Arkansas Children’s Hospital receives $50M gift to transform care

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — Arkansas Children’s Hospital has received a monumental $50 million gift from the Golisano Family Foundation, marking the largest philanthropic donation in the hospital’s history. Marcy Doderer, president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s, expressed her excitement about the unexpected gift, which will be distributed over five years in $10 million increments.

“It certainly is the largest, it’s is a landmark gift for Arkansas Children’s, something we’ve never experienced before, this level of transformative philanthropy,” Doderer said. The initial funds will support a $230 million expansion project on the Little Rock campus, part of a broader $370 million expansion across the health system.

Doderer emphasized the hospital’s commitment to delivering healthcare closer to home for children, leveraging technology and partnerships with local facilities. “Travel for families is inconvenient for everyone, for healthcare, and actually impossible for many. So our ultimate aim is to figure out how can Arkansas Children’s actually deliver healthcare closer at home for children.” she said. The vision is to create a network of virtual care for complex pediatric cases across Arkansas, reducing the need for families to travel to Little Rock.

Despite the generous donation, Doderer stressed the ongoing need for community support. “Our need to keep growing, our need to meet the needs of the kids of Arkansas is really an insatiable appetite. And so our approach to healthcare in Arkansas requires our own good stewardship of Arkansas Children’s money, the reimbursement we get for the care we deliver, and the philanthropic support we get from an amazing community in Arkansas and beyond.” she said, encouraging continued philanthropic contributions. “So I would not want anyone to hear this as well. My gift isn’t needed any longer. That’s just not true. We have so many opportunities to do better by kids across the state, and we can do that in partnership with folks who want to give money.”

Reflecting on her personal connection to pediatric healthcare, Doderer shared, “I am the mom of a ,she’s now a young adult with a complex chronic illness, and I’ve spent a lot of time on what I call the parent’s side of the bed.” She finds inspiration in the hospital’s mission to improve children’s lives, saying, “I wake up every morning thinking, we can actually change the life of a single child today.”

The Golisano gift is set to transform Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s ability to serve its community, ensuring that more children receive the care they need without the burden of travel.