Founded in 2000, the nonprofit Jester & Pharley Phund developed from the overwhelming national response to David Saltzman’s illustrated children’s book The Jester Has Lost His Jingle.

This year, The Jester celebrates its 15th anniversary, with more than 325,000 books in circulation. 

The Jester was David’s senior project at Yale. Before his death from cancer at 22 in 1990, his family promised him that his book would be published as he envisioned it and that its universal message of hope, laughter and self-empowerment would be shared with children coping with cancer and other special challenges.

We are proud of the many awards and honors given to The Jester and our programs benefiting ill children and literacy.

Accomplishments during The Phund’s first 10 years include:
●·150,000 Jester books & dolls donated
● 46 Jester & Pharley Smile Carts in hospitals, shelters nationwide
● 160-plus schools participating in Jester Read-A-Thons
● 26 million pages read by students to help ill children