Make-A-Wish Foundation International
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Every day, a family hears the devastating news that their child is diagnosed with a critical illness. This devastating diagnosis turns their lives upside down and can impair a child’s recovery, leaving them feeling hopeless. Each day, more children must face the anxiety of a serious illness. As long as there are children who have had a part of their childhood stolen by a life-threatening diagnosis, our work is not done. Make-A-Wish has the unique ability to transform a child and family’s life during some of their most difficult trials – as a wish creates an opportunity for hope and the ability to experience life beyond illness. A wish is not simply a wish. In the fight against a critical illness, each wish serves as a catalyst for renewed strength and encouragement for every child and family on their journey.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Wish Granting
Make-A-Wish Foundation® International grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.
Families, friends, medical professionals, and communities can be touched by the simple, innocent wish of a child. A wish sends a positive message of hope, strength, and joy to a child when they need it most. The wish experience has the power to re-ignite the flames of life, creating a journey of optimism for a child and their family.
Where we work
Awards
4-star 2008
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4-star 2009
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4-Star 2010
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4-Star 2011
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4-Star 2012
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4-Star 2013
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4-Star 2014
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4-Star 2016
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3-Star 2017
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3-Star 2018
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4-Star 2019
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BBB WGA accredited charity 2020
BBB Wise Giving Alliance
4-Star 2021
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4-Star 2022
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Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsWishes granted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Wish Granting
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Make-A-Wish creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses around the world. A wish can help children build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. The experience can be a game-changer that brings joy and a sense of normalcy back into a family’s life.
Children who are eligible for a wish are not necessarily terminal. The majority of wish children go on to manage and even overcome their illness. In fact, many of our wish kids say their wish was a turning point in their fight to get better, and go on to lead healthy lives. Our Vision is to grant the wish of every eligible child.
Founded in 1980, Make-A-Wish is the world’s leading children’s wish-granting organization, having granted more than 550,000 wishes in 50 countries worldwide. Together with generous donors, supporters, staff and more than 30,000 volunteers around the globe, Make-A-Wish delivers hope and joy to children and their families when they need it most. Make-A-Wish aims to bring the power of wishing to every child with a critical illness because wish experiences can help improve emotional and physical health.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Make-A-Wish International has completed a new strategic plan for the organization's growth. In this plan, we are focusing on four pillars which represent our long-term vision: 1) Sustainable Resource Growth, 2) Increase Impactful, Quality Wishes, 3) Collaborative, High-Performing Talent, 4) Technology, Scalable and Easily Implemented. We have outlined a series of initiatives for each of these efforts and a specific individual has been identified to oversee each activity. Importantly, we will be reporting our progress on each initiative on a quarterly basis to the organization's International Board of Directors as well as the affiliates around the world. We believe that executing on these initiatives will lead us on a path to achieving our vision of making every eligible child's wish come true.
We will work together on accelerated, sustainable growth of resources and revenue for the enterprise. Recognize that we are a superior brand and must maintain a tight focus on our biggest collective fundraising opportunities. International will adopt a resource development philosophy and help train and build sustainable growth for all affiliates. Resources will come from increasing our brand presence, and our brand needs to show impact, relevance and need while being consistent and bold. Our goal is the be the Global Benchmark Children's Charity.
In the area of increasing the number of quality wishes, with consistent quality and execution across the enterprise, we will focus on a strategy moving us towards an organization concerned with outcomes (changing lives) rather than just interventions (wishes). Move us from 'nice to have' to 'must have' and supports our new brand positioning more effectively. Recognize we are the leader in granting life-changing, true wishes and our largest growth will need to come from underperforming and emerging markets, while maintaining the quality of our current operations.
With strategic pillar #3 focused on talent development –including board, staff and volunteers – we will continue our efforts to enhance and focus on innovative, collaborative, high-performing talent, who can achieve goals while being accountable. If we are to become a Global Benchmark Children's Charity, we need to assemble a 'Global Benchmark Pool of Talent' that exists across Make-A-Wish International and affiliates. Retention of top talent is a must. Training is essential. Recognize that we are unified, yet diverse, and leverage all human resources to achieve our plan.
