The results are in and Children’s Health Fund is proud to say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! The H&M holiday gift card campaign exceeded expectations raising $500,000! How many times have we seen fanfare accompany an announcement of intentions but never really learned of the outcomes? Well, not here, and not with H&M! The campaign is an amazing example of ‘good intentions gone right’ and the funds are already helping children and families here in New York and across the country.

The campaign launch in late November 2018 was filled with promise and hope – in celebration of Giving Tuesday, H&M announced they would be supporting Children’s Health Fund through a gift card sales drive online and in stores over the holidays. In the spirit of the giving season, H&M would donate 5% of gift card receipts in support of our mission to provide access to high-quality health care for kids who are disadvantaged in the United States. Their promotion included a strong in-store campaign with prominent signs at the register and messages playing across stores encouraging customers to participate.

The campaign began with H&M leadership and employee volunteers handing out nearly 400 H&M coats to students at PS36 in Harlem, New York – just down the road from the H&M Harlem anchor store on 125th St. Another 250 coats are being distributed to children who are seen at a Children’s Health Fund clinic in the South Bronx and will be given to other schools where Children’s Health Fund works. The “Giving Tuesday” event was the start of a nationwide volunteer program that rolled out in 2018 but will continue giving the gift of healthcare and warmth to children in need well into this year.

H&M’s connection to Children’s Health Fund and PS36 didn’t start on Giving Tuesday – our Healthy & Ready to Learn partnership with H&M Foundation has been running for several years. Together, H&M and Children’s Health Fund were already positively impacting the lives of thousands of children and families; helping parents to identify, treat and manage health barriers to learning throughout New York City. But this new effort involved a greater commitment to scale and pushed all of us to do more, so that kids all across the country could get the health care they need.

We could not be happier with the campaign outcome, or prouder of our partnership with H&M. As we look forward, Children’s Health Fund and H&M will continue to work together on innovative and transformative programs that directly address the unmet health needs of children.

THANK YOU H&M for stepping up for children yet again; thanks to your staff for motivating so many to participate in the campaign, and thanks to the thousands of H&M customers whose care contributed to our success!

Positively Onward!