More than 600 guests are expected at Marsh McLennan Agency's Cocktails and Cornhole event at the Sandy Springs Civic Center, according to Atlanta News First. The fundraiser had already brought in nearly $550,000 for families coping with pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors. The tournament returned Tuesday, pairing friendly competition with fundraising for families facing a child's diagnosis.
The event benefits the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's Butterfly Fund, an emergency financial assistance program described by Marsh McLennan Agency as the specific beneficiary of the cornhole fundraiser, according to Marsh McLennan Agency. The fund covers emergency costs for qualifying families during treatment, including utility bills such as electric, gas, water, trash service, phone, and internet, per the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Families apply for that assistance through medical personnel at listed treatment facilities, the foundation notes, and the program also connects families with professional counseling services during a diagnosis that upends daily life.
As Atlanta News First reported in its ATL Live segment, the event features a day of friendly competition and giving back, with organizers hoping to raise even more funds on top of what's already been collected. The station's report frames the gathering as part of its lineup of food, fun, and entertainment segments centered on Atlanta happenings.
A Two-Decade Fundraising Effort
Marsh McLennan Agency says it has hosted a two-part Charity Classic benefiting the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation since 2004, combining a virtual fundraiser with the in-person Cocktails and Cornhole event. The company's Community Impact Report puts the Southeast region's fundraising for the Butterfly Fund at nearly $7.5 million. It also reports that the two Charity Classic events raised more than $500,000 in 2025, the effort's 21st anniversary year.
The in-person event has not always featured cornhole. According to Marsh McLennan Agency's report, the Charity Classic was a golf tournament for years before organizers switched to cornhole in 2021 as the event returned after the pandemic. The company reports that attendance and revenue have increased since the change.
Numbers Behind the Switch
Marsh McLennan Agency reports that the golf event typically drew about 250 people and raised roughly $225,000, with about half of the proceeds going toward event costs. In 2023, the cornhole tournament drew 84 teams, with sponsorships ranging from $1,500 to $12,500 per team, according to the company's account.
The Butterfly Fund processed and fulfilled 711 applications in fiscal year 2023, compared with 664 the year before, according to Marsh McLennan Agency. The figures show increased application volume; they do not, by themselves, explain what drove the change.
What Georgia data show
For context on childhood cancer in the state, the Georgia Department of Public Health's childhood cancer incidence table lists 1,501 cases in the category of central nervous system and miscellaneous intracranial and intraspinal neoplasms, with an age-adjusted rate of 53.4 per million. The category includes more than brain tumors alone, so the table's count is not a brain-tumor-only figure, according to Georgia DPH.
What the Butterfly Fund Provides
The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation says the Butterfly Fund, an emergency financial assistance program, was established in 2000. A separate profile of Marsh McLennan Agency's charitable work by Alpharetta's City Lifestyle also discusses the fund.
The fund's stated purpose is to help families stay afloat while a child undergoes treatment for a brain or spinal cord tumor. Marsh McLennan Agency's cornhole event brings food and friendly competition together to support the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.
Online, the cause has drawn attention from other pediatric brain tumor advocacy groups as well. Ian's Friends Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, posted on Facebook questioning whether such efforts can help drive the science that leads to a cure for pediatric brain tumors — a reminder that fundraisers like Cocktails and Cornhole sit alongside a wider push for research funding, not just emergency aid.