We will also improve and focus on operational capacity that is scalable, consistent and easily implemented by both our mature and startup affiliates. Innovation and technology to support the strategic pillars and to increase the impact and potency of the organizational vision are essential. All members of Make-A-Wish are connected with the right business intelligence and technology tools anywhere, anytime, to any device.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Make-A-Wish employs more than 600 paid staff between the International office and our 40 Affiliates. Collectively, we work to enhance the organization's wish-granting activities and fundraising acumen. Our 40 affiliates are at the forefront in cultivating the necessary human capital to execute on our mission. More than 6,000 trained volunteers assist in providing the wish-granting experience worldwide. Volunteers also help in other capacities, including Board leadership, fundraising and event management, and other work that is vital to our organization. Our international office is guided by a Board of Directors that is comprised of some of the most accomplished and influential leaders in the world and representatives from our affiliate community. Similarly, each of our 40 affiliates has a board of directors made up of local community leaders. Make-A-Wish has forged strong relationships with many corporations at the global level, and scores more among individual affiliates. For example, our long-standing relationship with Disney, Inc. is an invaluable partnership, as a significant percentage of all wishes we grant involve a Disney theme park. We also partner with hundreds of celebrities, including musicians, actors, professional athletes and other public figures who graciously provide their time and talents to grant wishes and otherwise help us to fulfill our mission. In our last fiscal year, the revenues of Make-A-Wish International were more than $7.5 million, thanks to generous donations from individuals and corporations and Affiliate fees. As a result of the efforts of our staff, volunteers and partners, Make-A-Wish International is able to commit more than 80% of these funds to our program activities. This speaks to our integrity and dedication to our mission, which the public recognizes.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Each year since 1980, Make-A-Wish has granted more wishes than in the previous year, advancing toward our vision of being able to make every eligible child's wish come true. In 2022, the 40 Affiliates of Make-A-Wish International granted more than 17,000 wishes for eligible children with life-threatening medical conditions, and we only aim at continuous growth in number of wishes.
For the past several years, Make-A-Wish has been engaged in an essential conversation about our brand strategy. We have heard from hundreds of Affiliate and chapter staff, donors, volunteers, medical professionals, in addition to our wish families. At the same time, our collective teams have exhausted hundreds of hours conducting and analyzing primary and secondary market research. The results of this work is the International version of the Make-A-Wish Brand Book, which we released in 2017. The Make-A-Wish brand is incredibly powerful and holds a significant presence in this world. We are all fortunate to play a part in its bright future. This Brand Book helps define the qualities that are so important to our brand and arms each of our Affiliates with guidance to ensure we continue articulating our brand consistently in all that we do.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Make-A-Wish Foundation International
Board of directorsas of 10/29/2024
Victor Nichols
Director of Bank of Hawaii, Revlon, and Zovio
Term: 2022 -
Jayne Millard
Turtle & Hughes
Dr. Kevin CH Lau
Founder and Medical Director of Trinity Medical Centre
Tasia Fillippatos
The Walt Disney Company
Mike Densmore
CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria and Chairman, United Capital PLC
Jonathan Polin
Sanlam UK
Gilli Sinclair
CEO, Go Baby Go
Matthias Chika Mordi
CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria and Chairman, United Capital PLC
Kairus Tarapore
Retired Chief Human Resource Officer, Xylem Inc. and current Board Member with Succeed Smart Inc. and The Child Center of New York
Niv Garih
Executive Board Member, Alarko Group Of Companies and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alarko Carrier Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.
Joseph Chong
Regional Vice President, Asia, and Managing Director, Hong Kong, The Peninsula Hotels
Damian Thornton
Managing Director, Piper Sandler
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/25/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.