Sarah Ford | October 4, 2013

Featured Charity: Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America

Wishes help kids feel better – and sometimes when they feel better, they get better. Learn how you can help share the power of a wish by supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America through the CFC or your workplace giving program.


What does Make-A-Wish® do?

Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America exists because we believe that kids with life-threatening medical conditions can benefit from living their one true wish. From the moment a wish kid’s family meets our volunteers, there’s a chance to make all their lives better. It gives the kids we serve something to think about besides their medical conditions, and can help motivate them during their treatments. 

That’s something that can help every kid, every year, who is diagnosed with a qualifying medical condition – all 27,000 of them. Last year, we granted nearly 14,000 wishes. It’s our vision to grant the wish of every eligible child. We want to help every single family enduring this struggle to discover some edge to keep them together and help their son or daughter, brother or sister, to get better – mentally, emotionally, physically. Imagine being a parent. You try to do everything for your children, and for once you feel helpless and isolated. But then someone else – who you might not even know – offers to lift your entire family’s spirits. That’s the promise that Make-A-Wish® delivers on every 38 minutes somewhere in the United States.

How are you making this happen?

Make-A-Wish® serves every city and town in the United States. These wishes are only possible through the support of more than 25,000 volunteers and generous donors like you. Wishes usually fall into one of four categories: I wish to go, I wish to meet, I wish to be, or I wish to have. Almost anything a kid can dream of, Make-A-Wish can make a reality. We will grant the wish of children older than 2 ½ and younger than 18 at the time of the referral. They must have a qualifying medical condition – a progressive, degenerative or malignant condition – that puts their life in jeopardy. They must not have received a wish from another organization. Income? Race? Beliefs? The demographics don’t matter at all. If there is a child in your community who qualifies, we will be there to offer the gift of a Make-A-Wish experience. And you’ll see that it has the power to change lives.

Give Through Your Workplace or the CFC:

Workplace giving is an effective and easy way for you to make a tax-deductible donation to Make-A-Wish®

Check to see if your company supports a workplace giving campaign (if they don’t, encourage them to start one), and designate Make-A-Wish® as your charity of choice. To make your workplace-giving donation go even further, ask your employer if they will help you share the power of a wish® by matching your donation.

If you are a federal employee, it’s easy to support Make-A-Wish® through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) – just enter CFC# 11375. Click here to learn more and read Wish Stories that were granted with the help of our Military. 

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