Joey's Wings
Joey's Wings Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2014 that funds pediatric kidney cancer research — especially translocation renal cell carcinoma — and provides financial assistance, tutoring, and animal therapy to affected families, supported by donations, corporate sponsors, and community fundraising events.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Diego, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Joey's Wings does
Joey's Wings Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2014 by Kathy Liu following the death of her ten-year-old son Joey from translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC), a rare pediatric kidney cancer. Headquartered in San Diego with a second office in Gainesville, Florida, the foundation's mission is to fund research into pediatric kidney cancers — particularly tRCC — while providing direct financial, educational, and emotional support to affected families. Its research portfolio spans grants and long-standing partnerships with leading institutions including UT Southwestern Medical Center, Johns Hopkins, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital, with results including a novel tRCC mouse model published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and a $75,000 Pediatric Kidney Cancer Focus Award for CAR-T cell therapy research.
The foundation operates a portfolio of programs for families and the broader pediatric cancer community: direct financial assistance for medical bills, travel, food, and miscellaneous expenses; free virtual tutoring through Tutors For Hope; home-visit animal therapy with Helen Woodward Animal Center; large-scale origami crane awareness installations (2,000+ cranes per display) at hospitals, museums, and corporate venues; and annual 5K runs, math competitions, and corporate volunteer folding parties. It is also a founding member of the Pediatric Renal Tumor Coalition launched in August 2025 and a partner in the Count Me In tRCC patient registry with the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber.
Funding is generated through individual donations, corporate sponsorships (Pfizer, Gilead, Motorola Solutions Foundation), and fundraising events rather than product sales, and the organization operates with 1-10 employees supported by a board and volunteer network. The foundation also pursues federal advocacy through the Alliance for Childhood Cancer, Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, and Kids V Cancer, targeting policy levers such as the Creating Hope Act and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.
Joey's Wings firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Joey's Wings
- Legal name
- Joey's Wings Foundation
- Website
- https://joeywings.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Joey's Wings Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2014 that funds pediatric kidney cancer research — especially translocation renal cell carcinoma — and provides financial assistance, tutoring, and animal therapy to affected families, supported by donations, corporate sponsors, and community fundraising events.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Joey's Wings industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Non-Profit Pediatric Cancer Foundation
- NAICS
- Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Child and Youth Services (62411)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community Health & Prevention Program Funding (HLAJALAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD), Family & Parent Support Services (Parent Coaching, Advocacy) (EDAJALAK)
Keywords
Where Joey's Wings is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Diego
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Joey's Wings business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Others, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Donations and Fundraising: The organization generates revenue primarily through donations from individuals, corporate sponsors (Pfizer, Gilead, Motorola Solutions Foundation), and fundraising events including 5K runs, math competitions, and community events.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Joey's Wings product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Joey's Wings Foundation is a non-profit organization that funds pediatric kidney cancer research (especially translocation renal cell carcinoma), provides direct financial assistance and in-kind support services (tutoring and animal therapy) to families of children with kidney cancer, and runs childhood cancer awareness and federal advocacy programs. Revenue is generated through individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising events such as 5K runs and origami crane folding activities.
Product overview
Joey's Wings Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering a portfolio of programs for childhood cancer support, research funding, and advocacy. The core services include: Animal Therapy (therapy dog visits), Tutoring Program (virtual education support), Financial Assistance (for pediatric kidney cancer families), and Research Funding (for translocation renal cell carcinoma). The foundation also runs awareness campaigns including Origami Crane Displays and annual 5k run events, and participates in the Pediatric Renal Tumor Coalition for collaborative advocacy efforts.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Financial Assistance for Pediatric Kidney Cancer Patients Direct financial support program covering medical bills, travel expenses, food, toys, and miscellaneous items for families of children 18 and under with pediatric kidney cancer currently in treatment. Families apply directly through online forms.
- Tutoring Program Free virtual tutoring service delivered via Zoom for children battling cancer, provided in partnership with Tutors For Hope (a college student-run organization from Tufts University). Covers academic subjects, games, art, English, science, math, social studies, and language.
