Paint A Future

What Paint A Future does

Paint a Future is a Dutch charitable foundation (Stichting Paint a Future) founded in 2000 by artist Hetty van der Linden and based at Naaldwijkstraat 45, Amsterdam. Its core program pairs disadvantaged children in countries including South Africa, Madagascar, Argentina, Peru, Taiwan, and Brazil with 102 renowned international artists: children paint their dreams, artists incorporate a child's drawing into a finished painting, and the proceeds are used to realize the child's dream. The organization extends the concept through three sub-brands — Sail a Future (children paint on used sails that are upcycled into corporate gift bags), Sing a Future (a multilingual song by Feiko de Leeuw), and Dance a Future (a Dominican Republic National Dance School performance projected in Paris) — and has partnered with The Ocean Race since 2018. The reported social outcome is more than 1,000 children's dreams fulfilled across 23 countries over 26 years.

The business model combines one-time painting sales through a website, a physical gallery in Amsterdam, and event-based sales with ad hoc donations via a Dutch bank account (NL66ABNA0452681979) and a corporate Kerstpakket gifting channel using upcycled sail bags. Historically, a subscription-style art-lease collection provided recurring revenue, but this stream collapsed during COVID-19 when lease counterparties went bankrupt, and the founder took back roughly 150 paintings. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; transactions are contact-based.

The organization is in active wind-down. In 2025 it announced that "the time has come to say goodbye to Paint a Future" after 25 years of continuous work, citing the COVID-era loss of volunteers, gallery closure, and art-lease bankruptcies. A final sale event of 200+ paintings is running through September 30, 2025 to place the remaining inventory before operations conclude. The entity is founder-owned and controlled, with no external institutional investors and no disclosed revenue.

Name

Paint A Future

Legal name

Stichting Paint a Future

Website

https://paintafuture.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Paint a Future is a Dutch nonprofit foundation that pairs disadvantaged children with renowned international artists, sells the resulting paintings, and uses the proceeds to fulfill the children's dreams across 23 countries; founded in 2000, it is winding down in 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Art Programs

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (71151)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Crafts & Maker Arts (Ceramics, Textiles, Jewelry, Mixed Media) (EDAMAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Personal Enrichment & Creative Arts Programs (EDAAAEAG)

Keywords

• Charitable art programs
• Art fundraising
• Children's art initiatives
• Artist collaboration projects
• Nonprofit foundation

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Art Sales: Paint A Future sells paintings created by renowned artists who incorporate children's dream drawings into their artwork. The proceeds from these sales directly fund the realization of children's dreams.
2. Art Lease Collections: Historical revenue stream where paintings were leased to collectors for a period, providing recurring income that supported the organization's mission.
3. Donations: The organization accepts donations through bank account NL66ABNA0452681979 of Stichting Paint a Future to support children's dreams and programs.
4. Corporate Gifting (Kerstpakket): Upcycled bags made from painted sails are sold as corporate Christmas gifts, providing a sustainable and meaningful gifting solution while generating revenue for social initiatives.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Paint A Future is a Dutch charitable foundation that organizes art projects in which disadvantaged children paint their dreams, and renowned artists incorporate those children's drawings into their own paintings. The proceeds from selling these collaborative artworks fund the realization of the children's dreams. Supporting programs include Sail a Future (upcycled sail-cloth bags for corporate gifting), Sing a Future, Dance a Future, and an Art Sale Event, alongside an ongoing Paintings Collection.

Product overview

Paint A Future is a charitable organization founded in 2000 by artist Hetty van der Linden that operates as a single unified program rather than a platform architecture. The core offering, Paint a Future, pairs disadvantaged children with renowned artists from 23 countries to create meaningful art—the children's dream drawings are incorporated into professional paintings, with proceeds funding the children's dreams. The organization extends its impact through related initiatives including Sail a Future (sailing and environmental education program with upcycled sail bags), Sing a Future (unifying song), and Dance a Future (performance art). The Art Sale Event represents the final opportunity to purchase paintings before the organization concludes operations after 26 years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sail a Future: Children's dreams carried by the wind. Sailing ships travel worldwide with missions to make children's dreams come true. Children paint and write their thoughts about the future of our planet on used sails, which are transformed into upcycled bags called 'dream carriers'.
• Sing a Future
• Dance a Future

Products and services

• Paint a Future The signature charitable art program in which disadvantaged children paint their dreams and renowned artists incorporate those drawings into their own paintings. Proceeds from the sale of the resulting collaborative artworks fund the realization of the children's dreams. Targeted at individual art collectors and philanthropic buyers.
• Sail a Future Upcycled sail-cloth bag product line offered as corporate gifting (Kerstpakket) packages to businesses seeking sustainable, story-driven year-end or holiday gifts for their employees. Proceeds support the foundation's charitable mission.
• Sing a Future Performance-based charitable program that extends the Paint a Future mission into music, offering singing-related experiences that support the foundation's goal of realizing children's dreams.
• Dance a Future Performance-based charitable program that extends the Paint a Future mission into dance, offering dance-related experiences that support the foundation's goal of realizing children's dreams.
• Art Sale Event Periodic exhibition and sale event showcasing collaborative artworks produced through the Paint a Future program, providing a recurring sales channel for collectors and the public.
• Paintings Collection Ongoing curated collection of original collaborative paintings created through the Paint a Future program, available for purchase by individual collectors and philanthropic buyers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1000+ children fulfilled dreams in 23 countries over 26 years
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Ocean RacecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Since 2018, Paint A Future has partnered with The Ocean Race in Itajaí and at events worldwide. The partnership focuses on inspiring ocean protection through children's art, where children join to create art on recycled sails while learning about ocean conservation. This partnership extends Paint A Future's reach to international sailing audiences and creates unique art pieces for sale, combining environmental and humanitarian messaging.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Art with a Heart: Nonprofit providing visual arts programs to underserved children and families, with proceeds from artwork sales funding programs. Directly comparable mission, beneficiary base (disadvantaged children), and art-sale-driven revenue model.
• Dancing Classrooms Foundation: Nonprofit bringing dance and arts residencies into schools to teach life skills to children. Closely parallels Paint A Future's philosophy of embedding creative practice (Dance a Future sub-brand) in formal child-development contexts.
• Sing for Hope: Nonprofit that mobilizes artists and places art in public spaces for community benefit, then auctions it for charitable impact. Mirrors Paint A Future's core model of using professional artistic creation to fund social mission outcomes.
• ProjectArt: Provides art education to young people in underserved communities through after-school programming in public libraries. Similar niche: using visual arts pedagogy as the vehicle for child-welfare impact.
• Free Arts NYC: Provides free arts education and mentorship to children from low-income communities in New York. Comparable engagement of marginalized youth in creative production, with art itself as the intervention mechanism.

Broad incumbents

• Room to Read: Large international children's education and literacy nonprofit. Reaches a much broader scale and operates across many more countries; relevant as a comparison for multi-country child-welfare nonprofit scale and donor positioning rather than art-specific mission.

Regional players

• Foundation for Children's Arts: Similar small-scale nonprofit engaging children in artistic creation for developmental outcomes. Operates in a different geography but addresses the same underserved-children-meets-arts niche.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@paintafutureNL
• Facebookfacebook.com/paintafuture
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/paint-a-future

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Paint A Future