Our 2020 Impact

Please join us in celebrating our collective 2020 impact.

We at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon & SW Washington are honored to share with you our 2020 impact report. After a year that felt defined by the unprecedented, extraordinary, and unexpected, we are proud to look back and know that we faced the challenges confronted by all of us with an unwavering commitment to our families, to our community, and to each other.

Over the past year, RMHC maintained a relentless dedication to our core mission while knowing that the unanticipated challenges of 2020 required ingenuity, agility, and above all, compassion. While we worked to ensure that families with seriously ill children could still safely access the critical care they needed, we also pivoted our services to provide shelter for frontline medical professionals and forest fire evacuees. We updated and expanded programs to meet the new challenges faced by our guest families and ensured that no parent or child would go hungry while in our Houses. And thanks to our trusted partners and donors, we proved time and time again that families traveling to receive critical medical care could count on us, no matter what.

We are reminded once again why our work truly matters. From new parents with a baby in the NICU while forest fires rage, to a family beginning their teen’s chemo treatment during a pandemic, it is not hard to see the critical impact made by free of charge housing, access to medical care, and a community of support. Today, with immense gratitude, we celebrate everything we were able to accomplish because of dedicated donors, staff members, volunteers, and community members who made sure that hope for tomorrow could begin here today. Please join us in celebrating our collective 2020 impact.

The Families We Serve

Every day, our four beautiful Oregon Houses serve families traveling all across the state to receive lifesaving or life changing medical care. From long NICU stays, to cancer diagnoses, post-surgery check-ups and more, no family’s journey to our doors looks the same. But whether they are traveling because of a lack of pediatric services in their hometown, or because their child requires specialized treatment, they each have one thing in common – they are in need of a place to call home during their child’s medical crisis.

In 2020, each of our Houses rose to meet the specific needs of families traveling to their community. Our Average Family Model highlights the wide variety of unique stories and journeys of the families traveling to each of our Houses last year.

2,440 Miles

longest distance traveled

Every 6.5 Hours

a family checks in

Top 5 Reasons for Families Staying at RMHC

#1

Chronic Conditions

#2

Complications at Birth

#3

Pediatric Surgery

#4

Cancer Treatment

#5

Diagnostic Testing

The Bend House

12 Nights

average night stay

$2,160

average amount saved

68 miles

average distance traveled

65 Nights

longest stay in 2020

The Portland East House

10 Nights

average night stay

$1,800

average amount saved

211 miles

average distance traveled

347 Nights

longest stay in 2020

The South Waterfront Ronald McDonald House at the OHSU Rood Family Pavilion

8 Nights

average night stay

$1,440

average amount saved

214 miles

average distance traveled

476 Nights

longest stay in 2019 into 2020

The Springfield Ronald McDonald House at the PeaceHealth Heartfelt House

16 Nights

average night stay

$2,880

average amount saved

99 miles

average distance traveled

108 Nights

longest stay in 2020

“I am beyond grateful to have been able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. It was such a sanctuary. I felt completely safe, loved, and protected during a crisis in my life. I hope someday I can give back financially. What a blessing thank you, thank you, thank you, everything was excellent - every detail.”

- RMHC Guest Family

Our Programs and Services

Housing and Shelter

No matter the year, the foundation of our mission remains – we provide critical free of charge housing to families traveling for pediatric medical care. While simple in concept, the services provided by RMHC act as a vital safety net for thousands of families every year. At our Oregon Ronald McDonald Houses, we are proud to provide this service as zero cost to families, aiming to lift stressful financial burdens and help families focus on what matters most – each other.

As the realities of 2020 set in, we knew that we could not afford to waiver in our commitment to housing guest families. While our Houses have previously centered around bustling community spaces and shared family activities, we quicky shifted our focus, centering ourselves around providing comfortable, sparklingly clean rooms to the families who had no option but to travel for care amid the pandemic.

For these families, our commitment to our mission paid off. On average, our services saved each family over $2,000 in 2020, coming to more than $1.9M in total family cost savings. We are honored to lift these burdens carried by families, and humbled to know that with every free night, we also provided comfort, respite, and relief.

