Heart 4 Heart Charity

What Heart 4 Heart Charity does

Heart 4 Heart Charity is a student-run nonprofit organization founded in 2013 at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. It funds life-saving cardiac procedures for children born with congenital heart defects in developing countries who lack access to adequate pediatric cardiac care. The charity operates as a federation of university chapters across Canada (McGill, Dalhousie, Queen's, Sherbrooke, Calgary, Alberta) and the United States (Tulane), with student volunteers organizing fundraising events and awareness campaigns on campus.

The organization's core service is a child sponsorship program in which donors fund specific children assigned by its sole operational partner, Gift of Life International, a Rotarian-based surgical network that has facilitated care for over 15,000 children across 67 countries and 5 continents. Heart 4 Heart publishes detailed surgery cost breakdowns — $200 USD professional fees, $400 USD ICU, $300 USD catheterization lab, $100 USD X-ray — and claims 100% of donated proceeds are directed to the sponsored child's care, with 77+ surgeries funded historically. Surgery cost per case ranges from approximately $1,000 USD for diagnostic catheterization to $1,300 CAD for full procedures.

The revenue model is entirely donation-based, with no product sales or fee-for-service revenue. Income flows through individual donations via PayPal, mailed cheques or money orders to a Bank of Montreal branch in Montreal, GoFundMe campaigns (e.g., Louis Galtie's 2017 Danube expedition), and chapter-organized events such as beach volleyball tournaments. Governance is handled by a small federation executive team (CEO Curtis Leung, CFO Shirley Liu, COO/Webmaster Lisa Xu) alongside a board that includes co-founders Farah Musharbash and Ryan Noh. There are no institutional investors, corporate sponsors of scale, or government grants disclosed, and no public filings indicate audited financials. The underlying technology is a Wix-hosted marketing website; no proprietary software, applications, or APIs are maintained.

Name

Heart 4 Heart Charity

Legal name

Heart 4 Heart Charity

Website

https://heart4heart.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Heart 4 Heart Charity is a student-run nonprofit founded in 2013 at McGill University that funds life-saving heart surgeries for children with congenital heart defects in developing countries, operating university chapters across Canada and the US in partnership with Gift of Life International.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Funding Charity

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Maternal, Child & Family Health Program Funding (HLAJALAG), Community Health & Prevention Program Funding (HLAJALAF)

Keywords

• Pediatric cardiac surgery funding
• Congenital heart disease charity
• Child medical sponsorship
• Student nonprofit fundraising
• Healthcare charity donations

Headquarters

HQ city

Montreal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The charity receives donations from individual supporters who contribute to fund specific children's heart surgeries. Donors can specify they want updates on a child's surgery progress.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Heart 4 Heart Charity is a student-run nonprofit that raises donations from individuals to fund life-saving heart surgeries for children with congenital heart disease in developing countries. Through its partnership with Gift of Life International, the charity assigns specific children to donors, channels 100% of proceeds toward individual surgeries, and publishes transparent cost breakdowns (professional fees $200 USD, ICU $400 USD, catheterization lab $300 USD, X-ray $100 USD). Operations are run by volunteer university chapters across Canada and the United States.

