What Mending Kids does

Mending Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2005 and headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, that provides free life-saving and life-changing surgical care to underserved children worldwide. The organization was established by Cris Embleton after spinning out of Healing the Children to expand access to pediatric surgery, and as of 2025-2026 has deployed 210+ missions and mended over 6,000 children from 78 countries. Its core beneficiaries are children with congenital heart disease, colorectal conditions, ENT, orthopedic, and other surgical needs who lack access due to financial barriers, absence of local specialists, or insurance categorizations that exclude necessary procedures.

The organization operates a portfolio of programs rather than a single product. Overseas Surgical Missions deploy volunteer medical teams to partner countries including Armenia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Nepal, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Vietnam to perform surgeries and train local staff. The Individual Surgical Care Program refers children unreachable through missions to partner hospitals in the US and abroad. Hometown Mission and Mend U.S. deliver free outpatient surgical care to uninsured, underinsured, and undocumented children across the United States. The Training, Research and Innovation (TRI) department, created in 2015, runs hands-on training, observerships, medical conferences, and septostomy training workshops. The Health Equity Leadership Project (HELP) is the overarching philosophy that frames all programs. No proprietary technology, AI/ML systems, or software products are disclosed; the underlying technology is human medical expertise delivered through mission logistics and partner hospital infrastructure.

The business model is a donation-funded nonprofit operating with a lean staff of 6-7 people. Revenue comes from four streams: individual donations (one-time and Kaleidoscope monthly recurring via Donorbox), foundation grants (multiple named family and community foundations), corporate sponsorships (with Abbott as a major anchor providing cardiac devices, plus MAP International and Edwards Lifesciences for training), and fundraising events led by the annual Imagine Gala, supplemented by Hike to Mend, Mahjong Night, and pickleball events. Distribution is direct-to-beneficiary through volunteer medical teams in the field and through partner hospitals such as MemorialCare, Shriners Children's, Boston Children's, Philippine Heart Center, FOCOS Ghana, Narayana Health, and Bambino Gesù. Marketing relies on storytelling across the website, blog, social media, earned media in outlets like the LA Times and KTLA, and event-based donor cultivation.

Name

Mending Kids

Legal name

Mending Kids

Website

https://mendingkids.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mending Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free surgical care to underserved children in 78 countries. It deploys volunteer medical teams on overseas and US hometown missions, trains local providers through its TRI program, and partners with major children's hospitals. Founded in 2005, it has mended over 6,000 children.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Woodland Hills

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute to fund surgical missions and organizational operations through one-time and monthly recurring donations.
2. Fundraising Events: Revenue generated from galas, hikes, mahjong nights, and other fundraising events. The Imagine Gala is the primary annual event that sustains the year ahead.
3. Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors provide financial support and in-kind donations including medical supplies and equipment.
4. Foundation Grants: Foundation partners provide grants to support specific mission programs and organizational capacity.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Mending Kids is a nonprofit organization that provides free, life-saving and life-changing pediatric surgical care to underserved children worldwide by deploying volunteer medical teams on overseas and U.S.-based hometown missions, referring complex cases to partner hospitals, and training local surgical staff to build sustainable care capacity. Its portfolio includes Overseas Surgical Missions, Individual Surgical Care referrals, the Hometown Mission/Mend U.S. program for uninsured American children, and the Training, Research and Innovation (TRI) knowledge-exchange program.

Product overview

Mending Kids operates as a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of surgical care programs rather than a single unified product. The core offerings include Overseas Surgical Missions (deploying volunteer medical teams to developing countries), Individual Surgical Care (referring children to partner hospitals domestically and internationally), Hometown Mission and Mend U.S. (providing free outpatient surgical care to underserved children in the United States), Training Research and Innovation (TRI - knowledge exchange through training and symposia), and the Health Equity Leadership Project (HELP - overarching initiative addressing health inequity). These programs work together to provide life-saving surgical care to children worldwide while building local medical capacity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Health Equity Leadership Project (HELP): A program addressing health inequity by providing underserved children access to surgical care through Overseas/Hometown Missions and Individual Surgical Care Programs.
• TRI
• Imagine Gala
• Hike to Mend
• Mahjong Night
• Kaleidoscope

Products and services

• Overseas Surgical Mission Specialized surgical teams of volunteer medical professionals travel to developing countries (Armenia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Mauritius, Nepal, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Tanzania, Vietnam and others) to perform life-saving pediatric surgeries and train local surgical staff to create sustainable programs.
• Individual Surgical Care Program Referral program for children unreachable through overseas missions who are matched with partner hospitals in the United States or abroad that meet stringent specialty-care requirements for their condition.
• Hometown Mission Provides free outpatient surgical care to underserved children across the United States, including those whose procedures are categorized as 'non-life threatening' or 'elective' by insurers and therefore denied coverage.
• Mend U.S. Free outpatient surgical care for uninsured, underinsured, or undocumented children in the United States, addressing cases where lack of coverage for necessary procedures creates significant obstacles including risk of bullying, harassment, and self-harm.
• Training, Research and Innovation (TRI) Knowledge-exchange program providing hands-on training, cutting-edge technology, virtual symposia, observerships, medical conference support, and financial support for local surgeries to international mentees, cultivating self-sustainment in surgical care.

