The American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) is the fundraising and advocacy organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Its sole mission is to raise the funds and awareness necessary for St. Jude's continued operation. ALSAC is the largest healthcare related

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

in the United States. The National Executive Office is located in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. ALSAC also has over 30 local fundraising offices located in cities throughout the United States that hold over 30,000 fundraising events annually.

Purpose and activities

As of 2021, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital costs nearly $1.7 billion per year to run, and donations provide an estimated 87% of those funds. Only 6% of the money to operate the hospital comes from insurance recoveries and 5% comes from grants. To cover these costs, ALSAC has been raising more than $1 billion annually for the hospital through its more than 30,000 fund-raising activities. Notable fund-raising programs for the hospital include the

FedEx St. Jude Classic The FedEx St. Jude Classic was a professional golf tournament held in Memphis, Tennessee as a regular event on the PGA Tour. The tournament was held annually from 1958 through 2018, and was played in June at TPC Southwind (since 1989). In 2019, ...

, which is a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

event,

Up 'til Dawn Up 'til Dawn is a nationwide student-led, student-run program in which college students raise funds for and awareness of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Though called Up ’til Dawn, the program itself usually takes place throughout the ...

, and the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. Other fund-raising programs include direct mailings, radiothons, and television marketing. One of the hospital’s most successful fund-raising efforts has been the Dream Home Giveaway. The giveaway allows contest entrants to reserve tickets for $100 each to qualify to win homes valued up to $775,000. The Dream Home Giveaway is conducted in cities within the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In November 2004, St. Jude launched its inaugural Thanks and Giving campaign which encourages consumers to help raise funds at participating retailers by adding a donation at checkout or by purchasing specialty items to benefit St. Jude. The campaign has been is supported by network television spots, advertisements in major publications, featured content on

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

, and movie trailers. St. Jude has been named one of two International Philanthropic Projects of

Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha International () is a community and collegiate service organization for anyone ages 18 and older. The organization states that its purpose "is to inspire leadership and service by bringing good people together to pursue progr ...

International, a women's service sorority. Since 1972, ESA has raised more than $200 million for St. Jude. In September 2021,

Inspiration4 Inspiration4 (stylized as Inspirati④n) was a 2021 human spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The mission launched the Crew Dragon ''Resilience'' on 16 September 2021 at 00:02:56 UTC from Kennedy Sp ...

became the first crewed orbital mission with no professional astronauts on board. The mission raised more than $240 million for St. Jude, which was its sole charitable beneficiary, and the crew included a stuffed puppy toy modeled after two service dogs at St. Jude. From 2021 to 2022, a large plush duck toy, nicknamed “Mr. Vanderquack,” was used to fundraise for St. Jude . Groups of volunteers carried the duck through all fifty of the United States. In 2022, the convoy raised over $130,000 for St. Jude.

References

External links

ALSAC News & EventsSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital
* ALSAC IRS Form 990 for FYE 06/30/201

{{authority control Health charities in the United States Organizations based in Memphis, Tennessee St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Organizations established in 1957 Non-profit organizations based in Tennessee Medical and health organizations based in Tennessee