Product overview

Heart 4 Heart is a student-run nonprofit charity organization focused on raising awareness about congenital heart disease (CHD) and providing life-saving surgeries for children in developing countries. The organization operates by fundraising for specific children assigned by their partner organization, Gift of Life International, with 100% of proceeds going directly to cover the costs of heart surgeries. The charity has established chapters at universities across Canada (Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, Dalhousie, Windsor) and the US (Tulane, Ithaca), enabling students to volunteer and organize fundraising events. The primary service offering is the child sponsorship program where donors can fund specific children's surgeries, with surgical costs covering professional fees ($200 USD), ICU costs ($400 USD), catheterization lab costs ($300 USD), and X-ray costs ($100 USD). The organization also facilitates post-operation updates and ongoing support through their network.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Child Sponsorship Surgery Funding Program A program that pairs individual donors with specific children identified through Gift of Life International to fund their pediatric heart surgeries, with 100% of proceeds directed to the child's care. Cost components include professional fees $200 USD, ICU $400 USD, catheterization lab $300 USD, and X-ray $100 USD, with donors receiving updates on their sponsored child's progress.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15,000+ children served through Gift of Life International partnership
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Gift of Life InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGift of Life International is Heart 4 Heart's partnered organization that facilitates crucial surgical procedures for children in need. It is a Rotarian-based program that has provided medical aid to more than 15,000 children from 67 countries across 5 continents. Heart 4 Heart divides donations so that 100% of proceeds goes towards child care: $200 USD professional fees, $400 USD ICU, $300 USD catheterization lab, $100 USD X-ray.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• American Heart Association: The American Heart Association is the largest U.S. cardiovascular health nonprofit, funding research, advocacy, and education across all heart diseases. It addresses the broader cardiovascular disease space that includes the congenital heart defects Heart 4 Heart targets, but operates at vastly greater scale with a research-and-advocacy rather than direct-surgery-funding model.
• Samaritan's Purse: Samaritan's Purse is a large faith-based humanitarian organization that funds medical procedures and disaster relief in developing countries. It overlaps with Heart 4 Heart on funding medical care for children in low-resource settings but operates at much larger scale across many conditions, not just pediatric cardiac surgery.
• World Heart Federation: The World Heart Federation is a global umbrella organization focused on cardiovascular disease prevention, advocacy, and policy across all cardiovascular conditions. It is comparable in addressing the global CHD/CVD burden that Heart 4 Heart targets, but operates through policy and coalition work rather than direct surgery funding.

Direct peers

• Chain of Hope: Chain of Hope is a UK-based charity that funds cardiac treatment and surgery for children in developing countries with inadequate cardiac care. It has the same pediatric cardiac surgery mission as Heart 4 Heart and similar reliance on volunteer medical missions; differences are primarily regional (UK headquarters vs. Canadian) and broader clinical scope.
• Gift of Life International: Gift of Life International is Heart 4 Heart's core operational partner and runs the same model of funding pediatric cardiac surgeries for children in developing countries. It has served 15,000+ children across 67 countries, making it the closest mission-aligned organization; differences are primarily in scale and that GoL delivers the surgeries directly while Heart 4 Heart raises the funds.
• Mending Kids International: Mending Kids International funds life-changing surgeries for children in developing countries, with a similar donor-attribution model where funds are tied to specific children. It serves a broader surgical scope (not just cardiac) but is directly comparable in operating model: individual donations funding individual children's medical procedures abroad.
• International Children's Heart Foundation: International Children's Heart Foundation funds and performs pediatric heart surgeries in developing countries, mirroring Heart 4 Heart's mission of enabling CHD surgery for children who lack access. It operates its own surgical missions, so it is comparable in mission but operates clinical delivery directly rather than relying on a partner.
• Children's Heart Foundation: The Children's Heart Foundation is dedicated to congenital heart defect research, education, and awareness in the U.S. It targets the same patient population (children with CHD) and shares the CHD awareness component of Heart 4 Heart's mission, but emphasizes research funding rather than direct surgery funding.
• Love Without Boundaries: Love Without Boundaries provides medical care, including cardiac surgeries, to orphaned and impoverished children internationally. It uses a comparable donor-funded, child-specific sponsorship model for medical procedures, making it relevant as an adjacent comparator on funding mechanism and mission.

Regional players

• Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance: The Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance (CCHA) is a Canadian patient advocacy organization for those affected by CHD, founded by Christina Ding who is also on Heart 4 Heart's founding team. It is directly connected via leadership overlap and addresses the same CHD community, but focuses on advocacy/support for Canadian patients rather than funding surgeries abroad.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Heart4HeartCharity
• Instagraminstagram.com/heart4heartcanada
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/heart4heart-mcgill-chapter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 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 Heart 4 Heart Charity