Quantifiable outcome

• 6,000+ children received life-saving or life-changing surgical care since 2005
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AbbottcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor corporate partner and Mend Award honoree at 2026 Gala. Abbott has donated millions of dollars worth of life-saving devices (cardiac devices) that have mended thousands of hearts in Mending Kids programs from Ethiopia to El Salvador, Tanzania to Cambodia and beyond. Their support allows Mending Kids to focus on deploying volunteer teams rather than raising funds for supplies.
• MAP InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided support for atrial septostomy training workshops, supplying medical products for training missions.
• Edwards Lifesciences FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided support for atrial septostomy training workshops as part of the Training, Research, and Innovation program.
• MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long BeachcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLongstanding partnership providing surgical teams for missions and hosting hometown missions at MemorialCare Outpatient Surgical Center in Long Beach.
• Shriners Children'scoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerShriners Children's Portland and Southern California locations serve as partner hospitals, providing surgical care and hosting patients referred through Mending Kids programs.
• Philippine Heart CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLongstanding partnership in Manila for cardiac missions, continuing collaboration to advance pediatric cardiac care in the Philippines.
• Cedars-Sinai Medical CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoard member Dr. Evan Zahn serves as Director of Congenital Heart Program. Dr. Jacqueline Leitzes serves as Director of Development at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children's. Organization collaborates with Cedars-Sinai on pediatric cardiac initiatives.
• Children's Hospital Los AngelescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoard member Dr. Darren Berman serves as Director of Pediatric Interventional Cardiology. Organization collaborates on training and mission programs.
• Boston Children's HospitalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner hospital providing pediatric surgical expertise and collaboration on mission programs.
• Tia CarrereminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAward-winning actor, Grammy-winning singer, and humanitarian who has lent her voice, time, and platform to Mending Kids for over a decade, hosting events and championing the mission.
• Gene SimmonsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLegendary rock star who has supported Mending Kids through Fox 11 appearances, birthday bash events, and Funko Pop collaborations to raise awareness and funds.
• Le Bonheur Children's HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoard member Dr. Jason Frischer was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief and Chief of Pediatric Surgery. Organization collaborates on pediatric surgery missions and training.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Partners in Health: Provides comprehensive healthcare including surgical care in resource-limited settings; broader scope than Mending Kids but operates in overlapping developing-country geographies (Haiti, Rwanda, Liberia, etc.) with similar capacity-building philosophy.
• Project HOPE: Global health organization deploying volunteer medical professionals to underserved regions; comparable volunteer-driven delivery model though broader scope including infectious disease, maternal health, and chronic conditions beyond pediatrics.

Direct peers

• Mercy Ships: Operates hospital ships delivering free surgical care to children and adults in sub-Saharan Africa; shares the deploy-mobile-surgical-capacity-to-underserved-populations model that defines Mending Kids' overseas missions.
• International Children's Heart Foundation: Provides free pediatric cardiac surgery to children in developing countries through volunteer medical missions; directly overlaps with Mending Kids' cardiac specialty missions in the Philippines, Ghana, Tanzania, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
• Children's Surgery International: Sends volunteer pediatric surgical teams to developing countries to provide life-changing procedures and train local medical staff—operates in a near-identical niche to Mending Kids.
• ReSurge International: Provides reconstructive surgical care and training to underserved children and adults in developing countries; comparable volunteer-mission model and emphasis on local surgeon training for sustainable impact.
• World Pediatric Project: Coordinates pediatric surgical teams and refers children to partner hospitals for specialty care they cannot access locally; closely mirrors Mending Kids' Overseas Mission + Individual Surgical Care referral model.
• Operation Smile: Provides free cleft lip/palate and other reconstructive surgeries to children in developing countries through volunteer medical missions—the closest analog to Mending Kids' model of deploying volunteer teams to underserved geographies for pediatric surgical care.
• Smile Train: Funds and empowers local medical professionals in developing countries to provide free cleft surgeries to children globally; shares Mending Kids' pediatric surgical mission focus and capacity-building philosophy via local partner training.
• CardioStart International: Volunteer pediatric cardiac surgery missions to developing countries with an emphasis on training local teams; directly comparable to several of Mending Kids' cardiac specialty missions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mendingkids
• Facebookfacebook.com/mendingkids
• Instagraminstagram.com/mendingkids
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mending-kids

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mending Kids