Pixel Donate - one pixel, one future!

Pixel Donate - a project to restore access to education for Ukrainian schoolchildren

During the years of full-scale war, more than 5 million Ukrainian schoolchildren have been restricted in their access to education. 3798 educational institutions  had their access to education restricted. Schoolchildren have lost not only the space for education, but also the opportunity to learn, communicate live, and dream about the future.

Schools in the frontline regions are left without comfortable shelters, while classes are constantly interrupted by air strikes. Education is becoming dangerous and every damaged or destroyed school is another argument for Ukrainian families to emigrate. For parents, the most important thing is the safety and education of their children.

Restoring educational institutions, creating temporary spaces and arranging shelters requires huge financial resources. But how can we engage the world in their reconstruction when, in the third year of the war, it is increasingly difficult to break through the national fatigue, pain and emotional burnout to raise funds?

We were looking for an innovative solution to engage the audience in restoring access to education for schoolchildren. Not only to raise money, but to give something in return.

An idea born out of shared pain

Pixel Donate is a project designed to give children in war-torn regions the space to learn again. The initiators of the project Ukrainian philanthropists Kyrylo Kukuruza and Yuriy Kaleniuk, teamed up with the international charity savED, founded by former education minister Anna Novosad and the GoGlobal Education Foundation.

We were looking for an innovative solution to engage the audience in restoring access to education for schoolchildren. Not only to raise money, but to give something in return.

Implementation: pixel by pixel to the big goal

Since achieving this goal consists of small bricks that everyone can put in the foundation, we have created an interactive map of Ukraine with one million pixels, where the user can buy 1 or more pixels at their discretion and bring the restoration of access to education for Ukrainian schoolchildren closer. The overall goal is $1,000,000, 1 pixel = $.

But the main idea is not about money. We have invited people to become co-authors of the country's reconstruction, to literally touch the map and bring it to life.
Each region on the map is a visual story: local symbols, legends, cultural codes: from Mriya to Kherson watermelons. It was a real challenge for the illustrators to create such a complex, detailed, and yet easily recognisable visual language. And to implement it technically was an even bigger challenge: zooming, smooth navigation, optimization for mobile devices - the map works perfectly on any screen.

How does it work? 

The pixeldonate.com platform features an interactive map of Ukraine. To make a donation, you need to:

• Choose a region on the map of Ukraine where you would like to keep a record of your support.
• Choose a pixel in the region and its colour.
• Contribute to the restoration of education - pay for 1 pixel, the minimum cost of which is $1 or 38 hryvnias. You can donate a larger amount at your own discretion. 

The funds raised go directly to the savED Foundation, which has already helped 54 schools in 6 regions of Ukraine. The Pixel Donate platform is designed to amplify these results and accelerate the recovery.

Information campaign

We have launched a large-scale information campaign called “How I remember my school”. Famous Ukrainian stars, including ONUKA, remembered their school days and showed the contrast with the reality of today's children.

Many Ukrainian media wrote about Pixel Donate. Opinion leaders, educators, and artists joined the discussion. But for us, every pixel, every contribution, every person who said: “I will not stand aside.”