The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is a nonprofit established by the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991. The foundation’s mission is to help children in need during Christmas by distributing new toys and spreading a message of hope. Toys for Tots enacts this mission through toy collection and distribution campaigns, support for local coordinators, and annual education campaigns to enhance its visibility and raise awareness. The foundation has been extremely successful over the years and has ranked among Philanthropy 400’s top-rated charities since 2001.
While the foundation’s core mission revolves around the holiday program, Toys for Tots has implemented additional year-round outreach programs aimed at providing continuous support to children. The Foster Children Program, Native American Program, Youth Ambassador Program, and Literacy Program have different goals but share the mission of positively impacting children who are less fortunate.
The Foster Children Program started in 2002 to help children in foster care navigate the stressful situation of facing an unknown environment with only a few belongings. With the help of local organizations, the Foster Children program gathers toys, books, educational resources, and other items and delivers them to foster children. The program relies on donations from individuals to put together the necessary resources. In 2023, it supported over 3,000 foster children in California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Arizona.
The Native American Program has existed since 1980, even before Toys for Tots was established as a nonprofit. In over four decades, the program has helped over 180,000 Native American children by providing books and toys. In the early days, reservation police departments would travel to California to pick up the donated items and deliver them to children. Nowadays, the Toys for Tots Foundation ships thousands of toys directly to the participating reservations, speeding up the process. Additionally, the foundation supports the Navajo Literacy Program.
One of the foundation’s most recent programs, the Youth Ambassador Program, was formalized in 2021. The program recognizes young people who demonstrate extraordinary support for the work of Marine Toys for Tots and have a positive impact on their communities. Youth ambassadors help the foundation in its interactions with local communities, raising awareness and enhancing the impact of local campaigns.
Every year, local coordinators submit their chosen youth ambassador candidates to Toys for Tots. The selection process ends in September, when new ambassadors are chosen for a one-year term starting on October 1 and ending on September 30.
Lastly, the Literacy Program, established in 2008, provides children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds with access to educational resources to help them succeed academically. Literacy is essential for communication and has a critical impact on children’s ability to work once they reach adulthood. By helping children read and communicate, the program empowers them to break the cycle of poverty.
Programs like this play a crucial role in the United States, where one in six children lives at or below the poverty level, and a quarter of children don’t learn how to read. Low-income families struggle significantly in getting their children access to education or even age-appropriate books. A lack of literacy can lead to emotional, social, and behavioral issues.
Since its inception, the Toys for Tots Literacy Program has provided over 57 million books to children across the United States, of which over 4 million were distributed in 2023. Individuals can make donations directly toward the literacy program; publishers and clearinghouses can also contribute with tax-deductible in-kind donations.
Toys for Tots has grown significantly since its establishment in 1991. The foundation now benefits from the help of almost 40,000 local volunteers, current and veteran marines, and Marine Corps League members. With these year-round programs and the Christmas toy delivery, the foundation is positively changing the lives of thousands of children.
