Celtics Owners Give $200 Million to Boston Children’s, a Hospital Record

The Boston Celtics’ ownership group and the team are giving more than $200 million to Boston Children’s Hospital, the hospital announced Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. The Boston Children’s Hospital gift is the largest in the hospital’s history, and a major share is aimed at a new pediatric mental health campus being built in Brighton, along with research, nurse training and a new innovation fund.

The donation comes from the Celtics ownership group and the Boston Celtics, in association with the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, the team’s charity. The hospital did not publish a payment schedule or a dollar breakdown by program.

Size of the gift and who is giving

At more than $200 million, the gift doubles the hospital’s previous record. In December 2025, Celtics co-owner Rob Hale and his wife, Karen Hale, pledged $100 million to Boston Children’s for pediatric behavioral health, which the hospital called the largest gift in its history at the time. That pledge will name a signature building on the new Brighton campus.

According to The Boston Globe, as reported by CBS Boston, half of the new $200 million donation comes from Hale, and his earlier pledge prompted Celtics governor and chairman Bill Chisholm and the rest of the ownership group to match it. Hale is the founder of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications; he and his wife also gave $50 million each to Boston Children’s and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2018, CBS Boston reported.

Where the $200 million will go

Boston Children’s listed five priorities for the money:

• Building what it calls the nation’s premier pediatric mental health facility and supporting earlier intervention for children in crisis.
• Research into emerging therapies for childhood diseases and the childhood origins of adult diseases.
• Advanced training for pediatric nurses.
• An innovation fund for new ideas in children’s health.
• Expanded family-centered programs that promote healthy lifestyles in local communities.

The Boston Globe reported that the behavioral health campus in Brighton is a $640 million project. It sits on the campus of Franciscan Children’s, which joined the Boston Children’s system in 2023. According to the hospital, the campus will combine inpatient, outpatient and rehabilitation care, with single-patient rooms, dedicated programs for children with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities, and new partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs.

Jobs and economic impact

The Brighton project is also a sizable construction and hiring story. When Bank of America announced a $10 million grant to the campus on Oct. 1, 2026, Boston Children’s said the new campus would create 150 to 200 new jobs in the community and more than 3,320 construction jobs over the course of the project. The hospital has also said it plans to train more than 100 behavioral health professionals a year at the site.

Hospitals are among the region’s biggest employers. Massachusetts had about 860,100 jobs in education and health services in September 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). Boston Children’s itself is a 491-bed hospital and a pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, with about 3,000 researchers and scientific staff, according to the hospital.

The gift lands in a busy week for Boston’s major hospitals: Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have sued drugmaker Eli Lilly over its data demands under the federal 340B drug discount program, as covered in our report on the MGH and Brigham 340B lawsuit. For more local company and institution news, see the Boston business and economy section.

What happens next

The Celtics said they will recognize the hospital at their home game on Friday, Oct. 30, with in-game moments honoring current and former patients, families and staff. The team’s early-season form is covered in our recap of the Celtics’ 134-99 win over the Bulls. The hospital has not announced an opening date for the Brighton campus.

Reaction

“While the size of this gift is unprecedented for Boston Children’s Hospital, its significance will ultimately be measured not by the record it sets, but by the lives it will save,” hospital CEO Dr. Kevin Churchwell said in a statement. Chisholm said, “This gift is our commitment to the next generation in Boston and far beyond. We all win when we invest in our children’s futures.” Hale said the gift will help “advance groundbreaking research, expand access to exceptional care, and create opportunities to improve the lives of children for years to come.”

Sources

• Boston Children’s Hospital via PR Newswire: Historic Gift Led by Owners of the Boston Celtics Organization (Oct. 29, 2026)
• CBS Boston: Celtics owners make “unprecedented” $200 million donation to Boston Children’s Hospital (Oct. 29, 2026)
• NBC Boston: Celtics make $200 million donation to Boston Children’s Hospital (Oct. 29, 2026)
• The Boston Globe: Celtics owners make $200m gift to Boston Children’s Hospital (Oct. 29, 2026)
• Boston Children’s Hospital: $10 million gift from Bank of America for new behavioral health campus (Oct. 1, 2026)
• Boston Children’s Hospital via PR Newswire: Rob and Karen Hale make the largest gift in hospital history (Dec. 10, 2025)
• FRED: All Employees, Education and Health Services in Massachusetts (MAEDUH)