Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance

There’s a story behind one local business’s Big Day of Giving matching gift

This is a story about generosity. This is a story about Keaton, who passed away after a courageous fight with pediatric cancer, and it is a story about his mother, who founded Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance (KRM) – a Roseville-based nonprofit that assists other children battling cancer and their families – in his honor.

This is a story about Aubrey and her mother, who both relied on KRM during Aubrey’s own battle with childhood cancer. It is a story about the colleagues they worked with at Harley Davidson and how – fifteen years after Aubrey’s passing – those colleagues continue donating to KRM in her memory.

This is a story about how the gift Harley Davidson Folsom made in Aubrey’s honor to KRM’s Big Day of Giving 2016 matching funds pool multiplied the impact of other donors’ gifts. It is a story about how the $21,540 that KRM raised during Big Day of Giving 2016 with help from that matching gift will ensure it can continue serving local families who are navigating the physical, emotional, and financial realities of pediatric cancer – families like Trish and her son, Kaleb, who recently celebrated his fifth year of remission. This is a story about their joy, and the generosity that connects our community.

Kaleb and his mother, Trish, at KRM's office, looking through the chest full of treasures and games that children are given as part of KRM's support services.

Thanks to the training received at the Foundation’s nonprofit bootcamps, KRM raised $10,770 in gifts to fund its matching pool during Big Day of Giving 2016 and amplify donors’ gifts. More than 140 other nonprofits raised $860,000 in matching funds through similar arrangements that year.

Generosity is the heart of our work at the Foundation; it is the focus of our Expanding Philanthropy and the Social Economy initiative, through which we advance charitable giving andstrengthen our region’s nonprofit sector by powering dynamic, community-building programs like Big Day of Giving.

In the end, this is a single story – woven from the threads of many – that reminds us of one resounding truth: generosity is an essential and enduring element of our community.