Frequently Asked Questions

Superhero Day is a fundraising event where schools join forces to support Lurie Children’s. Participants host fun activities, dress up as superheroes, and raise funds to help children in need.

Anyone! Superhero Day is designed for schools but is open to individuals, families, workplaces, and community groups. If you want to make a difference for Lurie Children’s, you can participate.

At Lurie Children’s, we celebrate Superhero Day on March 7, 2025. You can host your Superhero Day event anytime that works best for your group!

Yes, we encourage everyone to register. When you register, you’ll get access to fundraising resources, tools, and tips to make your event a success.

After registering, you’ll receive a link to your personal or team fundraising page. Share this link with friends, family, and colleagues to collect donations online.

Yes, we encourage everyone to register. When you register, you’ll get access to fundraising resources, tools, and tips to make your event a success.

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.