2020 COVID-19 and Total Giving for Our World

December 18, 2020

Edwards Gives Nearly $20 million in 2020, Almost Doubling Annual Support of Charitable Causes

This year has been one of unprecedented challenges for underserved patients and communities. We have listened to our trusted charitable partners, communities and employees on how we can best use the power of giving to help those in need. While we remain focused on our long-term goals, we have also pivoted our philanthropy to help those facing the greatest needs in these difficult times. From the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on patients and our communities, to the racial equity conversation sweeping the globe, now more than ever, there is an urgent need to connect, support, give and grow together.

This year started out on an incredible high: in February, we announced our Every Heartbeat Matters (EHM) initiative, first launched in 2014 with a goal of impacting the global burden of heart valve disease by educating, screening and treating one million underserved people, had greatly surpassed our goal. The more than 60 charitable partners of this global community blew us away by impacting over 1.7 million underserved people and partnered with us to set an even bolder commitment to help 2.5 million additional underserved patients by 2025.

The vibrant energy and inspiration coming from this milestone achievement quickly shifted to new concerns as reality set in about the impact the pandemic will have on patients and our neighbors…particularly those most underserved. Those who struggled before are at an even greater disadvantage now.

Despite these hardships, we know that challenges spur innovation, and we continue to be energized by the new ways charitable partners are helping.

2020 will be our most significant year of giving yet as we nearly double giving to support almost $20 million in charitable causes.

Highlights for 2020 include:

1. More Foundation Funding:

New Funding for Urgent Needs: Issued emergency grants to organizations serving on the frontlines of COVID-19 and providing community safety net services such as financial assistance for food, medication and rent to vulnerable communities (see list below).
Pivoted Existing Funding: Enabled previously issued grants to be used to address the most urgent need of today’s environment, such as:
- Partnering with our EHM partners unable to execute portions of programs due to restrictions on travel to re-purpose funds to meet immediate needs,
- Supporting COVID-19 testing sites in underserved communities,
- Moving clinical education to virtual settings,
- Performing research and education on COVID-19 impact on structural heart disease patients, and
- Redirecting funding on STEAM education to hunger and housing.
Expedited Funds: As non-profits struggle with reduced operational support and increased demand, we bypassed our annual grant cycle process for long-term relationships, providing trusted partners with emergency safety net and patient service grants immediately.
Addressed Urgent Needs: For new funding issued via our annual grant cycle, our global committee of reviewers honed in on the most urgent needs, making hard decisions. Funding included a specific focus on operational support for our trusted partners.
- Focused on eight trusted EHM partners to address U.S. black patient health care gaps for structural heart and critical care patients.

2. Product Donations for Urgent Humanitarian Patient Support: We are significantly increasing donations of Edwards technologies for humanitarian care in partnership with MAP International. This includes donations of our most advanced Critical Care monitors and sensors, focusing on Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, as well as urgently need heart valves and rings for patients in struggling healthcare systems around the world.

3. Amplified Employee Giving: Employees asked, “How can I help?” From sewing masks for local non-profits, to working at drive-through food pantries, to helping at-risk youth, the generosity of our global employees continues to lift our spirits and we amplified this by:

Instating a new clinical volunteer policy, allowing employees with relevant and needed clinical skills to take up to two weeks of paid leave to support hospitals treating COVID-19 patients,
Supporting critical care clinical employees giving Edwards time to train frontline clinicians caring for underserved patients, as well as provide ongoing real-time support when needed, and
Tripling employee gifts through our employee matching gift programs at an elevated $2:$1 (vs. $1:$1) level, resulting in nearly 20 percent of our Foundation grants to be focused on matching employee donations, and campaigns to help global communities.

4. In-Kind Donations: In addition to leveraging our Foundation, our employee time, and our medical technologies, we thought creatively about other opportunities to make a difference at the time of heightened need.

Our Irvine headquarters café team donated over 20,000 meals and 3,400 hours of team member’s time to local homeless shelters experiencing increased demand from clients suffering from economic downfall, also keeping our café employees working with purpose,
Our IT team donated over 100 repurposed computers for at-risk youth in Orange County, as more students struggled with online learning, and
In China, we donated nearly 200,000 pairs of gloves and masks protecting healthcare workers in Wuhan that were running out personal protective equipment.

We thank all our partners for joining us in improving the lives of underserved patients and strengthening our global communities. We all have something we can give. Will you join us?

