organize crayon collections and remanufacture used crayons into new packs. The packs are then shipped for free to pediatric patients across the United States.

By engaging thousands of local and corporate volunteers, we remove millions of crayons from landfills and provide hospitalized children with an outlet that reduces stress and unlocks imagination.

We accomplish our charity’s mission by focusing on three objectives.

Crayon Collections
We partner with corporations, restaurants, and communities to collect used crayons. Since 2016, Landry’s Restaurants has been a significant supporter by displaying our collection bins at over 110 Bubba Gump Shrimp, Rainforest Café and Joe’s Crab Shack restaurants. Donations arrive from across the country in large boxes from corporations such as A.C. Moore to shoe boxes from girl scout troops to envelopes from children.

Foundation and Corporate Fundraising
We seek financial support from the public and businesses to remove used crayons from landfills and give new crayons at no cost to pediatric patients. Funding is typically for general operating support and we receive in-kind packaging and shipping supply donations.

Local and National Community Support
We enlist thousands of local volunteers to operate our manufacturing facility as well as engage a robust corporate volunteer pipeline to organize crayon sorting events.

The Crayon Initiative has received 51 tons of used crayons in 2018, an increase of 242% from the prior year. Crayon donations are sent from across the country and even internationally.

From 2014 to 2017, TCI’s base of operations was the founder’s home. In late 2017, TCI built a production site next to downtown Danville. The production facility has two melting stations, four molding stations, and a crayon sorting area that is open 5 days per week. Custom molds, designed by the founder, produce durable ergonomic crayons that are easy to clean and will not roll off of tray tables.

Volunteers sign up for shifts online and the facility can be reserved for school fieldtrips and corporate teambuilding events. At full capacity, 2,000 pounds of crayons can be sorted, molded, packed, and shipped to 3,000 children per week.

In 2015, we received 10,500 pounds of used crayons and remanufactured and packaged 5,000 crayons. With our current supply of raw materials, we are on track to produce over 150,000 packs of new crayons in 2018.

We have a successful social media campaign and several grant proposals and corporate sponsorship opportunities in progress. We also have thousands of local volunteers, as well as a robust corporate volunteer pipeline.

In order to reach our production goals, we must fill critical roles in our organization and on our board so that current leaders and staff can spend more time expanding outreach channels and realizing our potential when it comes to critical donations and sponsorships.

By engaging a wider and deeper donor base, the incremental support will fund:
• Hiring an Executive Director to focus on the strategic growth of the organization
• Creating 2-3 full time positions to manage increased production
• Purchasing two additional crayon molds, bringing our total count to eight
• Designing and building proprietary equipment that will shorten melting times and filter crayon wrappers automatically, thus improving the efficiency of our operations