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WISH WEEK
Credit: Keyser Images
About Make-A-Wish
Qualifications for a Wish
Any child over the age of 2½ and under the age of 18, diagnosed with
a life-threatening medical condition, may qualify for a wish regardless of
the family’s race, gender, creed, socio-economic or cultural background.
Types of Wishes
The wish requests are as unique as the children who make them.
The majority of wishes fall into five categories:
I wish to be
I wish to go
I wish to have
I wish to meet
I wish to give
Wish Impact*
A wish come true helps children feel stronger, more energetic and more willing and
able to battle their life-threatening medical conditions. For many, it marks a turning
point in their fight against their illnesses.
• 97% of adult former wish kids say they experienced improved mental and emotional health.
• 74% saw the wish experience as a positive turning point in
the wish kids’ battle against their illnesses.
A wish improves children’s state of mind, replacing fear with happiness and
helping them to feel like normal kids again.
• 99% of parents reported that the wish experience gave their
children increased feelings of happiness.
• 97% of parents said the wish experience strengthened their families.
* Make-A-Wish America. “Wish Impact Study Results – Initial Phases: Jan – Dec 2010.” March 2011.
Wish Week Overview:
Who, What, Where, When and Why
Who?
YOU! Companies across the country are invited to engage
employees, lead others and host successful Corporate Wish Weeks.
An individual, group of co-workers or small steering committee can
start a Corporate Wish Week.
What?
Corporate Wish Week takes place at your organization and is
made up of a week’s worth of fundraising events in support of
Make-A-Wish® Mid-Atlantic and the granting of local wishes.
Where?
Corporate Wish Week fundraisers are usually held at a place of
work, or at an office but can also take place at a local venue or
restaurant.
When?
Corporate Wish Week can happen anytime; although they often
culminate around an already existing company initiative such as an
internal event, holiday party, annual meeting or quarterly initiative.
It is best to find a time that will attract the most involvement from
your employees and plan a Corporate Wish Week around it.
Why?
Credit: Keyser Ima
ges
Corporate Wish Week fundraisers enable you to make local wishes
come true for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. In
addition to helping grant wishes, companies can expect to:
• Provide employees with the understanding of importance the
company puts on giving back to the community
• Give staff another reason to love working for your organization
• Instill a sense of company pride
• Encourage comradery among employees
• Provide an avenue for team bonding
Successful Corporate Wish Week
Fundraisers include:
KICK-OFF EVENT
Bring your company together for an all-staff meeting or happy hour to kick-off your Corporate Wish
Week and get employees excited! Consider hosting it at a local venue or in your office. Work with the
Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic office to help build an inspirational PowerPoint presentation to include one of
our amazing wish videos. You can invite a Make-A-Wish guest speaker to share information or have a
leader at the company present. Some companies also enjoy providing giveaways and investing in themed
decorations for the week. To kick off the fundraising, encourage staff to participate in a “Miracle Minute.”
MIRACLE MINUTE
Challenge employees to donate their change – or
dollars – to see how much each department can
raise in just one minute. Set a timer and invite staff
to empty their pockets and grant local wishes. Don’t
forget to plan for volunteers to collect the donations.
DRESS DOWN DAY
Employees can contribute a small fee to wear
casual clothes to work for the day and can wear
Make-A-Wish stickers to show their support.
Consider charging more to make it an
entire Dress Down Week.
SPORTING EVENT OR
TOURNAMENT
Inspire a little competition by having departments
participate in a golf, softball or basketball
tournament. You can charge admission in addition
to a fee to enter as team to play. Also think
about organizing a raffle or silent auction
to increase revenue and add some more
excitement to the event.
WISH WALLS
SALES EVENTS
Sell Make-A-Wish Star provided by Make-A-Wish
for $1.00, $2.00, $5.00 or more and fill a wall.
This can also be a great holiday
or seasonal promotion.
Sell food, employee gear, customized t-shirts, or
Make-A-Wish products (such as lanyards, stars or
wristbands), before, during or after work.
SPIRIT DAY
RE-FOCUS AN
EXISTING ACTIVITY
Create a theme for the day and invite staff to
purchase a bracelet for $5-$10 (or other donation
amount) to be able to dress up for the day. Any
theme is possible! Popular favorites include:
Company spirit day, favorite sports team day,
superhero day or Make-A-Wish Blue day.
Turn your summer picnic or holiday party into a
“Wish Come True for a Child” by collecting a
small donation at the door. You can also add a
raffle or a silent auction to raise more money.
PIE IN THE FACE
Whip up a little fun, either as separate event
or as part of the grand finale, by inviting staff
to donate $5 to pie their bosses or peers in the
face. All you need to do is fill whipped cream
into pie containers and charge $5/each to staff
member who want to participate in pie-ing. Get
COMPANY MATCH
CHALLENGE
Ask if your company would be willing to match
the employee contributions to make your donation
stretch even farther!
the entire team together and consider having
a prize for the staff member who receives the
most requests to get pied in the face.
GRAND FINALE
Host a grand finale fundraising event, such as a breakfast, party or team outing to
celebrate your success! As a fun ending to the week, we recommend including a
final miracle minute as well as including some giveaways and decorations. To hone
in on the mission, share a wish video provided by the Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic
team to show your company what they helped accomplish.
Enhance Your Wish Week
PERSONALIZED
FUNDRAISING PAGE
Ask your Make-A-Wish contact to set-up
a personalized fundraising page for your
company to use before, during and after
your Wish Week. You can send it out to
your staff, family and friends to contribute
to your company’s financial goal.
DONATE AIR MILES
Invite all employees to donate their air miles!
Every mile donated helps wish kids and their
families travel to destinations around the world.
Even though the donation of air miles do not
add to your Wish Week Fundraising dollar
total, they are equally important and a fun way
to get your company engaged on a different
level. Once donated, your miles will never
expire and are used to support wishes across
the country.
Wishes in Flight
®
CORPORATE
Adopt-A-Wish® Agreement
WISH WEEK
Name:
Company/Organization:
Address:
Phone:
E-mail:
I/we would like to participate at the following level:

