Mum’s Sause
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation
A new sause of revenue for sick kids
We reframed hospital fundraising from curing illnesses to curing the homesickness children in hospital feel. Launching a brand new ‘Mum’s Sause’ product range through a partnership with Coles we created a long-term funding engine, raising millions year after year.
Background
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation (SCHF) is the fundraising arm of Australia’s largest paediatric healthcare provider, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. It includes Sydney’s two largest children’s hospitals treating over 170,000 children a year.
Children’s hospitals in Australia are government funded, however SCHF raises millions each year to fund additional staff, research projects, equipment and capital works.
Challenge
Australians assumed children’s hospitals were fully government-funded, leaving little urgency to donate. At the same time, charitable giving was declining and competition intensifying.
Donors typically supported causes tied to personal experience, but SCHF’s broad remit across countless illnesses and services lacked a single, relatable cause.
The challenge was to create a unifying idea that cut through and built a sustainable new source of fundraising.
Strategy
We reframed the hospital experience around a universal truth: no matter why children are admitted, they all suffer from homesickness. Unlike illnesses, homesickness is something everyone has felt, making it instantly relatable.
By shifting from treating disease to curing homesickness, we had a unifying cause that we challenged brands to partner with us to help cure it by getting every sick child back where they belong: home.
Solution
We launched with a film telling the story of Ali, a homesick little girl in hospital who misses her mum’s cooking and writes a note asking for some of her “mum’s sause”. The note goes viral with Australians and brands rallying to answer her request.
Beyond the film, the idea came to life in the real world with all the products and brands featured were available to buy to raise money to help cure homesickness. Including a brand new pasta sauce range create specifically for the campaign by Australia’s second largest supermarket, Coles.
Results
In the 4 years since launch four years, with no additional investment since the 3-month launch burst in July 2019:
Curing Homesickness generated over $1.5M every year, raising $6.89M in total
Over 7M jars of Mum’s Sause has been sold and has expanded to a range of 6 products, it’s still on sale today
Achieved an ROI of 14.32x
Funded 71 items and projects at hospitals helping over 438,000 sick children across Australia.
