Courtesy of Arizona Department of Transportation
Audio By Carbonatix
The Arizona Department of Transportation has more than 75 specialty license plates. There’s the now-ubiquitous blue sky with clouds plate for alternative-fuel vehicles. A plate featuring the fierce visage of metal legend Alice Cooper benefits the rocker’s Solid Rock Teen Centers. Other license plates show support for local sports teams, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Luke Air Force Base or Arizona Indigenous tribes.
The next specialty plate to debut, however, supports a good cause with no signifiers at all.
The Saguaros philanthropic membership club has announced a new all-black specialty license plate, 4AZ Kids, and it’s the first Arizona plate with a fully black design and no logo.
It will be available through the Arizona Motor Vehicles Department starting March 26. The plate features a black face with white letters and numbers. The cost for each specialty plate is $25, and an additional $25 for personalization with up to seven digits for cars and five digits for motorcycles. Seventeen dollars from the sale of each 4AZ Kids plate goes directly to Saguaro Children’s Charities, a foundation that has granted millions of dollars to Arizona children’s charities.
Saguaros member Clayton Wolfe championed the initiative.
“Our mission is simple: Raise as much as possible to support children’s charities in Arizona,” Wolfe said in the announcement. “We believe the clearest path to accomplish this is to give the people what they want by setting aside our brand and offering a completely logo-free black plate.”
With the introduction of the 4AZ Kids license plate, Arizona becomes the 10th state to offer a “blackout” style plate. Most of these plates have been introduced in the past five years, indicating a trend toward the minimalist design. Iowa’s blackout plate, introduced in 2019, quickly became the state’s most popular specialty plate, with more than 713,000 sold as of January 2026.
Wolfe said the fundraising potential for The Saguaros Children’s Charities is massive, noting that each purchase supports not just one charity, but dozens of established nonprofits helping children around the state.
Founded in 1987, the philanthropic and social club granted $750,000 to 29 children’s charities in 2025, including AZ Foster Alliance, Children’s Cancer Network, Foundation For Blind Children, Miracle League of Arizona, Ryan House, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, National Kidney Foundation of Arizona, Make A Wish and more.
Visit blackplateaz.com for more information.