Meals from the Heart

We believe that comfort takes many forms but there is nothing as universal as the comfort of a warm home cooked meal. Our Meals from the Heart program has long been a staple of the family experience at our Houses, filling bellies, offering comfort, and removing a major burden from the shoulders of our families.

Food became an even more central part of our mission in 2020 as access to grocery stores, restaurants, and cafeterias became more and more limited. Dedicated donors, local restauranteurs, and community members stepped up to fill in the gaps when our regular Meals from the Heart volunteer program paused. Frontline staff members delivered more than 9000 meals door to door and packaged nearly 25,000 ready-to-go snack packs to help families get the food they needed all day. We are proud to say that that families in our Houses, already struggling with so much, will never have to worry about where their next meal will come from.

Hospitality à la Carte

We know the value of a small treat, a moment of respite, or a fresh cup of coffee. As the historic challenges of 2020 began, we knew that even in the midst of chaos we could not afford to lose these moments of joy.

Our in-hospital Hospitality à la Carte program is designed to bring comfort to families where they are. As access to hospitals was restricted to protect patients and staff, we began to re-think how to best put our carts to use. In May of 2020, we called our Hospitality Carts home, bringing them back into our Houses so they could continue to do what they do best – provide comfort to families right at their door.

With the help of the Hospitality Cart and a bevy of remote volunteers, we created and delivered in-room activities, craft projects, and games to enrich and enliven the experience of families staying at our Houses. Through the Hospitality Cart, we were able to continue providing moments of normalcy, and support family wellbeing – “She never wants to leave” said Kallie’s mom. “She gets craft projects delivered straight to her door; it is everything she could ever ask for.”

Community Response & COVID-19

Filled with compassion and hope, our Houses have always been a refuge for those experiencing crisis. Providing shelter, comfort, and relief is our expertise and throughout 2020 we were honored to expand these offerings beyond guest families to play a new role in supporting our community.

While flexing and adapting to safely care for families during the early days of the pandemic, we found ourselves poised to do more. On April 7th, 2020, in cooperation with our dedicated hospital partners, we began welcoming frontline medical professionals safely into our Houses, extending the compassionate hospitality we are known for to a new group who needed our shelter and support. Later, as forest fires raged across Oregon, we once again offered our Houses as a place of refuge and relief, caring for critical medical workers who had been evacuated along with families traveling for care.

Throughout 2020, we worked tirelessly to ensure that our Houses remained places of comfort, safety, and support. More than a year into the pandemic, we are proud to say there has been zero COVID transmission within our Houses, and that on top of serving many guest families we provided more than 386 nights of support to members of our community who needed our help.

Family Survey Results

As a family packs up to leave our Houses we ask for their valuable feedback so we are able to continuously improve the guest family experience and better meet the needs of the families who walk through our doors.

In 2020, as the world shifted around us, this information played a critical role in understanding how, and if, we were meeting the changing needs of the families we serve. We are proud to say that amid the chaos of 2020, our guest families reported consistently excellent experiences in all four of our Houses meaning we are succeeding at what matters most – providing comfort to families in need.

Overall Satisfaction

4.91/5

(in 2019: 4.97/5)

Feeling of Health and Safety

4.88/5

(in 2019: 4.88/5)

Satisfaction with Staff Support

4.96/5

(in 2019: 4.94/5)

Ease of Process

4.92/5

(in 2019: 4.87/5)

“This is an AMAZING place for those of us who need to be able to stay close to the hospital. I would recommend this place to any family in need. I have had one of the BEST experiences here. Thank you for welcoming us with open arms and being as welcoming and nice as you have been, it took a LOT of stress off and that made the stay a little easier for us. Thank you.”

“The room was amazing and after a night or two felt like home. It was a comfortable, safe refuge from all the emotions at the hospital.”

"Everything was perfect and we were more than grateful to have a place to stay that was so nice, clean, spacious, and had everything we needed and more!!!! Feel humbled by the experience! Thank you!"

