First Candle/SIDS Alliance is a national nonprofit health organization uniting parents, caregivers and researchers nationwide with government, business and community service
groups to advance infant health and survival. With help from a national network of member and partner organizations, we are working to increase public participation and support in the fight against infant mortality.
First Candle is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code and has been recognized as one of the top fifteen children’s charities in America and as a “little charity that does big things” by Parenting and Parents magazines. Most recently, Worth Magazine named First Candle one of the nation’s top 100 charities worthy of donor support.
A national member in good standing of Community Health Charities, First Candle participates in workplace giving programs throughout the country. We are proud to maintain administrative costs well below the nonprofit industry standard of 25 percent. In fiscal year 2002-2003, First Candle reported that fund raising and administrative costs comprised only 18 percent of the organization’s total operating budget.
History
Born in the early 1960s as the National SIDS Foundation, the organization’s primary focus was to support families that had experienced the death of a baby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Through the Foundation, grassroots advocacy efforts were also successful at securing the first national funding available specifically for SIDS research. In 1987, forged through the merger of several national and regional SIDS groups from around the country, the SIDS Alliance was created as an umbrella organization to provide a single, focused entity dedicated to the elimination of SIDS. For 17 years, the SIDS Alliance prioritized and accomplished significant reductions in SIDS rates in the United States.
In 2002, the SIDS Alliance board of directors voted to expand the organization’s mission to address other areas of infant death, including stillbirth and miscarriage. The organization has committed its resources – both human and financial – in the hopes of having an impact (similar to the impact it had and continues to have on SIDS rates) on all areas of infant death. Fittingly, the organization also voted to change its name at that time to First Candle – Helping Babies Survive and Thrive, reflecting its broader mission and hope for the future.
For more information on First Candle, please go to http://www.firstcandle.org/index.html. And for more detail on their upcoming fundraiser, please see ABC Kids Expo.