What Becoming a drawchange Sustaining Member Makes Possible
There are no erasers on the art tables at our program sites. It's a small rule with a big reason behind it: founder and CEO, Jennie Lobato, says, "There are no mistakes in art". For a child navigating instability, trauma, or other adverse childhood experiences, that rule holds a bigger truth: nothing they create needs fixing, and neither do they.
Moments like that are possible because of the people who show up for drawchange's mission every single month. We call them our Sustaining Members.
How Sustaining Members Support drawchange Every Month
A Sustaining Member's gift does not arrive once and disappear into a budget. It shows up on the same day, month after month, and that rhythm is what lets us plan instead of react. Here is what that steady support helps fund, from weekly program sessions, to behind the scenes work we do to grow the reach of art therapy itself.
Funding Weekly Art Therapy Programs
We currently run art therapy based programming in Georgia, Florida, and Texas, alongside our international programs in Ethiopia and Costa Rica. Our work has grown alongside our mission, which reaches children experiencing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), not only children in shelters. In 2025, we tripled our program visits from one to three per week in our core locations, a shift made possible by growing support from monthly donors. That means three times as many children now have a standing appointment with a safe, creative space at a time that otherwise offers very little stability.
Each session runs on a curriculum built and audited by licensed art therapists. Children might draw a picture to help a friend through something stressful, or fill a page with jokes they can flip through on a hard day. Many take home a "Today I am Proud of…" slip, filled in by a trusted adult who watched them create. We have already seen what that consistency does for individual children, and none of it runs on a single generous gift. It runs on knowing, every month, that the next session is covered.
Fundraising Art Camp Scholarships
Our annual Art Camp at the Goat Farm is now 100 percent scholarship based, with priority given to children already in our programs. A full day of camp, meals, supplies, and trained staff included, costs $170 per child. In 2024, fundraising efforts helped 80 percent of the children at our Summer Art Camp attend on a full scholarship, and steady monthly giving is part of what makes that kind of result possible year after year.
Unlike a one time gift tied to a single campaign, a Sustaining Member's donation keeps arriving whether or not a fundraiser is underway. And if you would rather rally your own network than give solo, peer-to-peer fundraising is another way to help fund scholarships like these.
Championing Our Curriculum Blueprint Around the World
Sustaining membership also helps fuel something less visible: training other communities to run our art therapy curriculum themselves. Our school partner in Cartago, Costa Rica has run the program independently since 2010, with drawchange still sending curriculum and supplies. In 2025, we trained four Ethiopian Program Leads on site in Addis Ababa, watching one of them guide children through an Imagination Session she now leads on her own.
This is what the drawchange Blueprint does. It hands our curriculum, training, and ongoing support to local leaders, so a shelter, school, or community center anywhere can offer children the same tools we offer here at home. Building that kind of trust with a partner community takes years, not a single donation.
Funding Weekly Art Therapy Programs
drawchange currently provides art therapy-based programming in Georgia, Florida, and Texas, alongside international programs in Ethiopia and Costa Rica.
In 2025, we tripled program visits from one to three visits per week in our core locations, a shift made possible in part by growing support from monthly donors. That means more children have a consistent, safe space to create and express themselves each week.
Our art therapy for children curriculum is built and audited by licensed art therapists. Children might draw a picture showing how they could help a friend through a stressful situation or create a page of jokes they can revisit on a difficult day. Some leave with a “Today I am Proud of…” slip recognizing something they accomplished during the session.
That consistency matters. It means knowing that when children return, there will be supplies on the table and trained people ready to welcome them back.
Funding Art Camp Scholarships
Monthly giving also helps make our annual Art Camp at the Goat Farm possible. Art Camp is now 100 percent scholarship-based, with priority given to children already participating in our programs.
In 2024, fundraising efforts helped 80 percent of children attending Summer Art Camp participate on a full scholarship. Reliable monthly support helps make opportunities like these possible year after year.
Unlike a one-time donation connected to a particular fundraiser, a Sustaining Member’s gift keeps arriving even when there is no active campaign.
Sharing the drawchange Blueprint Around the World
Sustaining membership also supports something less visible: helping other communities bring drawchange programming to children themselves.
Through the drawchange Blueprint, we provide curriculum, training, and ongoing support to local leaders. Our school partner in Cartago, Costa Rica, has independently run the program since 2011, while drawchange continues providing curriculum and supplies.
In 2025, we also trained four Ethiopian Program Leads on-site in Addis Ababa, giving local leaders the tools to guide children through drawchange programming independently.
Building relationships like these takes time, training, trust, and continued support. Monthly giving helps make that long-term commitment possible.
What a $25 Monthly Sustaining Member Gift Adds up to Each Year
A Sustaining Member gives $25 or more each month. On its own, that might not sound dramatic. But $25 a month adds up to $300 a year, and it arrives on a schedule we can plan around instead of one we have to hope for. Over 17 years of operation, that kind of predictable support is exactly what has let us grow from our earliest programming into work across the United States and two countries.
As a thank you, Sustaining Members receive gifts made by the children themselves, framed artwork, ceramic pieces, and more, along with the chance to be featured right here on our blog.
Become a drawchange Sustaining Member Today
Becoming a Sustaining Member takes about two minutes. Visit our donate page, click "Donate," and select "Monthly" as your donation frequency. If you would like to read more about what monthly giving means to us, our original Sustaining Member post is a good place to start.
Every session, every camp scholarship, every trained Program Lead a world away starts with someone deciding to give, and to keep giving. We would love for that someone to be you.
🧡The children thank you!
Comments