The foundation’s leadership team discusses plans for 2021.
by KRISTIN MORENCY GOLDMAN, senior communications specialist, The Toy Association
The Toy Foundation (TTF) is committed to providing philanthropic support and the vital commodity of play to millions of kids living under stress and in dire situations across the country and around the world. This decades-long work has been made possible through industry-wide toy donations and cash contributions. We caught up with The Toy Foundation Executive Director Ellen Lambert and Senior Foundation Manager Elizabeth Max to take a look back at how the organization pivoted last year to assist families impacted by COVID-19, and learn about what’s in store for the months ahead.
The Toy Association: Last year, TTF announced that it was going to broaden its mission to serve more kids and families by meeting their essential needs amid the pandemic. Can you provide a brief recap of this work and how it will evolve this year?
Ellen Lambert: TTF reached out to nonprofit partners across the country that were serving kids and families in some of the communities that were hardest-hit by COVID-19. We received proposals to provide food, personal protective gear, learning technology and school books, mental health assistance, and more.
While we know that toys help bring comfort, daily essentials were — and continue to be — critical. With cash grants to 14 organizations and toys to many more, we reached 2 million individuals.
We recently funded seven additional organizations that are providing support to kids and families who continue to experience major disruptions in their lives due to COVID-19.
TA: Providing cash grants to charities has become a growing focus for TTF. Can you explain why this shift was made to offering financial assistance? Are toy donations and distributions still a priority?
Elizabeth Max: Providing cash grants has always been a focus for the Foundation, but this past year it was more critical than ever. We responded to the needs of communities both near and far, and the need, unfortunately, grew greater by the day.Â
The Toy Bank is still very much a priority. It is built into every single cash program that we fund. For instance, our iconic and most beloved Play Your Part events would not have been made possible without the generosity of our Toy Bank donors and charity partners. Through Play Your Part, we have provided more than $3 million in toys to more than 350,000 kids across the country. Through fundraising, we were able to provide more than $100,000 in cash grants to our partner charities.
The same can be said when we funded our national programs with Court Appointed Special Advocates for Foster Children and Boys and Girls Clubs of America Military Services, distributing more than 1.7 million toys and half a million toys to each program, respectively. Collectively, our fundraising for both programs provided nearly $1.8 million in cash grants.
The Toy Bank collects toys all year long and we have the ability to offer free pickups. We’ve been building a network of local Toy Banks, which will allow us to further our impact by distributing directly from manufacturers’ warehouses.Â
TA: You have spoken about studying the role of play in trauma-informed patient care across the spectrum of all children’s health professions. How is that progressing?
EL: We partnered with the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) to put out a request for proposals to children’s hospitals across the U.S., drawing 62 responses — representing a third of the CHA membership. Sadly, this indicates just how strong the need for support is across pediatric care institutes. The Foundation will also create a fundraising program to continue to support children’s hospitals serving vulnerable communities and those with pediatric healthcare worker shortages. Each hospital will also get single-use toys.
TA: TTF is focusing more on promoting diversity and inclusion within the toy industry. How does this tie into the Foundation’s core mission?
EL: The mission of TTF is to support play and its impact on well-being, specifically providing joy and comfort for all kids and youth. With a Foundation program specifically directed to advance diversity and inclusion within the toy industry, we will strive to put more emphasis and meaning into the word “all.” We anticipate funding internships and programs designed to help the toy industry foster a culture that welcomes all to its ranks.
TA: How does the rest of the year look for TTF?
EM: We are focused on bringing back our Play Your Part Events in the safest way possible. We are working toward a possible Q4 test-run event in Dallas, assuming we have clearance from our partner organizations, families, and kids. Next March, we will officially kick off Play Your Part in Florida.
 For more information, visit toyfoundation.org.
This article was originally published in the June 2021 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
