Walmart & Sam’s Club 2020 Campaign Exceeds Expectations

Local Walmart & Sam’s Club stores raised funds and awareness for Children’s National Hospital in June and July during their annual Children’s Miracle Network campaign. This marks their 33rd campaign for us and it exceeded our expectations!

We knew it would be different due to COVID-19 social distancing protocol and guidelines. We were not able to visit our amazing champions this year, so we relied on virtual kick-off meetings and communications. We were grateful to join weekly meetings to provide fundraising updates and share inspiring stories from our stellar patient ambassadors.

Another new component of this year’s campaign was the debut of Round Up and online donations. For the first time, Walmart included Round Up at all registers and added an online donation feature to e-commerce and curbside pickup orders. The results were amazing! Customers appreciated these options and Walmart was able to surpass its 2019 fundraising totals.

Just before the campaign was set to end on July 19, we received the exciting news that Walmart would extend the Round Up portion of the campaign to July 31! The extension not only helped stores manage the national coin shortage, it gave them two more weeks to raise critical funds for local kids. These new tactics, coupled with the creativity and resilience of Walmart and Sam’s Club associates, made for a tremendously successful 2020 campaign.

In total, local Walmart & Sam’s Club stores raised $455,667 for Children’s National, a 26% increase from last year! Associates remained engaged during all six weeks of the campaign by asking at the register and hosting creative (and contact-free!) fundraisers.

Shout out to Store #3639 in Dulles, our highest fundraising store, for raising $21,379 this year! Store #3639 made sure to ask every customer at the register, and hosted several successful fundraising events throughout the campaign, including a car wash to raise additional funds.

We are so proud of what our Walmart & Sam’s Club champions accomplished and the incredible impact they made in our community. Together, we can help children grow up stronger!