About Cap for Kids
Cap for Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks to bring hope and cheer to children undergoing cancer treatment, and their families. We do this by providing financial and emotional support to the immediate families of the afflicted children as well as by bringing them face to face with their favorite comic and pop culture heroes via in-character hospital or home visits. We are able to do this through the kindness, generosity, and support of the pop culture community as well as the heroic efforts of our wonderful volunteers.
Our Funding
Something that sets Cap for Kids apart from other charities is that all individual donations go 100% to our family support programs. We feel pretty strongly that if someone donates some of their hard-earned income to help our cause, that money should go straight to the cause itself, rather than to pay for operational expenses. We do this not only because it’s the right thing to do but also to set an example as to how charitable organizations should treat donations.
Given this, you might wonder how we do pay for operational expenses. First, we’re a volunteer organization so there are no salaries to pay. Secondly, our board funds many of the day-to-day expenses and for everything else, that’s where corporate donations and grants come in. Corporate donations and grants are treated with a standard 85-15 model where 85% of those funds go to family support programs and 15% go to operating expenses such as renting a booth at a conference, printing business cards or brochures, etc.
Our Programs
Two programs highlight our mission to bring hope and cheer to children (and their families) that are undergoing one of the most difficult battles any of us could imagine.
Family Sponsorship Program
This is our primary program and where all of our individual donation funds go. In this program, we sponsor families that have a child undergoing cancer treatment and we’ll help them pay their bills. Some examples of the things we help pay are rent/mortgage, utilities, phone bills, car payments, grocery cards & gas cards. We feel strongly that if we can remove some of the financial burdens from these families, they can then focus on their children, giving their children a better chance to recover.
In-Character Visits
Our secondary program, which is entirely volunteer driven and where none of our donations go is our character visits program. This is where we bring a theater-quality comic superhero cosplayer to the home (or hospital) of the afflicted child and do our best to bring some cheer to their day. We’ve done visits where we brought Captain America and The Avengers, Batman, Rocket the Racoon, Supergirl, and more.
The Name
The Cap in Cap for Kids is an acronym for Cosplayers Against Pediatric cancer and also a nod to one of our favorite comic book characters, Captain America. Our founder, Sterling Bailey started cosplaying as Captain America and quickly found that the children absolutely loved the character so it stuck and became a focal point in building the charity.
How Can You Help?
So good of you to ask! Well, first, we need donations. We sponsor many families each year to help them with the huge financial and emotional strain that this terrible disease puts on them. Secondly, we need volunteers. We always need help with logistics and staffing for our fundraising events. Think you can spare some time to help? We want to talk to you!
Would you like to donate to our cause? Thank you so much! Just click the donation button below to make your donation.