Donor Funding Opportunities

The Ear Institute is a rapidly growing flower in a small pot. The philanthropy of individuals, foundations and corporations who share our concern for providing the gift of hearing to children in need will help enlarge the "pot" and promote the flowering of our many services. Funding and naming opportunities focus on investment in innovative research studies, family support programs, educational outreach and advanced technology that help children to hear and enable them to succeed in mainstream schools. We seek philanthropic partners to:

• Help us to lead the way in innovative research studies:
  
  Philanthropy is critical to support Research Associates and the expense of clinical studies. The Center is constantly and actively investigating new cochlear implant programming strategies. These investigations focus on maximizing speech perception abilities in children, developing new programming methodologies for teenagers, broadening candidacy for cochlear implantation and evaluating implant patients for binaural (second ear) implants. The Center's Research Associates assist in the design of clinical studies, the collection of data and the preparation of publications. Research results are shared with professionals from around the world in peer-reviewed journals and at annual conferences such as the International Pediatric Cochlear Implant Conference.
  
  
  
• Help children learn to hear:
  
  The cochlear implant - or "bionic ear" - is a true miracle of modern medicine; yet implantation is only the first step toward learning to hear and moving toward educational mainstreaming. Children who are profoundly deaf or hearing-impaired require extensive support and programming services both before and following cochlear implantation and/or fitting with hearing aids. Those who receive cochlear implants still must overcome speech and language challenges that require regular therapy, and ongoing analysis and programming of their "bionic ears." These services are often poorly reimbursed by third party carriers, or not reimbursed at all. Fundraising helps support first class, comprehensive services for patients without adequate financial resources.
  
  
• Help us to ensure a mainstream, optimal learning environment for children who are deaf or hearing-impaired:
  
  The Ear Institute maintains a unique Educational Liaison Program. The Center's educators of children who are hearing- impaired help fulfill the goal of mainstreaming (matriculating in regular schools) children with hearing aids and cochlear implants. This offers them the greatest opportunity to develop their language and communication skills by immersion in an oral environment. The Educators meet with children and their families and advise them of expectations and opportunities. They teach the families to better communicate with professionals, teachers, and counselors. They encourage families to be the active ombudsmen for their children. The Center's educational outreach program provides regional conferences for audiologists, speech/language pathologists, and teachers and educators who have hearing impaired children in their classrooms. These conferences "teach the teachers" about hearing loss, how to "trouble shoot" functional problems with hearing aids and cochlear implants and how to maximize hearing and learning for a child who is hearing impaired.
  
  
• Help us to empower parents and create a family-friendly environment of care:
  Interactive educational workshops are also provided for parents where family issues can be addressed. These help parents learn how to use their time with their children most effectively to help them learn to "love to listen."
  
  Successful fundraising will help to sponsor these free workshops and develop a variety of parent education brochures and videos. In particular, we seek to develop brochures and videos that are multilingual, reflecting the diversity of families who seek our services.
  
  
• Help us to purchase state-of-the-art equipment:
  
  State-of-the-art technology is critical to maintaining excellence in hearing diagnosis and treatment. Philanthropy enables us to keep up with acquisition of new, costly equipment that assists in hearing aid selection and dispensing and cochlear implant evaluation. Examples include updated high-speed computers for cochlear implant programming, new hearing testing equipment and hearing aids and loaners for people who cannot afford to buy them.

Click here to support The Children's Hearing Institute.