After five years that spanned a global pandemic and a shifting health care landscape, Children’s Wisconsin has closed the books on the largest fundraising effort in its history.

The health system announced it raised $308 million through its Brighter Than Ever campaign, exceeding its goal by $8 million.

Launched in 2020 and completed at the end of 2025, Brighter Than Ever was designed to support what the organization describes as a comprehensive approach to children’s health, integrating physical, dental, social and mental care. Through its Milwaukee and Fox Valley hospitals, primary and specialty clinics, mental health services and community-based programs, Children’s Wisconsin reports 7.3 million connections with kids and families annually.

Children’s Wisconsin leadership initially set a $200 million goal before increasing it to $300 million as commitments accelerated. Meg Brzyski Nelson, president of the Children’s Wisconsin Foundation, said the organization approached Brighter Than Ever differently, emphasizing engagement and awareness alongside fundraising.

“It shouldn’t just be about philanthropy and revenue, but it should be about bringing more people under the tent, more volunteers, more awareness for Children’s as a cause,” she said.

The pandemic, rather than slowing giving, sharpened donor focus, leaders said.

“Children’s is the only cause and the only organization that’s 100% dedicated to kids,” said Gil Peri, Children’s Wisconsin president and CEO. “And so, especially during COVID, people leaned into what really mattered: our kids, our future.”

Gifts ranged from 71 cents to $20 million and came from all 50 states and 22 countries.

“We heard from one man who was an annual giver of like $10 a month and he said, ‘I will eat peanut butter and jelly every day to support Children’s Wisconsin’s mission and how they help kids thrive,'” Brzyski Nelson recalled. “(Donors) didn’t stop what they were doing during the pandemic, and it didn’t change the way that they saw Children’s, they just knew that kids needed to thrive during this very difficult timeframe.”

Through Brighter Than Ever, Children’s Wisconsin dedicated resources to several priority areas:

• Eradicating disease and innovating health care: Funding supports research through the Children’s Research Institute, including efforts to advance precision medicine. Campaign dollars also helped upgrade and expand the Wauwatosa hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and expand services in northeast Wisconsin, including specialty and urgent care at the Appleton clinic, enhancements to the Appleton Child Advocacy Center and the opening of the Ashwaubenon clinic.

• Caring for the whole child and strengthening communities: Investments include programs such as Project Ujima, a hospital-based violence prevention and intervention initiative, and the Health Navigation Program, which connects families to housing, food, transportation and specialty care.

• Expanding mental and behavioral health care: Building on a 2019 commitment, Children’s Wisconsin integrated mental health services across its footprint through the Craig Yabuki Mental Health Center model, embedding behavioral health consultants in pediatric offices. With support from Kohl’s, the system also opened three mental health walk-in clinics in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Green Bay.

• Immediate impact programs: Philanthropic support allows the system to fund services such as Child Life, which helps children and families navigate the stress of illness and hospitalization.

Peri said philanthropy is essential in areas where reimbursement falls short.

“A majority of the time, reimbursement does not cover the cost for us to provide (mental and behavioral health),” Peri said. “So without philanthropy, we can’t provide that continuum of care that allows us to be proactive instead of reactive.”

“Philanthropy really makes Children’s Children’s because it pays for things that commercial and federal payers and insurance aren’t paying for,” Brzysk Neslson said. “Research, often, is seeded by philanthropists.”

More than 45,000 gifts came from people donating to Children’s for the first time. Children’s expanded its donor base through digital outreach and cause-marketing partnerships, including point-of-sale round-up campaigns and increased social media engagement.

“I think it was the simplicity and the really articulate storytelling that drew people in,” Brzysk Nelson said. “We used all sorts of channels, new digital channels.”

Major gifts included $15 million from The Reiman Foundation and $20 million from The Yabuki Family Foundation to advance mental and behavioral health services, including a matching initiative known as the Change the Checkup Challenge.

“(My goal is that,) because of the generous support of our community, Children’s Wisconsin is able to provide services close to home for the whole state of Wisconsin, as well as the prevention and early detection that allows us to be proactive, not reactive,” Peri said.