New Yorker Lisa Buksbaum founded Boxtree Communications, Inc., a marketing communications company, in 1991. But these days, she identifies herself more with being CEO and founder of Soaringwords, which gets the corporate community and others involved in assisting critically ill children, their families and friends.

More than 100,000 children have benefited from Soaringwords. And while it is a nonprofit organization, Ms. Buksbaum emphasizes that “Soaringwords is run like a professional business.”

“Every experience that we have for our hospitalized patients and their families or for a corporate sponsor and their volunteers has to meet and exceed their expectations – we have to manage these expectations, as a marketing department manages expectations of a company,” she told The New York Sun.

Ms. Buksbaum deals with every aspect of the organization, which has 40 volunteers and a board of 10.

That means supervising presentation, coordination, and the way the programs are run. Her insistence on professionalism and her emphasis on transparency and accountability have yielded dividends. Last year, contributions from the business and corporate community amounted to $2.5 million.

Moreover, some $6 million worth of in-kind donations have been made by companies across America, including Met Life, Goldman Sachs, Verizon, and the A&E Network.

Goldman Sachs is working jointly with Soaringwords this year on Take Your Daughter to Work Day by involving the daughters and sons of Goldman Sachs employees in making Soaring Quilts and Soaring Pillows to donate to children at local hospitals. The A&E Network recently allocated $1 million worth of television time to launch a Soaringwords campaign in 2005.

“It is really about how I approach my business,” Ms. Buksbaum said. “I go through life thinking that everyone can be and would want to be a part of Soaringwords. People are touched by the story and my passion, and the need for this kind of organization. They are inspired to help.”

Soaringwords holds corporate events, as well as programs in hospitals, schools, and after-school programs nationwide where children engage in decorating Soaring Pillows and Soaring Quilts to give to ill children in local hospitals. Ms. Buksbaum also has a heavily trafficked Web site, www.Soaringwords.org.

The inventive ways in which Soaringwords advances can be attributed to Ms. Buksbaum’s background. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, and holds an MBA from Columbia University. She also serves on the boards of various alumni and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to founding Boxtree Communications she was manager of new business development for Lintas, the eighth largest advertising agency worldwide, where she developed and ran the account management training program for two years while overseeing over $30 million in billings.

So what does it take to make it in New York?

Lisa Buksbaum’s answer: “Tremendous credibility, an entrepreneurial drive, and passion for helping others always prove to be a winning combination in this tough town.”