PHOENIX (Jan. 10, 2008) – Elizabeth A. LaBorde has joined the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® of America as vice president of resource development, President and Chief Executive Officer David Williams announced today.

With 17 years of fundraising and development experience, LaBorde has successfully organized and managed nearly $1 billion in pediatric healthcare fundraising during her career. She most recently served as senior vice president of development and chief operating officer of the Children’s Memorial Foundation in Chicago.

LaBorde will oversee the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s fundraising efforts, including major gifts, direct marketing, planned giving and foundations. Her past experience will help the Foundation’s national office and 67 chapters continue to diversify fundraising efforts.

“Elizabeth is exactly the sort of leader that will help the Make-A-Wish Foundation make its next leap to serving even more wish kids,” Williams said. “Fundraising is the key to reaching more eligible children and having the means to grant each heartfelt wish. Elizabeth’s track record proves she has the expertise to make our development programs even more successful.”

With the Children’s Memorial Foundation, LaBorde oversaw the campaign and daily fundraising operations of the organization, the philanthropy arm of Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (fka Children’s Memorial Hospital). She developed campaign strategies and built the infrastructure of the foundation to prepare for the $600-million Campaign for Children’s Memorial, which will enable a new hospital facility to be built in Streeterville, Ill.

Before joining the Children’s Memorial Foundation in 2004, she was associate vice president of major and planned gifts at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. There, she oversaw a $200-million capital campaign for a new hospital building as part of an overall $500-million comprehensive campaign.

LaBorde is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). She earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and a fundraising certificate from Indiana University.

About the Make-A-Wish Foundation: The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Born in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 67 chapters in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted more than 161,000 wishes in the U.S. since inception. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit www.wish.org and discover how you can share the power of a wish^® .