[1] It is self-described as "a nonprofit education, conservation, and research program based at the University of Kansas that focuses on the monarch butterfly, its habitat, and its spectacular fall migration.

"[2] The informal organization is largely supported by teachers and students participating in "classroom projects, collaborative research" among other opportunities.

[3] Its founder and director is Orley R. "Chip" Taylor, a "world-renowned expert on butterflies and their migration patterns.

"[2][4] The organization creates and distributes tags to place on monarch butterflies in order to track their migration path from Canada and the United States to south-central Mexico.

The program also offers free milkweed plugs to people that engage in the creation of habitats for monarchs and pollinators.