How Northwestern Mutual is Helping Advance Childhood Cancer Research This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Since 2012, the company has contributed more than $75 million to the childhood cancer cause, funded 860,000-plus hours of research, awarded 371 scholarships to survivors and siblings of those affected by childhood cancer, helped families travel for life-saving clinical trials, and supported non-profits across the country that are improving the lives of kids with cancer.

This September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Northwestern Mutual is launching a new initiative to support hospitals and spotlight healthcare heroes who go above and beyond to provide exceptional patient care for children and their families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis.

Childhood Cancer Healthcare Hero Award

Childhood cancer hospital care team members such as nurses, child life specialists, social workers, and recreational therapists are often the unsung heroes who help children and families navigate their treatment journey.

To mark the launch of this new award, Northwestern Mutual is donating $100,000 to support providers and families at Children’s Hospital Wisconsin MACC Fund Center. The gift helps support families facing financial hardship, expand professional development opportunities for hospital staff and recognizes a healthcare professional who is providing exceptional patient care through the inaugural Northwestern Mutual Childhood Cancer Healthcare Hero Award.

The first award was presented to Katy Tomlinson, a registered nurse at the MACC Fund Center at Children’s Wisconsin.

How ALSF began

Alexandra "Alex" Scott was born in 1996 to Liz and Jay Scott in Manchester, Connecticut. Just before her first birthday, she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer that causes tumors throughout the body. The day after she turned four, Alex received a stem cell transplant and told her mother that she wanted to start a lemonade stand and give the money she earned to doctors to allow them to "help other kids, like they helped me."

By the time she passed away at age eight, Alex had raised $1 million. Since then, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) has become the largest independent childhood cancer nonprofit in the U.S., funding pediatric cancer research and supporting families affected by childhood cancer.

In 2012, Northwestern Mutual made a commitment to help accelerate the search for better treatments and cures for childhood cancer and started its partnership with ALSF.

Fourteen years later, the work continues. Northwestern Mutual and its network offices across the country play a major role in funding several key initiatives. In 2025, the company launched an initiative to further show our commitment to creating a path towards a future without childhood cancer: For each financial plan our advisors deliver to a prospective client during the month of September, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation will donate $100 ($25 in New York*) to ALSF—up to $2 million, which is equivalent to 40,000 hours of research.

*Per New York State insurance law.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 400,000-plus children are diagnosed each year with cancer—which translates to a child being diagnosed with cancer every 80 seconds. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in American children, resulting in the death of 1,800 kids each year. Yet, for certain types of cancer, treatments developed and approved 30 years ago haven't changed, are not effective, and come with devastating long term side effects.

That's why Northwestern Mutual is committed to supporting research funding for scientists to use advanced technology, drug development, and lab research. Every increase in survivorship brings us closer to a future without childhood cancer.

Please read on for some highlights about how we got started, how far we've come—and how much we still plan to accomplish.

Northwestern Mutual’s work with ALSF

Young Investigator Grants

These grants supply critical startup funds for early career researchers to pursue promising research ideas. Plus, each year, the Northwestern Mutual Young Investigator Summit brings ALSF Young Investigators together to meet with other grantees funded by ALSF.

Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program

This program was specifically designed to support undergraduate, graduate and medical students who have an interest in pediatric oncology research and allows them to experience working in the field first-hand.

Childhood Cancer Scholarship Program (CCSP)

Since 2017, Northwestern Mutual has partnered with Scholarship America, awarding 371 scholarships to childhood cancer survivors, as well as siblings of those affected by childhood cancer. So far, this program has distributed $3.1 million to help lessen the financial strain of college for families that have endured a cancer diagnosis.

Childhood Cancer Data Lab

Northwestern Mutual was a founding member of this research initiative, which translates publicly available disease data into one consistent format so that all researchers can access and understand it.

The Crazy 8 Initiative

Northwestern Mutual served as a founding member of this large-scale, collaborative research program. It focuses on addressing the most challenging aspects of pediatric oncology and creating roadmaps toward cures for specific, hard-to-treat childhood cancers.

Travel for Care program

Medical bills are only a part of the financial challenges of a childhood cancer journey. This program ensures that families have the financial assistance they require to travel to clinical trials, experimental therapeutics or treatment innovations not currently available at their local institution.

For example: The Tobin family relied on Travel for Care when their daughter Brynn's ependymoma (a type of brain tumor) returned when she was 4 years old. Surgery and radiation had initially worked for Brynn but when the relapse occurred, the family found hope in a clinical trial led by ALSF-funded researcher Dr. Ted Johnson in Augusta, Georgia. Though it was far away from their Rhode Island home, Travel for Care helped cover the family's travel costs so she could travel to Georgia for treatment once a month for two years.

Brynn ended treatment in 2021 and has been cancer free for five years. Read more about her inspiring story here.

Not giving up

The fight against childhood cancer is far from over. Eradicating it requires continued collaboration among researchers, healthcare providers, families, advocacy groups—and every one of us. The emotional and financial burden of cancer treatment weighs heavily on families, which is why accelerating the search for better treatments and cures while supporting families during treatment, and survivors living with late-term effects remains essential.

Thanks to the dedication of researchers, and the generosity of supporters across the country, childhood cancer survival rates have improved steadily over the past decade. Every breakthrough in research, and every family supported, brings us closer to a future without childhood cancer, offering real hope to those facing a new diagnosis.

Every child deserves the best chance to live a full and healthy life. To learn more about Northwestern Mutual's decade-long commitment to supporting those affected by childhood cancer and how you can get involved, please visit the Foundation's website here. You can also make charitable giving a part of your financial plan or explore charitable giving strategies to support causes that matter to you.