Donating items to Children’s Wisconsin

We’re so thankful for the generosity, passion and creativity of the community in supporting our mission. Thank you for taking a moment to learn how you can make the most impactful gift to Children’s Wisconsin. While toys are a popular donation item, especially around the holidays, we’d like to let you know about other immediate needs that have a profound impact on the care experience for kids and families.

Shop our Amazon Wish List (preferred)

We consider every element of a hospital stay through the eyes of patients’ families. When you purchase a new gift from our wish list, you enhance a child’s health care experience by providing comfort and therapeutic distraction to normalize the hospital environment. Likewise, treatment milestones, birthdays and holidays are made even more special with child-friendly surprises. Our Child Life and The Creative Arts Therapy team frequently updates our Amazon Wish List with our most-needed items, and purchases are shipped directly to Children’s. This is our preferred in-kind donation method — it’s fast for you and ensures your donation makes the biggest impact possible! Shop the list.

Start a virtual drive for books, art supplies and other items

Help raise funds for our Child Life and The Creative Arts Therapies programs by hosting a virtual drive. Encourage your family, friends, co-workers and others to participate, and Children’s staff will use the proceeds to purchase age-appropriate, fun and comforting items and distribute them equitably to hospitalized kids. Donate today!

What about donating toys or other items in-person?

There’s nothing like seeing and feeling the impact of your donation. That said, there are several challenges with physical, in-person donations in a pediatric health care environment:

• In-person donations must be pre-approved and will not be accepted without an appointment.
• To keep our kids safe from infection, all donated items must be new (store-bought and in original packaging) and cannot contain latex. We may have to decline even new products if we are short on storage space or if your donation doesn’t meet Children’s greatest needs.
• We cannot accept gently used items, items that have been stored for an extended period, food, or donations with religious or violent themes.
• Handmade items are accepted on a case-by-case basis. Please connect with our donations team for additional information about our current needs and infection control guidelines: Email or call our donation staff in Milwaukee at (414) 266-2183 or in Neenah at (920) 967-9129.
• To respect the privacy of our patients and families, we are unable to allow donors to personally deliver gifts to our hospitals and clinics.

Please review the full list of items that we are unable to accept. If you’d like to donate gently used toys or other physical items, your best option is an organization like Goodwill.

Other ways to support Children’s families

There are so many ways to support the kids and families of Wisconsin! From volunteering to corporate sponsorships, view our full list to learn more.

Thank you for being so thoughtful about giving in the most meaningful ways to you and to the kids and families of Wisconsin! Your intentionality and generosity will brighten a child’s day.