Jean Up is an annual online initiative held all throughout the month of May. It’s a chance for all of us in BC to come together and wear jeans to show what we stand for: helping sick and injured kids get out of their hospital gowns and back into their own jeans.

Whether you’re a company, school or individual, pick a day that works for you. Then, on that day, proudly wear your jeans and virtual sticker and tag us on social media at @bcchf to show your support.

This year, our hope is to distribute physical promotional kits to any participating schools or companies that request them. You can opt-in to receive a promo kit when you register online. In order to receive your Jean Up promo kit before May, please register by Friday, April 8.

Jeans Day has been one of our most iconic fundraisers for three decades—and because of people like you, it’s raised over $22 million to ensure kids in our province receive the best health care possible.

As Jeans Day approached its 30th year in 2020, we decided it was time for a makeover. So we conducted a survey of over 800 British Columbians to understand how we could make this program better. We also talked to schools, offices and retailers to find out where we could improve.

And in doing so, we made some important changes:

• Jeans Day is now something way bigger: a month-long online movement in May called Jean Up. We also changed the very meaning of wearing jeans to be a symbol of what you stand for—helping kids get out of their hospital gowns and back into their own jeans. So pick a day, a week or even celebrate all month long—the choice is yours during the month of May as you fundraise and show your denim spirit in support of kids at BC Children’s Hospital.
• We went digital. You can now fundraise for Jean Up online. Register for your own organizational fundraising page and use a web link to email around to collect donations. Tax receipts will be automatically issued for gifts $20 and over, and you’ll be able to see your total fundraising accomplishments in real time.
• We’re working to shrink our environmental footprint. We heard loud and clear that donors were concerned about the environmental impact and production costs of Jeans Day buttons and pins. So we did something to change that. We moved to online fundraising pages and virtual stickers that participants can proudly share.

We heard from donors that they were concerned about the environmental impact and production costs of buttons and pins. So we moved to online fundraising pages and virtual stickers.

Every year, tens of thousands of kids visit BC Children’s Hospital, many of them battling devastating diseases and chronic conditions. Although many strides have been made in improving children’s health care, so much more needs to be done. By rallying together this May, supporters can help fund the groundbreaking research, advanced technologies and kid-focused care that are needed to solve the greatest health challenges facing kids.

Online donations: All donations of $20 or more with a valid address and email will receive a charitable receipt within minutes of their donation.

Cash or cheque pledges with email addresses: All donations $20 or more with a valid address and email will be receipted via email after the event.

Cash or cheque pledges without email: Cash or cheque donations of $20 or more will be receipted with a valid legible donor name and mailing address by post after the event.

You can now fundraise for Jean Up online. Register for your own fundraising page and use a web link to email around to collect donations. Tax receipts will be automatically issued for gifts $20 and over, and you’ll be able to see your total fundraising accomplishments in real time.

We’re encouraging everyone to submit donations online this year so we can celebrate a live total on May 31. The easiest way to collect donations online is to send your company or school’s fundraising page link around to your networks.

This also helps us thank donors right away, and continue to demonstrate the progress that’s being made in some of the biggest health challenges facing kids today. However, if online doesn’t work for you, please download a printable PDF donation form in order to collect offline donations. Please note that offline donations may take up to two weeks from the time that we receive your donations to process or send out tax receipts to your donors.

As of 2019, a new fundraising feature within Facebook is available. Facebook may prompt you to create a Facebook Fundraiser when you create or share a post about BC Children’s Hospital Foundation or Jean Up. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to track donations that come through Facebook fundraising pages, so it is important to NOT use one for your Jean Up fundraising. When donations come through Facebook, we do not have the ability to see donor information or who the donation should be attributed to, so these funds cannot be added to your Jean Up page or counted towards your company or school fundraising.

As this is a Facebook feature, we cannot prevent the prompt from appearing on your Facebook page. When prompted, simply select the X in the top right corner to remove the prompt. If you have set up a Facebook Fundraiser, please deactivate it immediately. We still encourage sharing your company or school’s Jean Up fundraising page on Facebook by simply pasting your page link in a new post. We apologize for the inconvenience and are happy to answer any questions regarding Facebook Fundraising you might have at jeanup@bcchf.ca.