Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2025: Here’s How You Can Help
National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is an initiative started by President Obama in 2011 with a few simple goals: to increase awareness, rally support, and improve the dismal childhood cancer survival rates in the US. If you’re wondering when Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is, it’s during September.
In the US, pediatric cancer research remains underfunded. The National Cancer Institute’s budget of $5 billion allocates only 4% to childhood cancer research. With more research funding, treatments could evolve, and more children could be saved through effective treatments and life-saving support.
You may ask how you can help kids with cancer. While donations always help, there are many more ways to give and lend your support, especially during this special month.
This year, we’ve compiled a list of ways you can participate in National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Pick one (or several) that resonate with you and help young people and their families fight this disease.
How to support Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: 12 easy ways
1. Go gold
The symbol for childhood cancer awareness is the gold ribbon. Pinning a gold ribbon to your shirt shows your dedication to the cause and encourages others to do the same, creating a chain reaction that boosts awareness and inspires social action in your community. Advocacy is especially important for addressing disparities in access to childhood cancer treatment.
2. Update your profile pictures
For Child Cancer Awareness Month, the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO) encourages people to apply a gold filter to their profile photos on social media. This small symbol helps advocates like the ACCO take a stand against outdated and toxic treatments while promoting cancer treatment advancements and clinical trials.
3. Shave your hair in solidarity
Kids facing cancer don’t have the luxury of choosing to shave their heads, but you do—and that’s why it’s a powerful symbol of solidarity, showing children going through treatment that they’re not alone and providing them hope. If you want to take it a step further, organize a head-shaving event in your local community and turn it into a fundraiser to benefit research into leukemia, sarcoma, or neuroblastoma.
4. Donate time
To feel the direct impact of your support during Childhood Cancer Month, dedicate time to the cause. Nonprofits in healthcare and oncology can always use an extra hand or benefit from services you and/or your employer can provide. Find volunteer opportunities—in your neighborhood or online, for you or a group of friends or coworkers—through VolunteerMatch.
And you don’t even need to do it solely during Childhood Cancer Month. Make it a habit and set aside time during your week where you’ll volunteer at a pediatric hospital near you. This can include supporting children with lymphoma or brain tumor diagnoses.
5. Speak up for kids with cancer
Give a voice to kids in the fight of their lives in an effort to raise awareness and persuade others to take action. Start on social media, with an email, a tweet to your congressman on Twitter (x), or a blog post. The ways to create a conversation are abundant. All that’s needed is to speak up about childhood cancer facts and the need for oncology breakthroughs.
6. Create childhood cancer gift baskets
Gift baskets are a great pick-me-up for kids spending long periods of time in the children’s hospital. Consider what they might miss about life at home (a stuffed animal friend, fuzzy socks, a new coloring book), and wrap it up with a gold bow. If you can, squeeze in time for some part of your day at a pediatric hospital, helping to give the baskets and see a kid’s face light up. Think about adding notes for kids who are in recovery from lymphoblastic leukemia or are in the middle of a bone marrow transplant.
7. Start a fundraiser for someone facing childhood cancer
If you’re close to a child who just got a cancer diagnosis, why not start a fundraiser? The price of cancer can make a significant dent in a family’s financial resources and can create obstacles between a sick child and the care the child might need. In the US, high costs (even for those with insurance) force many cancer patients to skip necessary treatment.
To help family members focus on the child’s health and recovery, launch a fundraiser in his or her name to show that you’re supporting them. Crowdfunding for kids with cancer is a great way to make a difference. You can start a fundraiser for someone you know that has been impacted directly or create a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization that helps children and families fighting cancer in middle-income areas.
8. Start a workplace fundraiser for childhood cancer research, education, or advocacy
For Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, form a team with some colleagues to raise funds for pediatric cancer research, education, and advocacy through a fundraising program. The crowdfunding model makes it more convenient to get donations from your friends, family members, and colleagues. Call a meeting and start a fundraiser. You can even set up your own Child Cancer Week and do fundraising events regularly at your workplace to benefit childhood cancer treatment initiatives.
9. Donate to a childhood cancer nonprofit
Whether you want to support research, education, or advocacy, nonprofits fighting childhood cancer will put your money to good use. Many organizations, such as St. Jude, are at the forefront of developing effective treatments and improving outcomes for children dealing with side effects and late effects of cancer.
10. Get your representative involved
The United States House of Representatives has a bipartisan caucus on childhood cancer awareness. The Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus aims to remove the reality of cancer as a threat to all children. If your representative isn’t already involved, invite him or her to join the movement during International Childhood Cancer Day and beyond.
11. Get to know childhood cancer survivors.
Jenny Shaw was 6 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. She is now a proud survivor, and she and her family are determined to pay their good luck forward by giving back to others who are battling childhood cancer. You’ll find it hard not to be inspired by Jenny’s story and her fundraiser to give care bags to other children in their time of need. Her story of lymphoma, chemotherapy, and cancer survivorship is a testament to the strength of community support.
12. Share your personal story
Your story might be the tipping point that prompts a responsive public to action, offering a window into what it’s like to navigate aggressive treatments, emotional setbacks, a painful history, and an uncertain future. Get that message out there on Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, or other social media, to inform others and inspire someone else to give.
Support childhood cancer now
You don’t need to wait every September to do this. Every opportunity can be its own childhood cancer week or day. What’s important is that your story is heard. When we raise our voices, others are encouraged to raise theirs. Join us in fighting for children’s rights to a cancer-free life and start fundraising for cancer.