Make-A-Wish needed to grow revenue in an environment where corporate partners increasingly expect measurable ROI, brand relevance and turnkey activation – not one-off fundraising asks. This was driven by a stark reality: for every wish granted, two more children are still waiting.
Historically, Make-A-Wish celebrated World Wish Day on April 29 – the anniversary of the first inspirational wish in 1980. While impactful, its limited duration constrained its ability to drive sustained engagement, partner activation and fundraising growth. Traditional campaigns often produced short-term spikes but lacked the consistency and scalability needed to meet evolving partner expectations.
Recognizing this opportunity, Make-A-Wish evolved World Wish Day into World Wish Month – expanding into a month-long, ownable platform designed to build momentum, capitalize on April’s strong giving season and create deeper, more sustained engagement. Research indicated that a consistent visual identity, unified messaging and structured activation plan could unlock greater revenue potential and strengthen audience connection over time.
Now in its third year, the objective was to further transform the World Wish Month “WishMakers Wanted” campaign into a repeatable, sponsor-ready fundraising platform that could scale annually. Rather than relying on periodic activations, the goal was to create a sustainable model that increased partner value, reduced activation friction and mobilized a broader base of supporters to take action.
By aligning corporate partnerships, chapters and national marketing under a unified campaign framework, the initiative aimed to drive consistent revenue growth, deepen engagement and create a clear, accessible pathway for participation within a defined annual window.
“WishMakers Wanted” was designed as a participation-driven fundraising engine – transforming World Wish Month from a moment of awareness into a scalable, revenue-generating platform.
At the center was the creation of a single, ownable annual campaign that corporate partners could reliably plan against and grow with over time. This replaced fragmented, one-off initiatives with a structured model that encouraged repeat engagement and long-term investment.
To remove barriers to participation, the campaign introduced a suite of modular, turnkey assets enabling seamless activation across retail, digital, experiential and employee engagement channels. A centralized digital hub (wishmaker.org) served as the campaign's participation engine, providing partners and supporters with a single destination to engage, donate and take action. Together, these tools created a scalable framework that drove more than 332,000 users (+44% YoY) to the microsite and generated over 1.2 million measurable engagement actions (+50% YoY).
National PR and social storytelling amplified partner activity in real time – transforming individual activations into a collective movement where every action contributed to shared momentum.
To bring the campaign to life physically, the 12-stop WishMaker Tour created in-person opportunities for deeper connection and participation. The Tour engaged more than 850 supporters nationwide, with stops hosted by partners including IT’SUGAR, Royal Caribbean and United Airlines. These activations connected mission moments with real-world customer and employee experiences – from immersive experiential, mission driven events to high-visibility moments like Wheel of Fortune and a group wish reveal with United Airlines – extending the reach and emotional impact of the campaign.
A key strategic shift was prioritizing depth over volume. Rather than maximizing partner count, the campaign focused on higher-value integrations embedded within each partner’s marketing channels. This significantly reduced execution burden while increasing both partner ROI and mission impact – enabling partners to plug into an established platform with built-in credibility and measurable outcomes.
The result was a repeatable fundraising and engagement platform model where fundraising success and partner success were intrinsically linked – creating a system that strengthens with each iteration and continuously scales participation, engagement and revenue.
In Year 3, the “WishMakers Wanted” campaign generated $7 million in corporate revenue, exceeding its fundraising goal by 45% and validating the evolution of one-time campaign into a scalable, partner-driven platform.
Most notably, Year 3 delivered stronger results despite activating fewer partners demonstrating that deeper integration - not greater volume - was the primary driver of growth.
This approach challenges traditional nonprofit fundraising models and illustrates how deeper, fewer partnerships can drive stronger ROI through increased efficiency, reduced execution burden and scaling impact through more integrated, high-value activations.
Revenue per partner increased YoY, while partner renewal improved from 68% to 75%, reflecting growing confidence in the platform’s ability to deliver impact and efficiency. Partners returned and expanded their involvement– shifting engagement toward sustained, higher-value partnerships that compound results over time.
Beyond revenue, the campaign demonstrated its ability to convert awareness into meaningful participation. More than 1.2 million engagement actions reflected active supporter involvement, from volunteer and supporter sign-ups to content interaction and mission engagement, expanding the community of active WishMakers and strengthening long-term support for the mission.
These outcomes directly met the campaign’s core objectives: increasing partner value, reducing activation friction and driving sustainable revenue growth.
“WishMakers Wanted” demonstrates that when fundraising is designed as a repeatable platform – not a one-time campaign activation – nonprofits can deliver scale, efficiency, long-term partner engagement and meaningful impact simultaneously.
