Alec inspired action

It all started when Foundation founder Ryan Kelley decided to channel his new found passion for the outdoors into something greater, and he began asking friends to climb mountains to raise money and awareness for a boy battling cancer named Alec.

In 2015, Ryan and April McCoy, Foundation Treasurer, climbed Mt. Rainier. They raised $14,000 for Friends of Kids With Cancer. We’ve been expanding our goals every year since.

Our fundraising takes place before each climb, but the climbs are our chance to spread the word. Our goal is to expand the climbs every year, encouraging others to join us, and to use the attention-grabbing backdrops of these stunning mountain vistas to speak to our audience about big causes and ways to help.

Climbing Mt. Rainier changed my life! I can’t wait to see how this Foundation changes the lives of so many more!

April McCoy
Treasurer, Keep Climbing Foundation

Changing Lives

Using the stunning backdrops nature’s most breathtaking peaks, we’re capturing attention and bringing awareness to causes that matter. Our fundraising climbs raise money for children and Veterans in need, while our climbers educate their neighbors about the issues facing these vulnerable groups.

We’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for our charitable partners so far, and we’re pushing ourselves to do more each and every year.

We climb for so much more than the challenge. We climb for the kids. We climb to fight cancer. We climb to keep families close, to provide housing, to feed those in need. We climb to show others what can be done.

Join us as we help people from all walks of life reach their personal summits and overcome life’s obstacles.

Want to move mountains?

Give Now Give Now

100% of donations go to our charitable partners

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago.

Team Alec Forever

Team Alec Forever’s  mission is to financially help childhood cancer families with end of life expenses, who are treated in the St. Louis area. No one should ever have to go through this. Our greatest wish is for this to never again be needed. Our prayer will ALWAYS be for a world without childhood cancer. We continue to fight for that to become reality. Until then, we will fund raise to financially support families going through this horrible disease. Surviving the loss of a child is hard enough. Help us, help these families in memory of Alec Ingram.

Fisher House Foundation

An organization that has served over 400,000 families since its inception, Fisher House is focused on supporting military and veteran families in a variety of ways, including providing comfort homes where military & veteran families can stay free of charge while a loved one is in the hospital.

Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) believes when families are together, they cope better, and that no family should have to deal with their child’s medical crisis alone. The mission of RMHC is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families.

Friends of Kids with Cancer

Friends of Kids with Cancer is devoted to enriching the daily lives of children undergoing treatment for, and survivors of, cancer and blood-related diseases.

Children’s Heart Foundation

The Children’s Heart Foundation was founded in 1996 and is the country’s leading organization solely dedicated to funding congenital heart defect (CHD) research. Their mission is to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of congenital heart defects by funding the most promising research. To date, through 2020, The Children’s Heart Foundation has funded $15 million of CHD research and scientific collaborations.

Children’s Home & Aid

Children’s Home & Aid is a leading child and family service agency in Illinois. They help children recover their health, their hope, and their faith in the people around them. For 138 years, CH&A has shown up for Illinois families. They serve in the places where it’s proven to be the most effective: at home, in the classroom, and in the community. CH&A is an agency that puts families at the center of every decision and believe that communities where we all work, play and live together can be strengthened through data-informed, collaborative and preventative solutions.

Girls on the Run St. Louis

Inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

Crowns Fight Cancer

The Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation works jointly on the legacy that Elizabeth established with Crowns Fight Cancer. As a childhood cancer warrior, Elizabeth advocated for those that couldn’t by utilizing her crown to change how the world viewed pediatric cancer.

First Descents

First Descents provides life-changing outdoor adventures for young adults (ages 18 – 39) impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions.

Girls on the Run Rockies

Inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

Isaac Bruce Foundation

Reaches out to youth and teaches them at an early age the importance of a healthy lifestyle with a focus on education.

SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation

Focused not just on the health of kids today but on the long-term health of the communities it serves.

Fight DMD

Funds research to help find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare genetic disease that weakens the muscles over time.

Subscribe for updates

close
Keep Climbing Foundation
Join our mission
to heal
life-threatening illness

Your support is helping children & U.S. Veterans find healing from their battle from cancer and life-threatening illness.

close
Keep Climbing Foundation
Give now to
help us build
stronger
communities

100% of your gift goes toward helping
others overcome obstacles
to realize their personal summits.

close
Keep Climbing Foundation

Not ready to
donate?

We understand.

Subscribe to stay connected with us.