Make-A-Wish Foundation International

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.

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.

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.

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.