What is Authors for Earth Day?
Authors for Earth Day is a coalition of children’s authors & illustrators who care about kids and nature—and the future of both. Participants share this international web-based platform to promote their Earth Day school visits, which take place across the country on April 22nd. Together we support education, promote literacy, raise money for conservation, and celebrate our joint efforts and achievements.

Authors for Earth Day school visits provide a unique opportunity
    • for kids to come together to make a substantial contribution for conservation through a school project based on democratic principals.
    • for authors and illustrators to model community leadership and educate students about Earth Day through literacy-based school programs.
    • for classrooms to discuss the importance of the natural world and the power of voice—both writing and voting—to inspire change, and have that message reinforced by professional authors.
    • for teachers to meet standards utilizing entertaining books and book-based curriculum relating to nature.

There is no cost for participation in the coalition, nor any exchange of monies through Authors for Earth Day. All speaking fees, travel expenses and charitable contributions are handled independently by the authors/illustrators, and Authors for Earth Day assumes no liability for any financial transactions or contractual discrepancies.

How is an Authors for Earth Day event coordinated?
Each participating author and/or illustrator schedules their own Earth Day school visit for April 22nd, charging no less than their standard speaking fee (minimum $500). During the author visit, the staff at the scheduled school will hold a student vote—a vote that is solely coordinated by the author/illustrator but which follows guidelines developed by Authors for Earth Day—to select one 501(c)(3), not-for-profit conservation organization to which the author/illustrator will donate their full fee in honor of the participating school.

The author will provide a list of “nominees” for their school’s students prior to the author visit. That list should include a brief synopsis about each organization with its IP address. The kids can then research the organizations and browse their websites in an effort to make educated votes.

On Earth Day, between the author’s literacy presentations, the teachers will facilitate the voting process (paperless, if possible). Classrooms will pass on their numbers for the individual nominees on to be calculated in the overall school vote—it’s important that teachers NOT determine classroom “winners”, as we want the POPULAR VOTE for the sum of students to prevail. Once votes are tallied, the donation recipient will be announced.

Downloads are available to help participating authors/illustrators coordinate their Authors for Earth Day school visit, including eco-minded curriculum and nominee & voting form templates.

Who actually donates the fee, the school or the author?
The school should pay the author/illustrator, and then the author/illustrator will write a check (or cashiers check or money order) to contribute the fees. This allows the school to fund the author/illustrator visit through their normal process, avoiding the complications of district approval for donations, AND gives the author/illustrator a write-off for their contribution, a small but helpful benefit for their time.

However, the fee should be donated to the selected organization in honor of the school and its students. And the author/illustrator should have the donation check available to show at the end of the Earth Day event for the school to celebrate with photo ops. The amount donated and the recipient organization will be listed on the Authors for Earth Day website and added in the collective amount donated by all participating authors/illustrators.

Is the charitable organization notified about the uniqueness of the donation?
Yes, a formal letter should be sent by the author/illustrator along with the donation check explaining the Authors for Earth Day voting process and requesting the organization send a thank you to the students for their interest and support. This is a great opportunity for the charity to directly connect with young supporters, so authors may request the donation recipient also mail some of the organization's  publications for the school library collection, which may extend the educational benefit of the event.

Who can participate?
Participation is open to any traditionally published author and/or illustrator who professionally presents programs for grades k-12 within a district school system, AND who is interested in promoting the Earth Day conservation message, AND who is willing/able to donate their entire fee from lectures and workshops presented on April 22nd, 2011. Detailed information for interested authors/illustrators can be found under "join us": authors & illustrators.

We encourage participation by any school that is interested in promoting Earth Day with a special author visit, AND that has April 22nd available on their school calendar, AND that has funding available for an author visit and is committed to good preparation for a successful event. Find an Available Authors & Illustrators and learn more under "join us": schools.