Edwards Lifesciences Foundation COVID-19 Hardship Relief Grants

Region	Charitable Partner	Description
Global	Direct Relief International	Providing necessary medical supplies to health care organizations in areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases, as well as in regions preparing to respond to patient needs, focusing on the Caribbean and South America.
Global	UNICEF	Providing medical supplies and educating the public about best hygiene practices, increasing healthcare access for vulnerable populations for non-outbreak related issues, and focusing on education and social services for vulnerable populations around the world.
Orange County, CA	American Red Cross of Southern California	Providing urgent humanitarian needs, including collecting blood, sheltering families suffering from disasters, and connecting seniors and veterans to community services, all with revised COVID-19 protocols.
Orange County, CA	CHOC Foundation	Supporting COVID-19 response, including equipment, medical supplies, lab testing, assistance for frontline workers, and telemedicine resources.
Orange County, CA	OC Community Resilience Fund (via OC Community Foundation)	A collaborative fund supporting Orange County community clinic operations serving COVID-19 patients, emergency grants to individuals and non-profit organization operations.
Orange County, CA	Hoag Hospital Foundation	Supporting COVID-19 patients, caregivers and frontline workers.
Orange County, CA	Second Harvest Food Bank	Supporting non-perishable food for Orange County seniors, children and families in need due to the closure of public schools and the economic impact of business closures and social distancing.
Orange County, CA	Share Our Selves	Supporting the increased need for vulnerable community members to access housing assistance, food programs, and financial requests for rental and utility assistance.
Orange County, CA	South County Outreach	Serving the increased numbers of vulnerable families in the community with rental and utility assistance, food, and housing opportunities.
Orange County, CA	St Joseph Hospital Foundation	Supporting frontline workers, patients and caregivers impacted by COVID-19.
Orange County, CA	UCI Foundation	Supporting testing, treatment and housing of COVID-19 patients and caregivers, as well as PPE and lab equipment for testing.
Orange County, CA	United Way of Orange County	Providing short-term relief for low-income individuals and families at Washington Elementary School and throughout Orange County to help protect them from becoming homeless. Up to $500 in emergency funds distributed per family to meet immediate needs like rent, car payments, medicine and food.
New York, NY	Columbia University	Supporting frontline COVID-19 relief in NYC, providing protective equipment, tents to safely isolate and triage patients, as well as comfort and psychological support for frontline workers.
New York, NY	NYC COVID-19 Rapid Response Coalition (Public Health Solution)	Collaborative effort serving NYC's most vulnerable residents with a communications system linking health and social service providers, enabling them to care for people at home, reducing the strain on hospital ICUs.
Puerto Rico	United Way of Puerto Rico (Fondos Unidos de Puerto Rico)	Increasing social services to vulnerable populations, including children and seniors. Programs will help people in need access critical information and services, like food, shelter and more.
Salt Lake, UT	American Red Cross of Utah	Providing urgent humanitarian needs, including collecting blood, sheltering families suffering from disasters with revised COVID-19 protocols.
Salt Lake, UT	United Way of Salt Lake	Supporting expansion of local non-profit organizations’ capacity to address the economic impact on the communities’ most vulnerable citizens.
Salt Lake, UT	Utah Food Bank	Supporting emergency response to the COVID-19 crisis, including increased demand for food, expanding mobile food pantries and ensuring children have access to food during remote learning.
Australia	Australian Red Cross	Helping the most vulnerable via well-being phone calls to isolated individuals, emergency food and essential delivery and public education to stop the spread of the virus.
Brazil	International Committee of the Red Cross	Support for vulnerable people in Brazil, focused on establishing protocols to control COVID-19 from spreading, supporting health care providers, and distributing food and basic need items.
China	Chinese Red Cross Foundation	This Red Cross is stepping up support for healthcare workers, patients and people in need. They have mobilized thousands of trained volunteers to help in this crisis and are continuing to focus on medical supply distribution, education and hygiene.
Costa Rica	Banco de Alimentos de Costa Rica	Working to meet the demands for food for seniors, children and families in need due to the closure of public schools and the economic impact of business closures.
Dominican Republic	Heart Care Dominicana	Supporting public health education for vulnerable people in Santo Domingo on COVID-19, including good hygiene, social distancing, face masks, symptoms and testing.
Dominican Republic	MAP International	Donating Edwards Critical Care technologies to strengthen ICUs.
Dominican Republic	Patronato Pro-Desarrollo de Haina (PADESHA)	Responding to urgent community needs of the COVID-19 pandemic, including education, PPE and patient support Baja de Haina and surrounding communities.
Italy	Emergency Italy	Funding to help build new hospitals, support healthcare workers, deliver food and medicine to the isolated, and take care of homeless individuals and unaccompanied migrant children throughout Italy.
Italy	Red Cross, Italy (Croce Rossa Italiana)	Support to help on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response in Italy, activating thousands of volunteers and operators to provide medical transport, temperature control, emotional services, as well as food, medicine and basic needs delivery for vulnerable populations.
India	Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), India	A collaborative relief effort in India providing support to reach millions of at-risk people in the most remote regions with accurate information about COVID-19, hygiene kits and free testing.
Japan	Central Community Chest of Japan (United Way)	Providing safety-net programs and free food cafeterias for vulnerable children and families in Japan.
Japan	Medecins du Monde Japon	Supporting COVID-19 relief efforts in Japan, including a focus on education and PPE distribution to vulnerable community members in Tokyo.
Malaysia	IJN Foundation	Supporting frontline healthcare workers and patients with education and PPE for COVID.
New Zealand	Auckland City Mission	Supporting response for an unprecedented demand for food, housing, and medical support the COVID-19 pandemic impacts vulnerable community members.
Singapore	The Food Bank Singapore	Support to provide food and personal care items to vulnerable communities of Singapore during this time of need.
Spain	Red Cross, Spain (Cruz Roja Espanola)	Support to provide telemedicine to vulnerable populations across Spain, help health care providers, distribute food and basic need items, and produce public awareness campaigns to stop the spread of the virus.