KidCAD Charitable Trust
Learn. Build. Create. Pass It On.
The KidCAD Charitable Trust is being formed to make practical technology education easier to reach, easier to understand, and easier to use at home, in schools, and in the community.
We help learners explore 3D design, 3D printing, computing, robotics, engineering, digital fabrication, responsible AI, and the business and financial skills that can grow from creating something of their own.
Free KidCAD
KidCAD V1 is free for families, so any learner with a computer can start designing and printing.
Programs →Homeschool and schools
Families set up their own accounts. Schools join through a written plan built for their classes.
Education Portal →Why a trust
No owners, a purpose that can't be taken back, and Trustees bound by law to serve it.
Why we are a trust →Why KidCAD is a charitable trust, and not a company
KidCAD was built to serve learners for generations: not to be owned, sold, or cashed out. A charitable trust is the structure that keeps that promise.
As a charitable trust, everything KidCAD holds is held for education, by Trustees bound by law to serve that purpose, under a document that cannot be taken back.
Our reasons
1. The purpose is locked in
The educational purpose is written into an irrevocable trust document. The founder can't take it back, and no one can turn KidCAD into a private business. If the purpose ever became impossible, the law keeps the assets charitable: a court can direct them only to a similar charitable purpose, never to a person.
2. No owners
There are no shares, no members who own it, and no one who can sell it. The software, the curriculum and every dollar the Trust holds are held for its charitable purpose.
3. Trustees with legal duties
Trustees are fiduciaries: they must act loyally and carefully for the purpose, not for themselves. Five Trustees, one vote each; a Trustee with a conflict steps aside.
4. Public oversight
Charitable trusts in Michigan are supervised by the Michigan Attorney General, who registers them and receives their annual reports. We publish our status, policies and reports here.
5. Built to outlast its founder
The founder's intent is written down, and Secretaries and Trustee Apprentices learn the work, so future Trustees can carry KidCAD forward and adapt the tools.
6. Trust for families and donors
Families know KidCAD can't be bought out and closed. Donors and grantmakers know their support stays with the purpose it was given for.
A trust, a corporation and an LLC, side by side
| Charitable trust (KidCAD) | Corporation | LLC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | No one. Its assets are held for its charitable purpose. | Its shareholders | Its members |
| Where the money goes | Back into education: software, lessons, programs | Profits can be paid to shareholders | Profits can be paid to members |
| Can it be sold to a private buyer? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Who decides | Trustees, bound by fiduciary duties to the purpose | A board, for the shareholders | Members or managers, for the members |
| What binds the purpose | An irrevocable trust document | Articles and bylaws that owners can change | An operating agreement members can change |
| Public oversight | Michigan Attorney General (charitable trusts) | Ordinary business rules | Ordinary business rules |
Many charities are nonprofit corporations, which also have no owners. We chose a trust because the founder's purpose and intent are written into one irrevocable document, carried out by Trustees with fiduciary duties.
How KidCAD operates
- KidCAD V1 is free for every family, and its code is shared for anyone to learn from.
- KidCAD V2, V3, V4 and school plans have fees that pay for building and supporting KidCAD. What's left over stays with the Trust's purpose, never with owners, because there are none.
- Commercial activity such as a larger marketplace may, if it grows, be placed in a separate company owned entirely by the Trust, so its earnings flow back to the Trust. The Trustees decide this only when there is a real need.
- Every step is published on the Transparency page as it happens.
This page explains our choice in plain words. It is not legal or tax advice.
Technology education should not belong only to specialized labs
Technology education should not belong only to specialized labs or expensive programs.
KidCAD was built around a simple idea: a family, homeschooler, teacher, or student should be able to sit down at a computer, learn how an idea becomes a design, understand how that design becomes a real object, and build practical technology skills along the way.
Our charitable purpose is to further education through technology, especially CAD, 3D printing, robotics, computing, engineering, digital fabrication, and related entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
KidCAD Charitable Trust advances education by expanding practical access to computing, information technology, computer-aided design, 3D modeling and printing, robotics, engineering, electronics, digital fabrication, responsible artificial-intelligence literacy, technical creativity, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy related to technology.
We develop and support software, curriculum, instruction, educator resources, research, hands-on programs, equipment access, scholarships, competitions, exhibitions, certifications, and partnerships that help people learn by making.
Who we serve
KidCAD is designed to grow with learners from early childhood through adulthood. Our programs may serve:
Families and homeschoolers
Schools
Public, private, charter and faith-based schools.
Teachers and educators
Community learning programs
Adult learners
Colleges and partners
Future university programs, and charitable and educational partners.
Homeschool and Christian/faith-based families are an important part of the founder's original vision. KidCAD's charitable programs remain open under the eligibility rules of each program and are not privately owned by any family.
Learn technology by actually using it
KidCAD began because many families can see the value in technology education but do not have a robotics lab, CAD teacher, fabrication classroom, or technical program sitting nearby.
The founder's intent is to build an educational system where students can learn technology by actually using it: designing, testing, printing, solving problems, understanding costs, and learning how ideas become useful things.
As KidCAD grows, that vision can include online classes, classroom programs, research, open-source tools, competitions, scholarships, equipment programs, teacher resources, and new technologies that do not exist yet.
The Trust is designed to continue beyond its founder so that future Trustees can preserve the purpose while adapting the tools.
