Why Participate

For Every Child. For Every Need.

Every day at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, we work to give each child hope for a healthy future. From life-changing research to leading clinical care that impacts our communities, we advocate for and provide the best for children in our backyard and around the world. Being the first pediatric hospital in the nation is only one of the many firsts we’ve celebrated during the past 165+ years. We empower dreams, unlock potential and inspire hope.

When you participate in I CHOP your generosity powers the people, programs and places that make the seemingly impossible possible for children and families. Teams and individual participants that raise more than $1,000 can choose to direct their fundraising to a specific area at CHOP — such as the Division of Neurology, the Child Life Department, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research — or support CHOP’s greatest need.

Your gift supports patient care, research, our community and professional training at CHOP.

Exceptional patient-family care

CHOP encourages creativity and play in the hospital setting. We’ve distributed more than 7,000 activity and craft kits with a total of more than 20,000 items.

Collaborative breakthrough research

CHOP has supported 14 Cell and Gene Therapy Collaborative Seed Grants, promoting early-stage development of new cell and gene therapies.

Engaging community relations

CHOP’s Project Be-WEHL (Behavioral Health-Wellness Equity for a Healthy Life) is creating safer and healthier communities, impacting 670+ children and partnering with 35 community sites throughout Greater Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.

Advanced training & education

We are building a pipeline of experts in pediatric medicine by funding professional development expenses. We supported 509 employees in FY24.

CHOP: By the numbers

  • 1.6M
    outpatient visits per year
  • 227K+
    inpatient days per year
  • 34K+
    hospital admissions each year
  • 692
    hospital beds in use every day
  • 300+
    centers, programs and disease-specific clinics
  • 50+
    locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

The future of personalized medicine is here …

In a historic medical breakthrough, a child diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder (KJ, pictured) was successfully treated with a customized CRISPR gene editing therapy by a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine.

KJ was born with severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, a type of urea cycle disorder. After spending the first several months of his life in the hospital, KJ received the first dose of his bespoke therapy in February 2025, when he was between six and seven months of age. The treatment was administered safely and KJ continued to be monitored as an inpatient. On June 3, 2025 — after more than 300 days in the hospital — 9-month-old KJ went home with his family.

News of this revolutionary treatment was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2025, and could provide a pathway for gene editing technology to be successfully adapted to treat other individuals with rare diseases for whom no medical treatments are currently available.