Frequently Asked Questions

If you register as an individual, you will receive one fundraising page and can set an individual goal. Your friends and family can donate through this page.

If you create a team, you can set a team fundraising goal and invite friends and family to register for your team. Each member who registers will get their own personal fundraising page and can set a personal goal but fundraising totals from each team member will be combined for a team total.

All funds should be donated to Lurie Children’s within 90 days from the conclusion of your fundraiser.

Please see below for all donation methods:

Online: Donations can be made online by directing donors to your personal online fundraising page (if applicable)

Mail: Checks and money orders can be made payable to “Lurie Children’s Foundation” and mailed to the below mailing address. Please include a brief note that includes your fundraiser name, tribute information (in honor or in memory and next of kin information), and if you would like to designate your fundraising proceeds, the area of the hospital you would like to support so we can process donations accordingly.

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Attn: Community Fundraising
225 E. Chicago Avenue, Box 4
Chicago, IL 60611

Hospital Drop-off: We strongly advise against mailing cash donations. We instead suggest getting a money order to mail in or turning in cash donations by scheduling a hospital drop-off with your Foundation team member.

Yes, donations in which goods and services are not received are 100% tax deductible. Donors will be acknowledged by Lurie Children’s Foundation with a tax receipt when adhering to the below donation methods:

Online Donations: Donors that make a donation through your personal online fundraising page will receive an emailed tax receipt directly following their donation.

Check Donations: Donors will receive a tax receipt letter in the mail to the mailing address that is listed on the check.

Please Note: Lurie Children’s Foundation is only able to issue a tax receipt to the person/organization that issues a check. If you are collecting multiple cash donations and wish to turn in one cumulative check, the only person eligible for the tax receipt is the check issuer. The check must be made payable directly to Lurie Children’s to receive a tax receipt from our Foundation.

Cash/Money Order Donations: Donor will receive a tax receipt letter by mail only when the cash/money order donation is accompanied by a completed Donation Form. The Donation Form can be found as a link on your personal fundraising page. Please paperclip or staple the cash/money order to the donation form when turning in donations.

Yes, approved community fundraising members may use the hospital Tax ID or Employee Identification Number (EIN) for monetary donation purposes only. Oftentimes donors will need to see proof of Lurie Children’s Tax ID when they are making a monetary donation to Lurie Children’s to ensure that they will receive a tax receipt following their donation.

Please Note: The Tax ID or EIN may not be used if a donor donates in-kind items (goods or services i.e. food, drink, musicians, photographers, etc.) to your event. Legally, an in-kind donation to your event is considered a donation to you or your organization and not to the hospital and is therefore not eligible for a tax receipt.

Because Lurie Children’s is not hosting your event, it is considered a third-party event. For this reason, you will not be able to use the hospital‘s IRS 501(c)(3) charitable classification or tax-exempt certificate.

Personalized fundraising page, social media assets, promotional items, benefitting logos, authorization letter from our organization, and support from our Community Fundraising team!

You can track your fundraising efforts via your Participant Center. Log in and review your pledges any time of the day. When a donation is made online, it is processed automatically and added to your fundraising total. Donations made by check or money order will be processed and counted toward your total within 10 business days after it is received by Lurie Children’s Foundation.

You may choose to use a third-party online donation site, but we strongly advise that you register and create a personal fundraising page so we can better support you.

If you do choose to use a third-party site, please be mindful of the following:

• Third-party sites often take out fees from donations while 100% of donations through Fundraise for Kids comes straight back to the hospital
• Third-party sites may have charity deposit requirements that make it difficult or impossible for Lurie Children’s to receive the proceeds at the conclusion of your fundraiser
• Lurie Children’s cannot guarantee that the money we receive from third-party sites will be earmarked in honor/memory of someone and designated to a specific area of the hospital
• Third-party online donation sites may not issue tax receipts to your donors while Community Fundraising donations are always tax receipted in full

First, check to see if your company has a matching gift program for health organizations. Our Matching Gifts tool, can be helpful in determining which companies match donations. Complete a matching gift form (available from your company’s Human Resources) and send it in with your donation. While we highly encourage the use of matching gifts in fundraising, we have absolutely no control over the timing, distribution and receipt of your matching gift. When submitting a matching gift, it is imperative that you include your name and “Community Fundraising” somewhere in the notes or memo, otherwise it is unlikely that we can link the gift back to your fundraising.

Donations support the Children’s Fund, which provides unrestricted support. Unrestricted contributions provide critical support, allowing us to direct funds when and where they are needed the most. A new piece of equipment that can advance patient care, a discovery in medical research that should be fast-tracked, or the ability to expand our programs and facilities to serve more children—unrestricted funding makes these and other initiatives possible.

