Edwards Lifesciences Corporate Giving

Heartfelt Giving Aids Children from Developing Nations

“Heartfelt giving” is no cliché for Edwards Lifesciences Corporation. The Irvine, CA, company manufactures technologies to treat advanced cardiovascular diseases.

Through The Edwards Lifesciences Fund, a philanthropic, donor-advised fund, the company awards grants to organizations supporting advancements in knowledge and improvements in quality of life, focusing primarily upon cardiovascular disease and also communities where its employees live and work.

Since its inception in 2004, the Fund has awarded approximately $2 million in grants to more than 60 charitable organizations, ranging in focus from local communities to large international relief organizations including AmeriCares, of Stamford, CT, to which the Fund has provided more than $600,000 worth of cardiovascular supplies – including much-needed heart valves – and The HeartGift Foundation, of Austin, TX, which supports humanitarian pediatric cardiothoracic surgery for children from developing countries.

Mending Hearts with the HeartGift Foundation

In May 2007, Laura, a seven-year-old from the Dominican Republic, arrived in the United States to undergo surgery at Children’s Hospital of Austin for a heart defect. Laura received the much-needed medical care thanks to the HeartGift Foundation’s Mending Hearts program, which The Edwards Lifesciences Fund supported with a $50,000 Strategic Grant. The grant’s funding was applied to direct medical care, as well as lodging for Laura and her mother during their time in the U.S.

When Laura arrived, she was very ill and looked it: poor coloring and clubbed fingers and toes as a result of inadequate circulation, with hardly enough energy to play even sitting on the floor. Four days after her surgery, Laura was released from the hospital and continued to progress while staying with her host family, venturing out for a trip to Dallas between her follow-up doctors’ appointments. Approximately two weeks after the surgery, Laura and her mother returned home, looking forward to a happier and healthier future.

Laura is one of five children ranging in age from three to 13 years old who have been provided with free life-saving surgery as a result of the grant from The Edwards Lifesciences Fund.

Learn more about the HeartGift Foundation at http://www.heartgift.org/.

Strengthening Local Communities

Edwards Lifesciences is also committed to supporting local charities in the communities in which it operates. Its Strengthen Our Community program enables employees to participate in at least one community service activity each month, including volunteer opportunities, events such as walk-a-thons and blood drives, and donation drives for food, clothing, school supplies and toys.

For more information about The Edwards Lifesciences Fund, and to learn how to apply for a grant during future grant cycles, visit www.edwards.com/newsroom/elf.htm.