The American Heart Association is by far the oldest and the largest volunteer organization focused on fighting cardiovascular diseases. Headquartered in Dallas Texas, the foundation has more than 22.5 million supporters and volunteers working on the efforts to reduce deaths and disability caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke.

This charitable organization is working on their mission of “building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” Founded by a  group of physicians in 1924, this institution has been ranked as the 5th most popular charity/non-profit organization in America in 1994. The results were released by Chronicle of Philanthropy, an industry publication, after their largest study on non-profit organizations and charitable institutions’ credibility and popularity. Ratings have shown that respondents either “love” or “like a lot” the American Heart Association.

This organization received a huge opposition from the tobacco industry and despite these movements, they continue on their mission to serve the people, especially the children. Their findings started moving outside laboratories and have been endorsed to physician’s clinics and then to the American households. They became the champion of public health and has been mobilizing volunteers and supporters in all 50 states to continue their advocacy.

It was in 2010 that the foundation has seen a huge impact of their efforts for the entire nation. They have seen a decline of 25% of the country’s coronary heart diseases, risk factors and strokes. They continually increase their target while creating a 10-year impact Goal as the country’s lifestyle changes. Their main challenge: the sedentary lifestyle and cases of obesity.

To combat this and to gear their volunteers with the knowledge they need, they train about 13 million people every year to learn how to give CPR. They also released cookbooks for healthy food. They also fund various research projects and even helped out 13 Nobel Prize fund their scientific breakthroughs.