- Animal Therapy Program Home-visit program with therapy dogs for children with cancer in San Diego County, delivered in partnership with Helen Woodward Animal Center. Provides physical, emotional, and social benefits to children in active treatment or post-treatment.
- Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma Research Funding Research grant funding program supporting translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC) research at leading institutions including UT Southwestern, Johns Hopkins, and Dana-Farber, including development of novel mouse models and identification of therapeutic targets.
- Count Me In Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma Project Patient-partnered research initiative enabling tRCC patients in the U.S. or Canada to share health data through surveys, biological samples, and medical records to accelerate tRCC research discoveries.
- Advocacy in Childhood Cancer Policy and federal advocacy program including lobbying for pediatric cancer research funding, participation in Alliance for Childhood Cancer Action Days on Capitol Hill, and advocacy for the Creating Hope Act with partner Kids V Cancer.
- Joey's Wings 5K Run/Walk Events Annual 5K running and walking events held in multiple locations (Gainesville, FL; Dallas, TX; Bay Area, CA) to raise funds for childhood cancer research and family support programs. The 10th annual event in 2025 had 400+ participants.
- Origami Crane Displays (Cranes For A Cure) Large-scale origami crane installations (typically 2,000 cranes per display) exhibited at hospitals, museums, and public venues to raise awareness for childhood cancer. A display of 15,000 cranes was exhibited to honor 15,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.S.
Quantifiable outcome
- Funding breakthrough tRCC research leading to novel mouse model published in Journal of Clinical Investigation
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Joey's Wings
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Joey's Wings technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Joey's Wings partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Count Me In (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)coreJoey's Wings partnered with Count Me In, a patient-partnered research initiative, to enable translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC) patients to directly transform cancer research. The tRCCProject enables patients to share health data through surveys, biological samples, and medical records to accelerate research discoveries.
- Kidney Cancer AssociationcoreStrategic partnership to present the $75,000 Pediatric Kidney Cancer Focus Award for tRCC research. Joint efforts include advocacy for increased federal funding for kidney cancer research through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.
- Helen Woodward Animal CentercorePartnership to offer animal therapy program providing home visits with therapy dogs for children with cancer in San Diego County. The program delivers physical, emotional, and social benefits to children in active or post-treatment.
- UT Southwestern Medical Center Kidney Cancer ProgramcoreLong-standing partnership since 2017 to fund research on translocation renal cell carcinoma. Joey's Wings has funded the development of a novel GEMM tRCC mouse model and comparative genomic studies, with research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Dr. Argani and Dr. Lotan)corePartnership since 2015 to fund identification of novel gene fusions in Xp11 cancers and development of diagnostic markers for translocation renal cell carcinoma. Dr. Argani named this cancer in 2004 and developed FISH diagnosis tool.
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Viswanathan Lab)corePartnership to fund Dr. Prateek Khanna's research developing treatment for tRCC directed against molecular targets unique to cell surface of tRCC. Research aims to engage patients' own immune T cells to recognize cancer cells.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CentercoreRecipient of $75,000 Pediatric Kidney Cancer Focus Award to Dr. Ritesh Kotecha for research on GPNMB-CAR T cell therapy for translocation renal cell carcinoma.
- Cincinnati Children's HospitalcoreCo-sponsored the first TFE/Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma Symposium in September 2023 with National Cancer Institute. Partnership brings together researchers from US and Europe to discuss latest advancements.
- Tutors For HopeminorCollaboration to provide free virtual tutoring service by Zoom for children battling cancer. Tutors For Hope is a college student-run organization from Tufts University providing education support.
- Coalition Against Childhood CancercoreMember of Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, joining efforts to advocate for children with cancer and advance research initiatives.
- Kids V CancercorePartnership to advocate for passage of Creating Hope Act, which creates priority review vouchers as incentives for drug development for seriously ill children.
