December 26, 2017
Ten Maternal-Infant Nonprofits to Support with Your Tax Deductible Donation before Year End
By: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE | 0 Comments
As the gift-giving season comes to a close, thoughts turn to the new year and new plans. Before we say goodbye to this year, consider closing out your 2017 planned giving to organizations that ethically support maternal-infant health globally, and in your own community. The organizations listed below are all non-profits and well deserving of your hard-earned dollars.
1. Lamaze International
The leading childbirth education organization in the US and internationally, this evidence-based organization provides resources for childbirth professionals and families alike. Your donation can go to support funding for international educators to attend a Lamaze conference in order to learn and network with colleagues and maternal-infant health experts. Lamaze International prepares professionals to support families by sharing exceptional childbirth education preparation techniques with those who support families worldwide.
2. Every Mother Counts
303,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications every year. That is one mother every two minutes. Every Mother Counts works on a global level to reduce this number and save maternal lives. 98% of these deaths are preventable. Give to Every Mother Counts and help women to survive their childbearing year.
3. March for Moms
The United States is seeing rising maternal mortality and morbidity from pregnancy and birth complications. The USA has the highest rate of maternal mortality amongst all developed nations. 50% of these deaths are preventable. Prenatal and postpartum mood disorders affect approximately one in five parents. Health inequities and disparities impact families of color disproportionately. One in ten babies is born too early. Maternal leave policies leave little space for adequate time with new babies and maternity health care access is unavailable, particularly in rural communities. March for Moms represents every parent who deserves better. Through lobby actions on the federal level, and calls to action for a united front in communities across the USA along with a national march in Washington DC, May 6th, 2018, March for Moms can use your financial support to request and lobby for improved care for all for mothers in America.
4. March of Dimes
Premature birth and its complications are the #1 cause of death of babies in the United States. Babies who survive premature birth often have long-term health problems. The March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign aims to reduce premature birth in the United States and to give every baby a fair chance for a healthy full-term birth. Yet this fair chance is not reality for all babies. The preterm birth rate rose to 9.8 percent in 2016, up 2 percent from 9.6 in 2015, marking the second consecutive increase after steady declines over the previous 7 years. The March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card reveals racial/ethnic and geographic disparities signifying that babies have a higher chance of a premature birth based simply on race/ethnicity and zip code. In 2017, the March of Dimes convened the Prematurity Campaign Collaborative to address the persistent health inequities and rising rate of preterm birth in the United States. Through the Collaborative, hundreds of organizations and experts work together on the shared challenge to 'Achieve Equity and Demonstrated Improvements in Preterm Birth.' You can support the March of Dimes campaign by donating now.
5. Childbirth Connection (National Partnership for Women & Families)
Founded in 1918 as the Maternity Center Association, Childbirth Connection is now a core program of the National Partnership for Women & Families which they joined in 2014. For nearly 100 years, Childbirth Connection has helped develop and advance many forms of care that are now critical components of the nation's maternity care system. More recently, they launched a long-term program to promote evidence-based maternity care through policy and quality initiatives. They will continue working to improve and transform the nation's maternity care system so that childbearing women and babies consistently receive high-quality, woman- and family-centered care. Childbirth Connection relies on your donations to help support these goals.
6. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
To introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with a free gift of professional portraiture, NILMDTS trains, educates, and mobilizes professional quality photographers to provide beautiful heirloom portraits to families facing the untimely death of an infant. They believe these images serve as an important step in the family's healing process by honoring the child's legacy. NILMDTS has over 1,700 active photographers around the world. NILMDTS reaches every state in the United States and has been or is present in 40 countries worldwide. Your generous donation to
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep helps assure that all families experiencing infant loss will be able to receive the priceless gift of remembrance photography.
7. Fistula Foundation
Fistula Foundation does one thing and they do it well: treat obstetric fistula. Funding from generous donors allows them to provide their partners in the field with human and financial resources that enable as many women as possible to receive the treatment they need. Their partners are carefully vetted and every site funded is coordinated and staffed by local nurses, heroic doctors and care workers who understand the community and understand how to provide the best care possible to the women they treat. The need for fistula treatment is tremendous and this is a challenge the organization cannot face alone. Donating to the Fistula Foundation allows their reach to go even further so that they can treat more women in all corners of the world and help turn their life around with a fistula repair.
8. Midwives for Haiti
Midwives for Haiti works in collaboration with Haiti's Ministry of Public Health and Population and other organizations to deliver culturally appropriate, high impact health interventions. Their approach reduces the three major delays- the delay in the decision to seek care, the delay in reaching care, and the delay in receiving adequate care- that prevent women from accessing life-saving maternal care. They train skilled birth attendants from rural areas and get them to women who need them. Their programs educate and empower Haitian women and men to improve the health of their communities, creating lasting change in their lives and the lives of the mothers and children they care for. A donation today to Midwives for Haiti can save the lives of mothers and babies by providing training and materials that make birth safer for every mother-baby dyad on the Island.
9. CleanBirth.org
CleanBirth.org works to prevent the needless deaths of mothers and babies in Laos, where maternal and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world. In the villages where they work, women give birth alone in the forest. To make birth safer together with their Lao non-profit partner they provide life-saving Clean Birth Kits and train nurses to support families during the prenatal period, childbirth and postpartum. Your donation to CleanBirth.org goes a long way to provide the equipment and training they need to handle this vital task.
10. National Accreta Foundation
The National Accreta Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded in April 2017. Their mission is to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity attributable to placenta accreta. This goal will be achieved through a reduction in the incidence of preventable placenta accreta cases by lowering the rate of NTSV cesarean births nationwide to 23.9% or lower, lowering the rate of low-risk repeat cesarean births to 88.3% or lower and increasing the number of hospitals staffed and equipped to provide the appropriate level of care required for patients with previous cesarean sections and diagnosed cases of placenta accreta. The National Accreta Foundation will partner with federal, state and local public health agencies and organizations, hospitals and health systems, medical and hospital associations, and insurance payers and purchasers to create multi-stakeholder agendas and strategies for the prevention, measurement and safe management of placenta accreta. Your financial support of the National Accreta Foundation can help save the lives of mothers in the US who suffer from this deadly pregnancy complication.
Can you make some last gifts this year to these non-profits so that they can continue their efforts to say the lives of both mothers and babies around the world. Every dollar matters and your entire gift is tax-deductible. If you have not yet finished your planned giving this year, consider any or all of these worthwhile causes.
Tags
Childbirth Connection Lamaze International March of Dimes March for Moms Maternal Infant Care Every Mother Counts Fistula Foundation National Accreta Foundation CleanBirth.org Donations for Maternal-Infant Care Midwives for Haiti