Imagination Foundation
| Formation | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Purpose | Charitable |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, CA |
| Website | http://imagination.is |
The Imagination Foundation is a non-profit organization that fosters creativity and entrepreneurship in children around the world.
Nirvan Mullick and Harley Cross founded the Imagination Foundation in 2012 inspired by the viral global response to Mullick's short film, "Caine's Arcade". Neither had initially planned to start a non-profit, but following the viral success of the short film (posted online on April 9, 2012), the two were inspired to start the Imagination Foundation just 2 days later, with a mission to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in kids. 5 days after posting the film, the non-profit received initial seed funding of a $250,000 matching challenge grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation, matching dollar-for-dollar public donations to a scholarship fund that had been formed for Caine Monroy as part of the Caine's Arcade film. This initial support helped the non-profit quickly develop and launched its first program, the Global Cardboard Challenge. The Global Cardboard Challenge initially started as a school pilot program, with over 200 schools in 9 countries taking part during the first 2 months. The program then launched world-wide with a second short film by Mullick called "Caine's Arcade 2: From a Movie to a Movement." This Caine's Arcade follow up film was posted online in September 2012, and received over 1 million views. "Caine's Arcade 2" shared the response of the media and kids, as well as the positive impact the first film had on Caine Monroy, with appearances by Sir Ken Robinson, Jack Black, LL Cool J, and NASA/JPL Mars Rover's chief-engineer Robert Manning, the film highlighted the need to foster the creativity of children like Caine in communities around the world. The short film ended with a call to action, inviting the world to play by taking part in a Global Cardboard Challenge, which culminated in a Day of Play on October 6, 2012, the one-year anniversary of the flashmob created for Caine in the Caine's Arcade short film. Three weeks after "Caine's Arcade 2" was posted online, volunteers had organized over 270 Cardboard Challenge events in 40 countries, with over 11,000 kids participating. Following the success of the first year, the Global Cardboard Challenge has continued to grow, becoming an annual event with over 100,000 kids taking part each year, and culminating in a Day of Play in early October.
...
Wikipedia