SickKids Foundation raised $98,750

Who

SickKids Foundation supports Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children through fundraising, which facilitates ground-breaking research, precision health care and education. Since 1875 their mission has been to fight for the health of every child. SickKids Foundation is currently in the final years of the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian healthcare history. The multi-year project aims to raise $1.5 billion to rebuild a state-of-the-art hospital, continue breakthrough research, and build health capacity both in Toronto, and across the globe.

What

In what will be a familiar story for fundraisers from all parts of Canada, the pandemic and public health restrictions prevented SickKids from pursuing their ‘normal’ in person fundraising events over the past 12 months. However, still keen to engage with donors and edge ever closer to their huge target, SickKids transformed their long established in person event ‘Scrubs in the City’ into ‘Scrubs at Home’ and held a creatively orchestrated online auction.

How

Based on Givergy’s recommendation, Heart & Stroke reduced the virtual program to 55 minutes to keep their audience captivated. Heart & Stroke was able to seamlessly integrate the Givergy auction and donation platform into the run of the show so that it was simple for donors to bid or donate, whilst enjoying the musical entertainment.

Result

‘Scrubs at Home’ was an innovative and successful event with $90,000 being raised through the auction alone. Moreover, the auction, combined with Givergy’s simple donation function, raised $98,750. Incredibly, this was nearly as much as Scrubs raised through their auction when the event last took place in person! This success paves the way for the potential integration of innovative and creative fundraising beyond the pandemic. The funds raised will be used to create cellular therapy facilities within the new hospital!

Top Tip: “Something the pandemic has forced us to do is take more risks, of course, this is easier for such an established charity but being allowed the flexibility to take a change on our fundraising campaigns led to the success of this one. Moreover, ensuring committee members are committed is so important. When they are invested in the success of the event they can really help a lot, utilising their contact base and resources is a great support for the fundraising team.”