icon for saint baldricks 25th anniversary

Kids with Cancer Need You

What started as a challenge between friends has become a part of every breakthrough in childhood cancer research, but our work isn’t done.

Cancer is still the #1 disease killer of children.

Join us in our 25th year and help accelerate the next 25 years of cures.

The Ripple Effect

Never underestimate the impact one person can have. St. Baldrick’s is a grassroots effort, driven by people who believe in helping kids with cancer. Each shaved head, each dollar donated, creates a ripple effect of hope and progress.

See Your Impact

Our Impact Journey

With your help, we’ve come a long way in the last 25 years.

  • Heads Shaved
    627,333
  • Shaving Events
    16,421
  • Fundraisers
    3,962
  • Grants Funded
    1,819

Humble Beginnings

Colleagues Tim Kenny, John Bender, and Enda McDonnell initiate a head-shaving challenge and turn their annual St. Patrick’s Day party into a fundraiser for childhood cancer research. Joined by 17 others, they surpassed their goal, raising an impressive $104,000!

gentleman in a suit shaving another gentlemans hair

With 37 head-shaving events across the country, St. Baldrick’s tops $1 million raised for the first time.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is created, to make sure every donation goes to fund the best research.

In its first year as an independent foundation, St. Baldrick’s raises more than $5.3 million with proceeds going to the Children's Oncology Group. The first St. Baldrick's Fellow is also funded.

St. Baldrick’s expands its range of grant types to fund more research, train the next generation of researchers, and give more kids access to clinical trials closer to home.

The first St. Baldrick’s Research Priorities Summit includes 16 of the most respected pediatric cancer researchers in the U.S., resulting in an even more well-rounded set of research priorities and funding types.

Two improvements to the funding program: A new Scientific Advisory Committee, and a new grant type to let medical school or college students spend a summer doing pediatric cancer research.

The first ever Pediatric Cancer Dream Team is formed, with $14.5 million from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Stand Up to Cancer, to find immunotherapies to cure some of the most hard-to-treat pediatric cancers.

St. Baldrick’s has a record-breaking year for grants and fundraising, granting an unprecedented $27.2 million to childhood cancer research.

The FDA approves a new childhood cancer drug as a result of research supported by St. Baldrick’s, increasing the survival of high-risk neuroblastoma from 30% to almost 50%.

To fund “outside the box” research, a new 3-year $750,000 award is created in memory of renowned pediatric oncologist and St. Baldrick’s Scientific Advisory Committee chair Dr. Robert Arceci.

The FDA approves Kymriah, the first gene therapy approved in the U.S., saving the lives of more than 80% of relapsed childhood leukemia patients who had no other hope.

The most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever considered by Congress, the STAR Act, passes, authorizing $30 million in new funding.

Of the Pediatric MATCH study patients tested, 24% were eligible to received a targeted therapy, much higher than the 10% scientists had predicted.

In what some say is the biggest increase seen from a single clinical trial, the 5-year survival rate of children with high-risk group 3 medulloblastoma increases from 54% to 73%.

With St. Baldrick’s as a key supporter, Data for the Common Good houses the world’s largest set of harmonized clinical data for pediatric cancer research, allowing scientists access to this diverse data.

More than 6,000 Honored Kids now inspire shavees, teams, and events to raise funds in their honor or memory, for lifesaving research.

Today

Kids Need You

child with facemask helping to shavee a gentlemans hair

Help continue the momentum to find cures for childhood caners.

Together, we can raise funds to fuel research that gives hope to kids with cancer.

The Next 25 Years

What does “accelerating the next 25 years of cures” mean? And what will your donations support to make it happen?

  • icon of a wheelchair

    Cures Without Late Effects

    Many of today’s treatments leave survivors with serious long-term health consequences. Goal: cures that give kids long, healthy lives.

  • icon of a test tubes

    Train the Next Generation

    One of the best investments we can make is to train young researchers who will bring fresh new ideas and spend decades discovering new cures for kids.

  • icon of a hospital

    Cures Closer to Home

    Support of clinical trials across the country means fewer kids must travel to be part of a clinical trial, often their best hope for a cure.

  • icon of a globe

    International Impact

    Children in developing countries rarely survive cancer. By continuing to train researchers in those countries, we can change that.

Choose Your Impact

  • Create An Event

    Bring your community together to fundraise for childhood cancer research.

    Start An Event
  • Start A Fundraiser

    Create a “Do What You Want” fundraiser to raise money your way.

    Start Your Fundraiser
  • Power Of Change

    Make a life-changing difference and join the Power of Change challenge.

    Be The Change
  • Make A Donation

    Fund research with the potential to impact every kid with cancer.

    Donate