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Our mission

We reduce stress in seriously ill children.

We bring childhood to children’s hospitals. Whatever it takes.

Play and technology measurably ease stress, anxiety, and pain for seriously ill children. Cochrane review of 59 trials, 2018.

  • A hospital room. A LEGO set. A kid again.

    A smiling toddler in the hospital with a new LEGO set.
Our story

It started with a green monkey.

When Taylor Carol was eleven, a broken elbow from a baseball game led to a diagnosis of leukemia and years in and out of the hospital. A green monkey he’d won at a Disneyland throwing contest never left his hospital bed. As Jim tells it, a hand-painted egg from a stranger at Seattle Children’s gave Taylor hope on a hard day — and the family set out to hand that feeling to as many kids as they could.

GameChanger Charity grew out of that: a father and son who’d lived the isolation of a children’s hospital, determined to give other kids a way to feel like kids again. The green monkey became “Hope” — now the charity’s mascot, given to thousands of children, per the family.

Today GameChanger is a holistic pediatric support organization with one mission: reduce stress in seriously ill children — through comfort, play, technology, and research. A new breed of charity.

“Hope is everything. And so Hope is our mascot. Hope lives here.”

— Jim Carol, Founder

A young patient in a hospital playroom holding a hand-made ‘Thank you, GameChanger’ sign.
A young patient receiving a comfort gift.
A young patient beaming, mid-treatment.
What we do

Comfort, play, and a little normal — when it matters most.

We reduce stress in seriously ill children — through comfort, play, technology, and research.

A boy playing Minecraft on an Xbox cart in his hospital room.

Comfort & in-room tech

Comfort gifts — toys, books, LEGO sets, and Hope plushies — plus consoles, curated bundles, VR, and in-room 3D printing, packed and sent from a family-run warehouse.

A boy smiling at a GameChanger gaming station in a hospital playroom.

Game rooms & family spaces

Playrooms, family lounges, and teen spaces where kids and families can breathe. At Primary Children’s, GameChanger helped fund the first playroom renovation since the building opened in 2001.

Per hospital staff, on camera.

A teen patient using a VR headset and controllers in their hospital room.

Stress-reduction research

GameChanger funds research by Dr. Asher Marks at the Yale School of Medicine — using XR and AI to ease anxiety and stress for children in treatment.

A GameChanger volunteer and a beaming young patient with a new gift in the hospital.

Experiences & scholarships

College scholarships for young survivors — including the Brian Dovey Scholarship for children with Down syndrome battling cancer — plus experiences like equine therapy.

By the numbers

Honest numbers.

We’d rather under-claim than overstate. Here’s what we can stand behind.

$26M+
in cash and donated goods recorded since 2011 — roughly two-thirds of it in-kind.
GameChanger general ledger.
50+
hospital partners across North America.
GameChanger partner network.
1.7M
U.S. children are hospitalized every year. Play is how they stay kids.
AHRQ HCUP KID, 2019.

501(c)(3) since February 2009 · Candid Platinum Seal (2025).

A beaming young patient holding Hope, GameChanger's green monkey, above their head.
Hope lives here

Meet Hope.

A plush green monkey kept a hospitalized 11-year-old company through years of treatment. Today Hope is GameChanger’s mascot — a small green reminder that a kid in a hospital bed still deserves to feel like a kid.

Candid Platinum 2025 2026 Nonprofit of the Year — CA SD-36

501(c)(3) public charity · EIN 26-3438815 · tax-exempt since February 2009.

Get involved

However you want to help.

For partners

A cause your community already loves.

A credible, transparent partner with real employee-engagement upside — 52% lower turnover at companies with engaged purpose programs.

Benevity, 2022.

Talk to our team
For families

Need support?

If your child is in the hospital and a game, a gift, or just a little normal would help — we’re here. No forms before kindness.

Reach out
For volunteers

Want to help?

This whole thing runs on people like you and a warehouse full of joy — packing gifts, running events, bringing comfort to kids.

Volunteer

A kid gets to play tonight.

For $25, books and games. For $50, a comfort-care package. For $150, in-room tech for a child’s room. Either way — you put hope in a hospital room.

Donate
Tax-deductible 501(c)(3) EIN 26-3438815 Candid Platinum
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