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$1,000
$15,000
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$2,500
$25,000


Dates of Wish Week:
$5,000

$7,500

$10,000
Other ____________
Types of fundraising that company plans to do:
Corporate Wish Week Program Terms:
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Individuals, businesses, groups and organizations may participate in the Corporate Wish Week program.
Corporate Wish Week companies who raise a minimum of $10,000 have the option of being symbolically matched to the next eligible wish child on the
chapter’s wish list and will be notified of a wish child’s first name, age, medical condition and wish type of the wish they are symbolically adopting, once
funds and Adopt-A-Wish paper work is received.
All communication with wish families must be initialized through the local chapter.
Should you like to promote your support, Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic must approve all uses of its name and logo in advance of production, printing or
distribution.
In order to avoid inadvertently jeopardizing existing relationships between Make-A-Wish and its donors, Sponsor agrees to receive approval from
Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic before soliciting corporations, businesses, celebrities, sports teams, or individuals for cash or in-kind donations relating to the
Corporate Wish Week.
Sponsor represents to Make-A-Wish that: (a) it will comply with all applicable laws during the planning, promotion and conduct of the Wish Week; (b)
all necessary insurance, licenses and permits will be obtained and will be in force through the conclusion of the Wish Week; (c) the Wish Week will result
in no cost or expense to Make-A-Wish whatsoever, unless expressly agreed in writing to the contrary; and (d) it will indemnify and hold Make-A-Wish
harmless from any and all claims of any kind or nature whatsoever arising out of, or in any way related to, the Wish Week.
Funds can be remitted to Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic via check, credit card, cash or electronic funds chapter.
If there are multiple checks and cash included in the donation, please keep all together and contact Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic to arrange pick-up/drop
off.
Donations made directly from the company are 100% tax deductible to the company.
I have read and agree to the sponsorship terms and conditions.
Authorized Signature: