Gift In Kind

By donating these much-needed items to Children’s Health, you are helping to support our more than 100 year mission of making life better for children. Our Child Life teams maintain Amazon Wish lists that contain the most commonly-used items for patients and families – age-appropriate toys, crafts, supplies, special items for celebration, activities that distract kids during procedures and more. To purchase something from our Wish List, follow these easy steps:

  1. View our Amazon Wish List, organized by campus
    1. Children's Medical Center Dallas - Child Life
    2. Children's Medical Center Dallas -  Library
    3. Children's Medical Center Plano
  2. Order through Amazon and ship your gifts directly to the campus you select OR
  3. View our Printable List of Items Needed
    1. Needed Items - Dallas
    2. Needed Items - Plano
  4. Fill out the donation form
    English or Español

Children's Health is also always in need of crafty community members to handcraft needed items for our patients including activity/busy books, Beads of Courage, blankets, and comfort items for the NICU. Review ideas and other instructions for hand-crafted gifts.   

Want to donate something or have additional questions? Please email us at giftplanning@childrens.com

Host a Donation Drive

As a nonprofit organization, Children’s Health depends on donations from organizations like you. Your donations help to provide high-quality care and comfort to children across North Texas. Hosting a donation drive and helping us collect items for kids allows them to enjoy a little normalcy while they are in the hospital.

Ready to host a donation drive for Children’s Health?

  1. Contact Gift Planning at giftplanning@childrens.com
  2. Take a look at our needed items and decide what you want to collect
  3. Promote your drive
  4. Start collecting!
  5. Schedule a time to drop off your items
  6. Fill out donation form and send us the inventory of items collected

 

  • Guidelines for Holding a Donation Drive

    Contact Children's Health

    Email Children's Health at giftplanning@childrens.com so we can help guide you through the process for the most successful drive.

    Set a goal 

    Determine the number of items you want to raise. Encourage people to help you meet or surpass your goals by putting up flyers and telling them how their donations will impact patients and families at Children’s Health. 

    Get volunteers 

    A donation drive requires a certain amount of planning to be successful. Get volunteers to help with your drive, and assign everyone specific tasks like: 

    • Liaison to oversee details and answer questions  
    • Marketing/Advertiser to promote the drive-through materials provided in this toolkit 
    • Photographer   
    • Outside public relations/media contact  
    • Coordinators to collect and sort all donations  
    • Volunteer to track who donated what 
    • Person to deliver all the donations to Children’s Health 

    Make a timeline 

    Every donation drive is different. Below are the main tasks you need to complete for a successful donation drive with a sample timeframe.  

    Promote 
    Collect 
    Sort 
    Deliver

    Promote your drive 

    There are many ways to generate excitement and visibility throughout your drive. Below you will find samples of marketing material to promote your donation drive. Simply click on the material you want, download/copy and paste the information you need.   

    4-6 weeks before drive 

    • Brief other staff on all aspects of the drive  
    • Find volunteers 
    • Schedule meetings to discuss assignments 
    • Schedule post-drive meeting to ensure that volunteers are available to debrief  
    • Notify your marketing and communication departments for PR/media plan 
    • Discuss documentation (photos, video) of the event  

    2-4 weeks before drive 

    • Recruit volunteers  
    • Finalize task lists  
    • Make sure all volunteers are comfortable with assignments 

    1-2 weeks before drive 

    • Confirm details 
    • Make sure you have the box ready and location confirmed
    • Make or print posters and fliers 
    • Promote drive, e.g., media, publicity and volunteers 

    During the drive 

    • Collect donations 
    • Track the donations (assign a volunteer to create a spreadsheet and track who donated what item.)
    • Continue to promote the drive 

    1-2 days after the drive 

    • Make sure to thank everyone who participated in your donation drive
    • Sort all donations
    • Fill out the donation form and send us the inventory of items collected
    • Deliver donations to Children’s Health 

  • Needed Items

    Please view a list of items that we regularly need , or to see the location-specific Amazon Wishlists listed below.

    For all donations, please review our donation and distribution policy below. If you don’t see the items you wish to donate on any of the lists, let us know by contacting Gift Planning at giftplanning@childrens.com.

    Donations and distribution policy

    Donations

    For the safety of our patients, all items must be in new, unused, in its original packaging and latex free. Please do not gift-wrap donated items. Some donated items have additional guidelines and will be included in each section if necessary.

    Donation form

    Prior to delivering items, we ask that you please complete the donation form. Para español, haga clic aquí.

    Volunteer Hours

    Please include an estimate of the number of hours it took for you to complete the project. The time spent on the project is used in our year-end report.

    Example of how to calculate: If 4 volunteers spent 1 hour each making busy books, this equals 4 volunteer hours.

    Distribution of items

    Due to patient confidentiality and infection control, donated items are distributed by the Children’s Health staff. We, unfortunately, do not allow individuals and groups to distribute donated items to patients.

  • Track Your Donations

    Please track your donations using this handy spreadsheet and please complete the donation form linked below. By completing these two tasks, you will help us manage our inventory and ensure your donations get to our patients and families.

    Fill Out Our Donation Form:

    English or Español

  • Digital and Printable Fliers

    Poster 

    Place printed posters near the donation box, as well as in high-traffic areas like break rooms, conference rooms or near coffee/snacks.


    Download and Print

    Digital/Printable Fliers 

    Email fliers to co-workers, or place printed fliers in high-traffic areas like break rooms, conference rooms or near coffee/snacks. 

     
    Full Sheet Download and Print
    Half-Sheet Download and Print

    Rack Card 

    Place printed rack cards near the donation box, as well as in high-traffic areas like break rooms, conference rooms or near coffee/snacks. 


    Download and Print

    Postcard 

    Place printed postcards near the donation box, as well as in high-traffic areas like break rooms, conference rooms or near coffee/snacks. Or, put one in each person’s office mail box with a personal note!  


    Download and Print

  • Social Media

    Get pictures and content to post on your social media channels about your donation drive with Children’s Health. Copy, paste and edit the posts below directly onto your social media platform.  

    Option 1
    We’re proud to work with @childrens to host a donation drive for children to enjoy a little normalcy while they are in the hospital. We’re collecting [donation item] from now until [date]. Drop off donations at [location]. #ChildrensHealth #donationdrive  

    Option 2
    Join us [date] as we collect [donation item] for kids who are in the hospital @childrens. As a nonprofit organization, Children’s Health depends on gifts from organizations like [Company Name] to provide high-quality care and comfort to children across North Texas. #ChildrensHealth #donationdrive  

    Tagging  
    Make sure to tag Children’s Health in your posts using @childrens on Facebook and @childrens on Instagram

  • Website/Newsletter

    Add details to your organization’s webpage or newsletter about Children’s Health and your donation drive. Copy, paste and edit the content below to add to your website and newsletter. Make sure to replace [Company Name] with the name of your organization. 

    Content 
    [Company Name] and Children’s Health are teaming up to provide kids in the hospital [donation items] on [date]. As a nonprofit organization, Children’s Health℠ depends on donations from organizations like [Company Name] to provide high-quality care and comfort to children across North Texas.  

    Help us collect [donation item] to help kids enjoy a little normalcy while they are in the hospital. All donations must be new and in the original packaging.  

    Thank you for helping make our donation drive a huge success. Please call XXX-XXX-XXXX or email [insert your email address] if you have questions. 

  • Images

    Download any of the images below to add to your social post, website or newsletter. Don't forget, it's a good idea to share photos of your drive, as well. 

    Sample images coming soon!

Contact Us

Thank you for helping make the donation drive a huge success. We look forward to working with you and your organization. Please contact giftplanning@childrens.com if you have questions.