If you have a specific passion for a specialty, such as pediatric cancer, we can work with you to ensure your donation goes directly to that area. If you’d like details about the funding areas, please download our fund information document. If you’d like to direct your fundraising, please contact our Community Fundraising team.

While you can fundraise in honor/memory of a specific person, Lurie Children’s is unable to direct funds to cover a specific patient family’s expenses. Our social work team works closely to connect families with limited means with internal and external resources that can assist them. One of the ways that their team helps internally is through allocating funds to eligible families from our “Emergency Support for Families Fund.” You may choose to direct your fundraising efforts to this area so that Lurie Children’s is able to ease some of these financial difficulties for all families that are experience challenging times.

Event costs should be deducted from the funds prior to sending the donations to Lurie Children’s. We strongly advise that you strive to maintain fundraising costs at 20% or less of the total income of your event. Event expenses incurred are the responsibility of the organizer of the event Lurie Children’s is unable to reimburse the organizer for the purchase of goods and services.

Please note, if using a Lurie Children’s personalized fundraising page, we are unable to return a percentage back to you to cover expenses.

The organization and execution of the event is the responsibility of its event organizer. The event organizer must obtain any necessary permits or licenses.

Lurie Children’s cannot provide insurance for third-party events. The event organizer is responsible for obtaining insurance for the event.

You or your organization may choose to open a temporary bank account for your third-party event. We suggest that you make an appointment with a personal banker at a local bank branch to get started. Your bank account must be opened in your own name/organization name, as Lurie Children’s does not authorize third-parties to establish a bank account in the name of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Please Note: If your event attendees make donations to your bank account directly, Lurie Children’s is unable to tax receipt them. Review Are donations made to Lurie Children’s tax deductible? for more information.

Because of the large number of events and the limited number of staff, foundation and hospital staff members are generally unable to attend and plan third-party events. We are happy to provide guidance, but we do not have the staff to handle the organizational and administrative tasks associated with third-party events.

Yes! Securing event sponsorship and in-kind donations are a great way to increase event revenue or help alleviate your event expenses. Please keep in mind though that we are only able to tax receipt a business if they make their donation directly to Lurie Children’s. However, there are still some other great sponsor benefits, including: gaining brand awareness, increasing sales of a product, and growing corporate social responsibility. Tips: Try soliciting local companies and position the sponsorship/in-kind donation as a strong opportunity for their business to receive targeted brand exposure with your local event attendees. Also look within your network to see if you know of anyone that owns/works at a business that may be willing to help.

Creating your own Foundation can be the solution to many challenges that community fundraisers face when it comes to things like tax receipting and securing sponsorship. However, creating a Foundation can be a large commitment and you should weigh out the pros and cons first when deciding if it’s the right choice for you. We suggest researching how to start a Nonprofit Organization in Illinois as a first step.

Due to hospital health and safety guidelines, we are unable to host third-party events at the hospital.

Yes! We love to share your successes, tips, and ideas. Please send your story and fundraising photos to [email protected] or tag us on social media using @teamluriechildrens

Approved community fundraisers are allowed to use Lurie Children’s “Benefiting Logo” and hospital name in association with your efforts. Before you use the logo or hospital name, we require that you run all materials past your designated Community Fundraising team member for prior approval.

To adhere to our branding guidelines, please note:

On first reference, the hospital name should always appear as “Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago”

“Lurie Children’s” is acceptable on second and subsequent references

All other variations are not allowed, for example: “Lurie Children’s Hospital”, “Lurie’s” or “LCH”

When feasible, we are happy to celebrate your fundraising success with a check presentation and/or tour of the hospital. Check presentations and tours are available during regular business hours and must be scheduled with your Foundation team member in advance.

Please Note:

Guests under the age of 16 are not permitted to go on a hospital tour, but all ages are welcome to attend a check presentation.

The maximum size of a tour group is ten people.

Patient interaction is prohibited due to hospital health and safety guidelines.

All tour group participants are required to sign our “Confidentiality and Health Agreement and Liability Waiver” prior to their tour.

Yes! Lurie Children’s has a wide range of volunteer opportunities with varying levels of time commitment involved. Take a look at volunteering to determine which opportunity is best for you.

Email the Community Fundraising team, or call 312.227.7267.

We would be happy to share your fundraiser on @teamluriechildrens, and if appropriate, on our Lurie Children’s event calendar or Shop and Dine page.

To protect their privacy, we unfortunately cannot provide donor, sponsor, or mailing lists.

Please review the full list of the services and support we can and cannot provide to our fundraisers.

Email the Community Fundraising team, or call 312.227.7267.