Learn. Build. Create. Pass It On.
Five Trustees. One vote each. No private owners.
KidCAD Charitable Trust is planned as an irrevocable Michigan charitable trust, governed by five voting Trustees.
Trustee portfolios
- Executive administration
The Executive Trustee chairs the Trustees.
- Education and programs
- Technology and security
- Finance and compliance
- Community and publicity
The primary public-facing Trustee.
Dedicated to education
The Trust's charitable assets are dedicated to its educational mission. They are not privately owned by the founder, Trustees, their children, or program participants.
Learning the work
Secretaries and Trustee Apprentices can learn the Trust's operations before becoming eligible for future Trustee service. They do not vote until formally appointed as Trustees.
Conflicts of interest
A Trustee with a personal interest in a decision steps aside from it. Relatives and insiders get no preference in grants or scholarships.
The five Trustee seats
Community & Publicity Trustee
Charles Alexander (founder, until this seat is filled)
[email protected]
Legal, privacy, security, school and giving matters go to the specialist contacts on the Contact page.
Learning by making
KidCAD's programs start with free software and grow into homeschool, school and community learning.
Free KidCAD V1
A 3D design and printing app for families that runs on your own computer, with Sparky the dragon explaining every step.
Download at kidcad.xyz →Learning with Sparky
Step-by-step help, safety lessons and project ideas inside KidCAD and on kidcad.xyz.
Learn →Homeschool families
Families set up their own KidCAD accounts and learn at their own pace.
Homeschool →Schools and programs
Each school gets a written plan and a KidCAD built for its classes. Schools are added by us under their contract.
Education Portal →Curriculum and educator resources
Lessons for CAD, 3D printing, engineering and responsible AI, for teachers and families.
Robotics, engineering and more
Competitions, exhibitions, equipment access and certifications as the Trust grows.
Working together
We work with schools, homeschool groups, charities and community partners who want learners to design, build and create.
- Schools and districts
- Homeschool groups and co-ops
- Libraries, makerspaces and community programs
- Charities and educational partners
- Colleges and future university programs
What a partnership is
A partnership is a written agreement approved by the Trustees. It never gives a partner ownership of KidCAD, control over the Trustees, or access to children's information.
Grants and scholarships
KidCAD may create grants, scholarships, equipment programs, or other educational-assistance programs when funding and Trustee approval are available. Each program has its own written eligibility and selection rules.
No applications are currently open
Please don't send any student information. When a program opens, its rules, dates and application will be posted here.
To hear when programs open, write to [email protected] or [email protected], or use the "tell me when it opens" form on the Education Portal.
How a program will work
- The Trustees create the program by resolution, with its purpose and funding.
- Fair, written eligibility rules are published with open and close dates.
- Applications ask only for the information that is needed.
- Anyone with a conflict steps aside; relatives and insiders get no preference.
- Selections are scored and recorded, approved, and followed up.
Grants to KidCAD
Foundations and partners offering a grant can write to [email protected]. Every grant is reviewed by the Trustees before it is accepted.
Help build access to practical technology education
Support will help KidCAD develop free educational software, curriculum, school and homeschool resources, equipment programs, scholarships, research, and future technology-learning opportunities.
Giving is coming soon
KidCAD is not accepting donations yet, and nothing on this site is a request for money. Giving opens only after the Trust is formed and its Michigan registration is confirmed.
How giving will work
General gifts
Support KidCAD's charitable mission.
Restricted gifts
Support an approved specific program, when the Trust agrees to the restriction in writing.
Major gifts of $10,000 or more
Use a written Donor Intent and Gift Acceptance process, so both the donor and the Trust have a clear record of what the gift is meant to do.
Equipment, software and other property gifts will go through the same review. Questions: [email protected].
What is true today
KidCAD Charitable Trust is committed to documenting its programs, finances, governance, restricted funds, and charitable activity.
| Step | Status | What it means |
|---|
Published here as they exist
- Annual public reports
- The current Trustee roster
- IRS determination status
- Michigan registration status
- Public policies, including the conflict policy
- Grant and scholarship summaries
- Privacy and safety policies
None have been adopted yet. Each one is posted after the Trustees approve it.
Never published
Private child records, donor information, bank records, signatures, security information, and other confidential Trust records are not published.
Public records requests: [email protected].
Children's safety comes first
Child safety
KidCAD runs on the family's own computer, grown-ups hold the PIN, and nothing a child makes is shared without a grown-up's OK.
KidCAD safety →School data
The family, not the school, owns a child's account. A school's access ends the day its class ends.
How schools work →3D printing safety
Hot parts, fumes and moving parts: KidCAD teaches safe printing in its lessons and keeps temperatures within the printer's safe limits.
Report a concern
Safety: [email protected] · Privacy: [email protected] · Security: [email protected]
If a child is in danger right now, call 911.
How this website handles your message
- This site uses no cookies, no advertising and no tracking.
- The contact form asks only for what we need to answer you. Please don't send any child's information.
- A robot check by Cloudflare Turnstile protects the form from spam.
- Your message is emailed to us and kept in private storage, then deleted after 365 days.
- To see or delete a message you sent, write to [email protected].
Contact the Trust
Write to us here, or use the address for your topic.
Community & Publicity Trustee
Charles Alexander (founder, until this seat is filled)
[email protected]
By mail
KidCAD
PO Box 177
Perrinton, MI 48871