Riley Children’s Foundation unveils $300M fundraising campaign, its largest in history

Riley Hospital for Children (submitted by Riley Children's Foundation)

The Riley Children’s Foundation on Saturday officially launched a $300 million campaign, the largest fundraising drive in Riley Children Health’s history.

The formal announcement of the effort comes after the Riley Foundation said it quietly raised the majority, more than $200 million, in the campaign’s initial phase. The Riley Children’s Foundation unveiled the campaign, called “Every Child Deserves Riley,” during its Red For Our Kids Gala on Saturday in Indianapolis.

Riley Children’s Health is Indiana University Health’s pediatric system and has more than 50 locations across the state, including the 456-bed pediatric acute care Riley Hospital, which was founded in 1924 and was named for Indianapolis poet James Whitcomb Riley.

The Riley Children’s Foundation said the money will support five key priorities for children’s health and the lives of children and their families:

• The youth mental health crisis.
• Recruiting medical talent to Indiana.
• Advancing research.
• Expanding access to Riley Health.
• Family support.

“This is about access. This is about making Riley services available to more children,” said Mike Smith, Riley Foundation board member and campaign chair. “They come from all 92 counties (in Indiana), and yet we realize that we’ve still got underserved families who need Riley’s expert care.”

Smith pointed to the goal of adding mental and behavior health resources for children and teenagers, which he called a “pandemic of need.”

Riley is not alone among large pediatric hospitals unveiling big-dollar fundraising campaigns. Many patients at children’s hospitals are covered by Medicaid, which typically reimburses at low rates. Pittsburgh-based UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation in September launched a $200 million campaign. In Ohio, Columbus-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital last year publicly announced a $500 million campaign.

Riley Children’s Health President David Biggerstaff cited pediatric research programs and helping researchers early in their careers as areas in need of funding.

“The reality is, many of the programs that we invest in require extra support in terms of philanthropic support,” he said. “These would be programs that any organization has a hard time funding out of operations.”

Riley provides a wide range of medical and surgical services, including burn care, cancer care, trauma care, organ transplants and newborn intensive care.

Indianapolis couple Stacia and Trae McBride, along with their 2-year-old son Major, are among the families helping to promote Riley and its fundraising campaign.

Major was born at 25 weeks gestation by emergency C-section, weighing just 1 pound, 9 ounces. Stacia said he was little—like the palm of her hand.

“With him being so fragile, we didn’t get to hold him until he was at least five days old,” she said.

His lungs underdeveloped, Major soon took a turn for the worse and spent about four months in a neonatal intensive care unit of another hospital before being transferred to Riley.

“We were kind of in shambles just trying to figure out the next steps,” Trae said. “Once we got to Riley, everybody was so welcome and so warm, and they made sure that we had everything we needed.”

At Riley, Major started receiving care from the hospital’s bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or BPD, team, which treats preterm lung disease common in premature babies. The Riley DPD program, the only one in Indiana, will follow Major until he is 5.

“He’s doing so good,” Stacia said. “He’s 2 going on 12. He’s just a miracle.”