How Connecting Champions grew donations by 8% to help kids with cancer pursue their passion

Introduction

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This ordinary question takes on a whole new meaning for kids and young adults who are diagnosed with cancer. No matter how unconventional their answer is – from ghost hunter to zoologist – nonprofit Connecting Champions seeks out a mentor to inspire and guide them towards achieving their dream.

Sidney Kushner, Founder and Executive Director, established Connecting Champions in 2011 after watching his friend battle with a rare form of cancer. Sidney noticed how socially isolated young people with cancer were due to missing school: 85% of this population reports they don’t receive adequate educational or career support. Connecting Champions took this challenge head on.

The organization’s vision is to give kids and young adults the agency to explore professions, envision life beyond cancer, and reclaim their identity through virtual and in-person friendships. Their outcomes-based methodology is backed by scientific research, a remarkable achievement for a nonprofit.

A fundraising platform to grow with the organization

Connecting Champions has been taking off. Since 2020, they’ve expanded their footprint from one city to 27 states across the US. Sidney and his team needed technology systems that would grow with them. The fundraising platform that Connecting Champions had been using wasn’t fully customizable nor was it innovating fast enough. Their must-haves? An embeddable donation form, the ability to export data, and a donation process that was extremely easy for their multi-generational donor base to figure out.

Customizable, future-proof solution with reliable support

After thoroughly reviewing options, Sidney and his team decided on Donorbox in 2018. “I was excited about the way that Donorbox talked about features and how they continued to be built. They were clearly speaking our language,” he explained. The platform’s customizability, integrations, and customer support won them over.

Whenever the organization has questions, they’re answered immediately. “We can count on Donorbox’s support team to get back to us quickly in a way that clearly understands our needs, which is absolutely critical for us when we have donations coming in every minute during fundraisers,” said Sidney. They also regularly tune into educational sessions.

Empowering fundraisers to effect more change

Connecting Champions has brought in over 3,500 donations on Donorbox to date. Donation totals increased 8% year-over-year in 2023. “Donorbox has done wonders for us,” Sidney explained. “It’s taught us best practices that sometimes didn’t feel possible to us as a small organization, like sending year-end donation receipts with the click of a button.”

The funds they’ve raised have helped them connect more than 400 kids and young adults with mentors during their cancer journey. Each virtual or in-person visit averages 55 minutes, and friendships last an average of 73 weeks. Mentors come from nearly 200 professions, everything from NASA scientists to professional athletes. Connecting Champions is also establishing partnerships with acclaimed hospitals like UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Every spring, Connecting Champions hosts its annual March to Friendship bracket challenge, a creative take on NCAA March Madness bracketology. Connecting Champions builds a Donorbox fundraising page for each team captain and gives them visibility into donations using Donorbox’s Zapier integration. Captains then rally their communities to make their bracket pools charitable to help sponsor a young cancer patient’s mentorship.

In 2024, the crowdfunding campaign brought in nearly $34,000 to make 135 friendships possible, reaching 96% of their goal. Two all-star fundraisers, Lex and Valerie Roofberg, have collectively raised over $100,000 for the cause over the last six years. Last year, Lex’s Family & Friends brought in 90% more donations than it did in its first year. Word continues to spread about this creative, competitive tradition.

Additionally, Connecting Champions raises money for its programs through other events, monthly donations, and creative activity kits, which provide participants with fun items like a science experiment kit or art supplies to use with their mentor.

The Future

As Connecting Champions expands, it’s setting up local donor bases in each city. Their evidence-based approach is working: a recent survey found that 98% of adolescents and parents believe the program improved the child's mental, social, or physical health.

Donorbox is honored to support the growing nonprofit by offering new features and educational offerings. Sidney shared: “We’ve raised a big percentage of our individual giving through Donorbox from thousands of donors, which is no small feat. We feel loyal to Donorbox because we want to see those numbers go up every year.”

With every dollar they bring in, Connecting Champions is focused on helping young people with cancer take their next step in life, in their career, in high education, and in their coping. Instead of creating one-time experiences, it’s helping them build actionable post-cancer plans so they can achieve their biggest dreams.

Donorbox features used

• Donation Form
• Quick Donate
• Recurring Donations
• Reports
• Automatic Receipts
• Donor Wall
• In Memory Of Designation
• Campaigns
• Zapier Integration
• Text-to-Give