Giving Tuesday at Mercy Home

Your Gift Makes an Immediate Difference

On Giving Tuesday, your support helps Mercy Home for Boys & Girls provide safe housing, healing, and opportunity for young people across Chicago. A single gift can offer shelter, therapy, tutoring, or a warm meal—care that can change the course of a life. Join the many friends of our Home who give on this global day of generosity and make an immediate impact close to home. When you search for Giving Tuesday Mercy Home, know that your gift directly fuels vital services that children rely on today.

Fr. Scott Donahue, our President and CEO, invites the community to unite in hope and action: Give to Mercy Home this Giving Tuesday and help ensure every child has safety, support, and a path to success.

Donate to support at-risk youth

Why Give to Mercy Home This Giving Tuesday

Mercy Home’s proven programs help children and teens overcome trauma, succeed in school, and build brighter futures. Through our residential and community-based services, young people receive therapy, academic support, life-skills coaching, and 24/7 care. Our outcomes speak for themselves, with high school graduation rates that surpass local averages and strong college enrollment among our seniors. This is why so many supporters choose Giving Tuesday at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls as their day to make a life-changing gift.

This Giving Tuesday, your gift addresses urgent needs: safe beds and shelter, individualized education support, licensed counseling, and essential life-skills training like budgeting, cooking, and job readiness. These services meet youth where they are—whether they need crisis support tonight or a steady path forward in the months ahead. Give to Mercy Home this GivingTuesday to help sustain these essentials.

Give with confidence. Mercy Home is a trusted nonprofit with transparent financial reporting and independent audits. Donors receive regular impact updates, and results are measurable: youth complete grade-level coursework, secure internships, and transition to independent living with ongoing support. As Fr. Scott Donahue often shares, your generosity on Giving Tuesday at Mercy Home strengthens the foundation for every child we serve.

Ways to Give and How Your Gift Helps

It’s easy to participate on Giving Tuesday. You can:

• Make a one-time online gift in minutes.
• Set up a monthly donation to provide steady, reliable support.
• Honor someone with a tribute gift and send a personalized notification.

You can also direct your impact to specific needs:

• Sponsor a teen’s tutoring for a semester.
• Fund life-skills workshops that prepare youth for employment.
• Support mental health services, including individual and family therapy.

Each option aligns with real program costs so you know exactly how your dollars help. Many supporters choose Giving Tuesday at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls to maximize their impact through targeted gifts.

Increase your impact through matching gifts. Many employers in the Chicago area match donations—check your company’s program or submit your receipt for verification. Gifts to Mercy Home are generally tax-deductible as allowed by law; you will receive an acknowledgment for your records.

Every contribution is put to work quickly. Donations cover essentials like clothing and meals, academic materials, clinical care, and safe, well-staffed homes—ensuring youth receive consistent care year-round.

Did you know that in 2026, you can receive a tax benefit of up to $1,000 (or $2,000 if married filing jointly) for your cash donations to charity, including Mercy Home? This new above-the-line deduction for non-itemizers is a great way to reduce your tax liability and maximize your positive impact on the lives of our kids. Consult your tax advisor for guidance about your specific situation.

Real Stories and Results Provided by the Generosity of Giving Tuesday Donors

For most children, Christmas is filled with memories of family traditions and celebrations. But for 14-year-old Jayla, years of instability, homelessness, and uncertainty meant she had never experienced a real Christmas. Now, thanks to the safety, support, and care she found at Mercy Home, she is looking forward to her very first holiday season in a place she can call home.

After enduring homelessness and the trauma of his mother’s addiction, Jace spent years searching for stability and safety. At Mercy Home, he finally found a place where he could heal, build a brighter future, and rediscover hope.

Past Giving Tuesday campaigns have delivered tangible results: donors helped raise significant funding to expand counseling sessions, provide thousands of hours of tutoring, and add new life-skills courses that led to internships and job offers for our teens. This is the difference your gift makes when you support Giving Tuesday at Mercy Home.

Want to stay involved after Giving Tuesday? Sign up to volunteer at Mercy Home events or subscribe to impact updates. Fr. Scott Donahue invites you to stay connected and Give to Mercy Home this Giving Tuesday—your continued partnership ensures that children move from crisis to stability and success.

Your contribution to Mercy Home is more important than ever.

Please note: Because we care deeply about protecting our children’s privacy, the names and certain identifying details in this story have been changed.