Walk With Sally

What Walk With Sally does

Walk With Sally was a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 and headquartered in El Segundo, California, that provided free mentorship and support programs to children and families impacted by a loved one's cancer. Its core service was one-on-one mentor matching, pairing trained adult volunteers with children experiencing parental or family cancer for consistent weekly relationships, supplemented by community gatherings, grief support, and resource navigation for newly single parents managing bereavement and financial strain. Programs were delivered at no cost to beneficiaries and funded entirely through charitable donations, fundraising events, and volunteer engagement.

The organization differentiated on the durability of its mentor-mentee relationships rather than episodic support, emphasizing week-over-week presence during medical crises, treatment decisions, scan results, and bereavement. Service delivery relied on referrals from oncology social workers and healthcare providers, combined with word-of-mouth within affected-family networks. Annual community events drew crowds of more than 1,000 attendees dressed in white to honor those touched by cancer. There is no disclosed technology platform or digital product; the service model was fundamentally relational and human-delivered.

In 2024, after 22 years of operation, Walk With Sally announced it would dissolve, citing COVID-driven contraction in charitable giving, increasingly difficult fundraising conditions, and rising operating costs as the financial headwinds that rendered continued operations unsustainable. The organization is now closed, and no successor entity, asset transfer, or programmatic continuation is referenced in the source material.

Name

Walk With Sally

Website

https://walkwithsally.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Walk With Sally was a nonprofit founded in 2002 in El Segundo, California, providing one-on-one mentor matching and community-based support to children and families affected by a loved one's cancer. The organization closed in 2024 after 22 years of operation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Nonprofit Social Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Student Mentoring & Peer Support Programs (EDAJALAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Family Aftercare) (HSABAFAI)

Keywords

• Youth cancer mentorship
• Nonprofit family support
• Mentor matching programs
• Community grief services
• Children cancer support

Headquarters

HQ city

El Segundo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Walk With Sally provided free one-on-one mentorship matching for children impacted by a parent's or family member's cancer, paired with ongoing emotional support and large community remembrance events. Trained volunteer mentors maintained consistent weekly relationships with matched children to offer stability during diagnosis, treatment, and potential bereavement. All services were delivered at no cost to beneficiary families, funded entirely through charitable donations and community fundraising.

Product overview

Walk With Sally was a nonprofit organization that provided mentorship programs and support services for children and families impacted by cancer. The organization offered one-on-one mentorship matching, community events, and emotional support services. Note: The organization announced its closure after 22 years of service due to financial challenges.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• One-on-One Mentorship Matching Program Core program matching children impacted by a parent's or family member's cancer with trained volunteer mentors who committed to consistent weekly relationships, providing emotional support, stability, and ongoing human connection during diagnosis, treatment, and bereavement. Delivered at no cost to beneficiary families.
• Community Remembrance and Uplift Events Large-scale community gatherings bringing together families, mentors, supporters, and volunteers to remember, honor, and uplift those affected by cancer. Events drew crowds of more than 1,000 people dressed in white and also served as major fundraising platforms for the organization's free programs.
• Family Grief and Bereavement Support Ongoing emotional and practical support for children who lost parents to cancer and for newly single parents navigating grief and the financial strain that often follows cancer-related loss. Provided at no cost through the same mentor relationships and community networks as the core mentorship program.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Kids Konnected: Nonprofit offering peer support groups, summer camps, and one-on-one mentoring for youth who have a parent with cancer or have lost a parent to cancer — closely mirrors Walk With Sally's mission of social-emotional support through ongoing relationships.
• Camp Kesem: National nonprofit providing free programs, including summer camps and year-round support, for children and teens impacted by a parent's cancer — directly overlapping Walk With Sally's beneficiary population and consistent-mentorship model.
• Wonders & Worries: Nonprofit providing free, professional support for children and families dealing with a parent's serious illness, including cancer — directly comparable illness-impacted child/family focus with structured ongoing support.
• The Children's Treehouse Foundation: Hospital-based program offering psychosocial support groups and services for children when a parent or loved one has cancer — directly overlapping social-emotional support mission.
• Cancer Really Sucks: Program supporting teenagers impacted by a parent's cancer through online peer connection and resources; comparable beneficiary segment and youth-focused support model.

Broad incumbents

• National Children's Cancer Society: Larger, established national nonprofit serving children with cancer and their families through financial assistance, education, and advocacy — broader portfolio but overlapping beneficiary population and family-support orientation.
• Ronald McDonald House Charities: Large established nonprofit supporting families with seriously ill children through lodging and services; broader mission but comparable family-of-cancer-patient beneficiary population and community/funder-driven operating model.
• Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation: Long-standing national network providing support, advocacy, and resources for families of children with cancer — overlapping child-cancer family support space with broader geographic and programmatic reach.

Emerging players

• SUPER SAM Foundation: Smaller nonprofit supporting children and families affected by childhood cancer through direct financial and emotional support — comparable niche child-cancer-family beneficiary segment.
• Littlest Tumor Foundation: Smaller nonprofit focused on supporting families affected by pediatric cancer with counseling and community resources — comparable but narrower beneficiary scope.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WalkWithSally
• Facebookfacebook.com/walkwithsally
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/walk-with-sally

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Walk With Sally