Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) is invested in supporting innovative, inclusive, and integral health care programs and services that provide supplemental and essential support to children and families receiving care at Children’s Minnesota. 

We are committed to supporting programs that address social determinants of health, often referred to as "supplemental" care. These wrap-around services provide essential support to patients and families addressing things such as healthcare access and quality, education, social and community connections.

When Dr. Walter Ramsey founded St. Paul Children's Hospital in 1923, St. Paul Children’s Hospital, the repurposed framed house on the corner of Smith and Walnut Streets was the children's hospital furthest west in North America. But less than ten years later, the Great Depression left many families financially devasted and without the means to receive medical care

Recognizing the urgent, ongoing need for children and families to have access to the care they needed, 25 women of the local Junior League came together. In 1933, they formed Children’s Hospital Association to do what Minnesotans do best: take care of each other. In our inaugural year, they established The Free Bed Fund and raised funds to ensure 70 children could receive care in our local community. In total, this was the cost of 170 days of hospital care. 

A Minneapolis branch of the Children’s Hospital Association was formed in 1953 to support the Children’s Hospital of Minneapolis. Shortly after the hospitals merged in 1994 to form Children’s Minnesota, the largest pediatric health system in the upper Midwest, our branches merged to support children and families across Minnesota and beyond.

More than 90 years after our founding, our impact has grown exponentially but so has the need for our funding. Innumerable patients and families have had their lives changed thanks to CHA-funded programs and services. Since our philanthropic beginning, CHA has gifted more than $27 million dollars to Children's Minnesota. 

When the first dollars were raised for The Free Bed Fund, our goal was to enable care for families who could not afford it. Today, we not only continue to work to fund care for those who cannot afford it, but we also endeavor to increase access and increase support to families visiting Children’s Minnesota. Our efforts ensure that offering greater access and strengthened support is never a part of a patient’s bill. We are proud to partner with local volunteers, donors, community organizations, and businesses to strive to meet the need for holistic pediatric healthcare within our area.