Together we are riding to fight childhood cancer.

Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF) is a national leader dedicated to ending childhood cancer. Our main focus is to fuel the research of bright scientists across the country whose ideas can make the greatest impact for children fighting cancer.

We also fund resources and programs that help kids and families as they navigate the difficult experience of cancer treatment and survivorship.

"We stick with GCC + CCRF because without funding there is no research...Research has provided our son with new medication when his leukemia becomes resistant to his current medication. We can see the results of what we do by participating in GCC." -Jeff, long-time GCC rider and father of a childhood cancer survivor

OUR WHY

In 1979, 13-year-old Katie Hageboeck, from Minnesota, was nearing the end of her 16-month battle with leukemia. Before she died, Katie asked that the money she’d been saving for a 10-speed bicycle be donated to a little-known fund at the University of Minnesota called Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF). With that seed of support from Katie and her family, CCRF has contributed over $235 million in funding of nationwide research, education and quality of life programs for children with cancer.

Katie never got the chance to ride her new bike, so now we ride to realize her dream of a world without childhood cancer. Since the first Great Cycle Challenge event in 2015, our community of riders from all 50 states has ridden a total of 36,997,211 miles, and together we’ve raised $80,332,640 in support of research to develop better treatments and carry on Katie’s legacy.

OUR RESEARCH

We want to ensure your fundraising efforts have the greatest impact, so we focus our research funding on three main areas:

Hard-to-Treat Diseases. Our goal is to help researchers develop safer, more effective treatment options for cancer where survival rates remain low or haven’t improved in decades.

Survivorship Research. The battle isn’t over when cancer is gone – so we fund projects that aim to give every survivor of childhood cancer a long, healthy life after treatment. 

Eliminating Health Disparities. Children from racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to survive cancer. We’re funding research that identifies the root cause of these disparities and builds interventions to eliminate them. 

Read about the latest research we’ve funded.

WHERE WE'VE FUNDED RESEARCH

With our growing community of CCRF donors, we’ve funded innovative and promising U.S.-based research in the following hospitals, universities and research centers. Projects are peer-reviewed and selected by our Research Advisory Council. In just the last 5 years, we have made grants to researchers at:

Baylor College of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University - School of Medicine
Childhood Cancer & Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC)
Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute
Children's Minnesota
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Children's National
Children's Oncology Group
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Johns Hopkins University
Katie Hageboeck Children's Cancer Research Fund Clinic
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Jacksonville State University
Lurie Children's Hospital
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York Medical College
Seattle Children's Research Institute
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Stanford University
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of California - San Francisco
University of Chicago
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Rochester
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Washington University in St. Louis
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

DONATE WITH CONFIDENCE

We’re committed to transparency and accountability with our financial information and how fundraising dollars are used to further our mission. As a result, CCRF is recognized for meeting all 20 standards by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance; we are a GuideStar Platinum Participant; and we meet all accountability standards from the Charities Review Council.

WANT TO DO MORE FOR KIDS FIGHTING CANCER?

If you’re interested in learning more or becoming more involved with GCC or CCRF, please contact Jenni Isenhower for more information.

Jenni Isenhower 
GCC Champion Director 
jenni@greatcyclechallenge.com