Greenstone Lake, Yosemite NP, 24×30
As a participating artist, you agree to donate a minimum of 10% from the proceeds of your parks paintings and prints to the respective National or State Park Foundation.
Park Foundations or Associations are the non-profit partners of the government run parks. These charitable groups provide educational, interpretive and conservation oriented programs to protect the parks. They are privately funded by businesses and people like us.
In the context of PaintTheParks, your donations should go directly to one of these non-profit groups, or educational, preservation or art oriented programs which support the parks.
Any nature reserve set aside for conservation and public use qualifies as a “Park.” The idea of PaintTheParks is to paint and protect these precious places for future generations.
Most bigger parks have their own park foundation or association. Simply search on-line by the park’s name and add the words “foundation” or “association,” and the appropriate agency should show up.
Your state may have a list of State Park Associations ~simply try an on-line search.
For California, here is a list of CA State Park Associations.
When a park doesn’t have it’s own foundation, for National Parks in the US, you can donate to the National Park Foundation or the National Parks Conservation Association. Or choose another park/park system to donate to.
For State Parks who don’t have individual foundations, you can donate to your State’s Park Association, In California for example that would be the California State Parks Foundation. Or choose another park/park system to donate to.
The main idea is to support the preservation of parks, through conservation and education efforts. Some Park Associations, for example the Yosemite Conservancy, also have art programs. Art of course is a great way to inspire conservation, and if possible and your Park Association provides these kinds of programs, donating directly to the art programs is a wonderful way to help preserve the parks.
When you sell artwork (Yeah!), make a donation to the respective park association. You can donate in your name, or offer to donate in your customer’s name. Some associations offer perks for donations, which might provide additional incentive for prospective customers. Find out what your park might provide.
Please also let us know about your sales and donations, and we might feature them on PaintTheParks!
Your donations should be tax deductible, but to make sure check with your respective government agency.