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A Word from the Chief Belief Officer - Nancy Gianni
Hello GiGi’s Change Makers!
Can you believe it?!? The year is almost over! As I reflect on 2024, I am so grateful for our incredible GiGi’s network! From opening our 59th, 60th, and 61st locations to expanding our reach through our Virtual Playhouse to serve individuals in 93 countries, it’s been a year of incredible highlights! And none of it would have been possible without YOU!
As a result of your support, GiGi’s is touching so many lives by providing over 340,000 FREE program hours! Beyond this, we’re creating a tidal wave of acceptance across communities and showing the world that our kids belong here! GiGi’s brings people together through our Playhouses, our volunteers, our events, our generous donors, our community, and our commitment to making the world a better place for individuals with Down syndrome and their families.
But as GiGi’s continues to grow, adding 300 new families each month, we face challenges. Like all organizations, rising inflation has caused our operating costs to rise; the only difference is we continue to offer everything 100% FREE to all our families! As we move into 2025 and beyond, we face three critical funding needs:
- Our Volunteers – Across America, there’s a dire volunteer shortage, and the GiGi’s network is 99% volunteer-run. Today, over 50% of our kids are on a waitlist for our FREE one-on-one tutoring programs!
- Our Adults – We are living among the FIRST generation of individuals with Down syndrome living to retirement age! Adult programming is paramount to ensuring our adults thrive in life. 90% of adults with DS will develop Alzheimer’s. We must keep developing FREE programming to keep their minds and bodies active!
- Our Advocacy – Our kids are still being bullied, excluded, and segregated; our pregnant parents are still pushed to terminate. We’re working to create leadership programs across schools, as well as programs in hospitals to ensure our kids and parents are heard!
As daunting as these challenges may seem, I know that with your help, we can continue to give a voice to an amazing population of people who need acceptance from this world!
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, and I ask you to please continue your support of GiGi’s.
Happy Holidays, and please remember to pray for families who have lost a loved one or are struggling to be heard!
With much love and gratitude,
Nancy and GiGi
2024 IMPACT
Our Growth in Programs and Participation
- 340,000 hours of FREE programming (36% increase over 2023)
- 5,620 hours FREE programming each week
- 54,950 hours of free one-on-one speech therapy, literacy, and math tutoring
- 31,000+ families served
- 300 new families join GiGi’s Playhouse every month
- Grew adult programming to account for more than 50% of all program hours
- 6 Continents where individuals with Down syndrome receive our 1:1 tutoring
- 93 countries served virtually
- 30% increase of locations now offering GiGi’s Kitchen
- Tech initiatives to improve efficiencies and family experience
- Lowered the cost to support each participant through scale
- Still 99% volunteer-run
Expanding the GiGi’s Reach
- Opened our 59th (Las Vegas), 60th (Simi Valley) and 61st Playhouses (Portland)
- GiGi’s Playhouse advertisement featured in the Official NFL Super Bowl Program Book
- Launched monthly newsletter to communicate and update entire GiGi’s network
- Awarded prestigious $2M MacKenzie Scott Yield Grant
- Launched new beta-version of GiGi’s Virtual Playhouse Platform
- Invested in National Office’s Leadership and Sustainability
- Grew National Youth Board as next generation of change-makers
- Partnering with Harry Moon Books to launch new collaborative children's book series, “GiGi’s Journey.”
- GiGi Gianni performed the National Anthem at Down Country’s Awareness to Acceptance Country Concert with Scotty Mcreery, Cooper Allan and other country stars!
- NFL Player Reid Ferguson and NFL Analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick supported GiGi’s Playhouse in #MyCauseMyCleats campaign
GiGi’s Launches Partnership with Harry Moon Books to Create “GiGi’s Journey”
GiGi’s Playhouse is expanding into the literary world! We’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with Harry Moon Books, the beloved children’s series. This partnership will result in a new collaborative book series that will introduce GiGi, a character with Down syndrome, as a main character into the fictional world of Harry Moon!
Launching in February 2025 with the release of Harry Moon’s “GiGi’s Journey,” this first-of-its-kind book will present a heartwarming story of friendship, bravery, and the beauty of embracing individual differences. Though this book will entertain children with magical adventures, the power of this partnership goes beyond entertainment.
Conveying critical messages about kindness, inclusion, and acceptance, “GiGi’s Journey” has the potential to allow children all over the world to gain meaningful exposure to Down syndrome, ultimately helping foster a more inclusive and accepting world!
Read more about GiGi’s partnership with Harry Moon here!
GiGi’s is there for EVERYONE
...including our adults! In 2024, our adult programming grew to account for more than 50% of all program hours, and for good reason! We’re living among the first generation of individuals with Down syndrome to live to retirement age (in the 1980's the life expectancy was 25). As the adult population continues to grow, the demand for our FREE programming grows, and we’re meeting that demand.
Whether it’s through GiGiFIT, GiGiKitchen, GiGiPrep, GiGiU, or one-on-one tutoring, our adult programming is there to emphasize nutrition, independence, career development, and other important life skills!
At GiGi’s, we’re committed to providing a lifetime commitment to our families from prenatal diagnosis through adulthood. As the adult population ages, our FREE programming will continue to expand and evolve with them, ensuring we help all our participants thrive, no matter what stage of life they’re in!
Need a Resolution for 2025? Help us Solve the Volunteer Crisis!
Losing weight. Exercising more. Watching less TV. With the new year less than a few weeks away, it’s time to start thinking about how you can better yourself in the new year. At GiGi’s Playhouse, we believe the best way to help yourself is to help others. That’s why we’re asking you to volunteer with us in 2025 and help solve the volunteer crisis!
Across all charitable organizations, there’s a dire shortage of volunteers. As a 99% volunteer-run organization, we feel the brunt of this shortage. This past fall, 1,746 participants enrolled in our FREE literacy, math, and speech tutoring programs. As great as that number is, there was a problem — a lack of volunteers meant 856 learners were not matched with a tutor, but YOU can help us change this and better yourself in the process! When you volunteer at GiGi’s, you enrich your own life. Once they begin helping our participants, our volunteers find purpose, fulfillment, and community. So, what are you waiting for? Help us change lives in 2025! Learn more here!
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