- Pediatric Renal Tumor CoalitioncoreFounding member of Pediatric Renal Tumor Coalition launched August 2025, joining Kidney Cancer Association, Elevate Childhood Cancer Research and Advocacy, Wilms Cancer Foundation, and Kelly Trout to advance research, advocacy, and awareness for children with kidney cancers.
- PfizerminorPfizer hosts origami crane folding parties at various locations as part of childhood cancer awareness efforts. The foundation conducts awareness and volunteer engagement activities at Pfizer facilities.
- SynapticsminorSynaptics hosts origami crane folding events as part of community volunteer and awareness programs for the foundation.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Joey's Wings competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- American Cancer Society: Largest US cancer nonprofit with extensive research funding, advocacy, and patient support across all cancer types including pediatric. Frames Joey's Wings as a specialized niche player competing for donor attention in the broader cancer fundraising landscape.
- Kidney Cancer Association: Broad kidney cancer nonprofit that has a strategic partnership with Joey's Wings for the Pediatric Kidney Cancer Focus Award. Covers adult-onset as well as pediatric kidney cancers, making it a broader incumbent than the pediatric-only focus of Joey's Wings.
Direct peers
- Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research: Childhood cancer research nonprofit that funds research grants and engages volunteer fundraisers. Operates a directly comparable mission of funding pediatric oncology research while building community engagement.
- St. Baldrick's Foundation: Largest volunteer-driven childhood cancer research funder in the US. Both organizations fund pediatric oncology research at leading institutions and mobilize community-based fundraising events to support cures for childhood cancers.
- American Childhood Cancer Organization: Grassroots pediatric cancer advocacy and support organization serving families. Directly comparable as a family-support-oriented nonprofit working in the pediatric cancer space where Joey's Wings also operates.
- Kids v Cancer: Pediatric cancer advocacy and research nonprofit focused on policy and pediatric drug development. Already a coalition partner of Joey's Wings; operates in the same niche of childhood cancer advocacy and federal policy work.
- Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation: Pediatric cancer research funding and family support nonprofit, a direct peer in funding childhood cancer research and providing family support services. Operates research grants at top institutions similar to Joey's Wings.
- National Pediatric Cancer Foundation: Pediatric cancer nonprofit focused on funding research and clinical trials at leading institutions. Both organizations allocate fundraising dollars into specific pediatric oncology research programs at academic medical centers.
- CureSearch for Children's Cancer: National childhood cancer nonprofit funding research and providing support to families. Shares the dual research-funding-plus-family-support model that defines Joey's Wings' mission.
Others
- Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2): Coalition organization of which Joey's Wings is a member. Functions as an enabling/ecosystem organization that convenes pediatric cancer nonprofits to coordinate advocacy, awareness, and research initiatives across the sector.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Joey's Wings social profiles
Digital presenceJoey's Wings financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Joey's Wings leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Joey's Wings funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Joey's Wings M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Joey's Wings
What does Joey's Wings do?
Joey's Wings Foundation is a non-profit organization that funds pediatric kidney cancer research (especially translocation renal cell carcinoma), provides direct financial assistance and in-kind support services (tutoring and animal therapy) to families of children with kidney cancer, and runs childhood cancer awareness and federal advocacy programs. Revenue is generated through individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising events such as 5K runs and origami crane folding activities.
Is Joey's Wings a public or private company?
Joey's Wings is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Joey's Wings founded?
Joey's Wings was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Joey's Wings based?
Joey's Wings is headquartered in San Diego, United States, in the North America region.
How does Joey's Wings make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations and Fundraising.
Who are Joey's Wings's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are American Cancer Society and Kidney Cancer Association. Direct peers are Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research, St. Baldrick's Foundation, American Childhood Cancer Organization, Kids v Cancer, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, National Pediatric Cancer Foundation and CureSearch for Children's Cancer. Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2) is listed as an others.
Does Joey's Wings have an API?
No public API is recorded for Joey's Wings.
What industry is Joey's Wings in?
Joey's Wings's product category is Non-Profit Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAJALAF, Community Health & Prevention Program Funding, with a secondary code of BPAGADAD, Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits. Its NAICS code is 813212 and its SIC code is 8300.