Because of You

Looking back at 2020, we at RMHC are struck by everything that made last year extraordinary. Across the state, our communities rose to meet each challenge with compassion and generosity. With immense gratitude, we celebrate the role our donors and partners played in 2020 by supporting our critical services and for ensuring that hope for tomorrow can begin here today.

We are humbled by what you made possible for the thousands of families who endured the chaos of 2020 while traveling to receive lifesaving and life-changing medical care for their child. As our in-person fundraising events were cancelled, and we faced an unpredictable future, it was you and your support that ensured our doors stayed open and made certain we could fulfill our commitment to these seriously ill children and their families even during a pandemic.

Your support allowed us to serve thousands of comforting meals, implement innovative family-centered services, and most importantly, provide the vital free of charge housing that allows these families to access the medical care their children need. Your contribution was essential to making this possible.

Stay tuned for our 2020 Finance Report, coming in later this year, sharing the financial health RMHC and how your investment in our programs impacts and improves the lives of families with seriously ill children.

Excellent People Make Excellence Happen

In a year that was defined by the unprecedented, the extraordinary, and the unexpected, we at RMHC could not be more proud of the work that was accomplished by our staff in 2020. Last year, while each and every Oregonian regularly faced new and unpredictable challenges, our frontline staff members showed up day after day determined to fulfill our commitment to caring for families with seriously ill children no matter what. Through thick forest fire smoke, daily safety briefs, and with freshly washed hands, RMHC staff members across the state proved that even when confronted with the monumental challenges of 2020, excellent people make excellence happen.

In 2020, RMHC was proud to be named in the top 100 non-profits to work for in Oregon for the 12th year running, being recognized as fourth in the state.

Our 2020 Finances

Our Houses are built on the simple idea that nothing else should matter when a family needs to focus on the health of their child – not where they will get their next meal, nor where they will lay their head at night to rest. Families are invited to stay at our Houses for free, removing a major barrier for those who struggle to find alternative housing.

2020 Statement of Activities

Donor, Guest, and Partner Investments in RMHC	2020	%
Fundraising: Donations and Grants	$1,694,078	24%
In-Kind	$1,997,583	28%
Events Revenue, Net	$1,039,348	15%
Hospital Partners	$1,196,021	16%
McDonald's Support	$483,801	8%
Government Stimulus Revenue	$720,328	7%
Other	$141,468	2%
Total Revenue	$7,272,628	100%
Unrealized Gain on Investments	$1,004,101

RMHC's Investment in Families and Children	2020	%
Programs	$5,636,304	78%
Fundraising	$1,164,996	16%
Management and General	$447,296	6%
Total Operating Costs	$7,248,596	100%
Change in Net Assets	$1,028,133

Programs

78%

Fundraising

16%

Management and General

Please join us in celebrating our collective 2020 impact.

4.9/5

11,023

$1.9M

9,000

2,440 Miles

Every 6.5 Hours

Top 5 Reasons for Families Staying at RMHC

#1

Chronic Conditions

#2

Complications at Birth

#3

Pediatric Surgery

#4

Cancer Treatment

#5

Diagnostic Testing

12 Nights

$2,160

68 miles

65 Nights

10 Nights

$1,800

211 miles

347 Nights

8 Nights

$1,440

214 miles

476 Nights

16 Nights

$2,880

99 miles

108 Nights

Housing and Shelter

11,023

$1.9M

Meals from the Heart

9,000

215

Hospitality à la Carte

360

24,926

Community Response & COVID-19

386

4 of 4

Overall Satisfaction

4.91/5

Feeling of Health and Safety

4.88/5

Satisfaction with Staff Support

4.96/5

Ease of Process

4.92/5

6,949

$3.2M

3,539

10,428

In 2020, RMHC was proud to be named in the top 100 non-profits to work for in Oregon for the 12th year running, being recognized as fourth in the state.

2020 Statement of Activities

$150+

$0

$2,000

$1.9M