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I would like to propose one close to my heart, tho' it's not one generally thought of -- The Families with Children from China Orphanage Appeal --

http://fccorphanageappeal.org/

As a mom of a wonderful daughter adopted from China, I know there are tens of thousands of children, mostly girls, who will not be adopted from and will grow up in the orphanage. The money raised through this appeal helps support the education, medical and other needs of these girls who have not been adopted. These are girls who will leave the orphanage with no family or support system, so the best chance they can be given at life is to help prepare them for what lies ahead.

I hope you will consider this charity.

Joanne/PunditMom
Mom of Rachel (formerly Zeng Jiang Yong, Changsha, Hunan, China)

I would love to see ads about cancer. Breast cancer, the new cervical cancer immunization for young girls etc.

One other suggestion would be women's and children's shelters or stopping abuse, that sort of thing.

Along with Momsrising.org, I'd like to suggest MOTHERS (www.MOTHERSOughtToHaveEqualRights.org). They are the economic initiative of NAMC - National Association of Mothers Centers.

And just in the interest of full disclosure, I've been doing the e-newsletter for MOTHERS for a couple of years now (just turned it over to another volunteer) and a book blog for them, MOTHERS Book Bag (ww.MOTHERSBookBag.org).

Doctors without Borders.

I have been supporting them for a few years now.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

And the Heifer.org...they do great things.

I'd like to see the American Heart Association get some of non-profit space. Heart disease is the number one killer of women, way more than breast cancer or any other disease. It truely is a woman's problem and it is often overlooked. As a person with heart disease, this is the medical charity I am most interested in supporting.

From the AHA web site:

Women and Coronary Heart Disease
In 2003, over 45 million American women were older than 50. The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases with age, and that's why it's important to raise awareness of this major public health issue for older women.

Physicians can take an assertive role in risk factor intervention and in acknowledging any gender differences in the treatment of CVD in women. Research shows that prevention of risk factors for cardiovascular disease is the best practical solution. The challenge is to communicate to your patients the importance of taking preventive steps on an everyday basis. The information found here will help you create awareness.
Here are the facts as we know them today:

* CVD ranks first among all disease categories in hospital discharges for women.
* CVD, particularly coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, remain the leading causes of death of women in America and most developed countries, with nearly 39 percent of all female deaths in the U.S. occurring from CVD.
* CVD is a particularly important problem among minority women. The death rate due to CVD is higher in black women than in white women.
* One in 2.6 females who die, die of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular disease compared with one in 30 who die of breast cancer.
* In 2003 CVD claimed the lives of 483,842 females — cancer 267,902.
* Coronary heart disease claims the lives of 283,886 females annually compared with 41,566 lives from breast cancer and 67,894 from lung cancer.
* 38 percent of women compared with 25 percent of men will die within one year after a heart attack.
* In 1999, 23 percent of nursing home residents age 65 and over had a primary diagnosis of cardiovascular disease.
* Of the approximately 5.5 million stroke survivors alive today, 56 percent are women.
* Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability; 15 to 30 percent of stroke survivors are permanently disabled.
* Misperceptions still exist that CVD is not a real problem for women.

Much attention has been directed toward a better appreciation of the influence of gender on cardiovascular risk and management, but important gaps in knowledge remain. Recent developments in cardiovascular research undoubtedly will have a significant impact on prevention, clinical care and outcomes of women and will provide direction for future work. Epidemiological studies and randomized clinical trials provide compelling evidence that coronary heart disease is largely preventable. Therefore, prevention of risk factors for cardiovascular disease is an important practical solution for women.

I also think the charity should target women, and I second Planned Parenthood, and also nominate Girls, Inc.

My vote would be March of Dimes, Red Cross or the Dave Thomas foundation.

I support UNISEF and the American Friends Service.

Thanks,
Elizabeth Zima
http://www.creaturesoftheearth.com

I support a charity. http://www.bvcnow.org/index.html

The Better Vision for Children Foundation helps prevent blindness and death from cancer in children. Tom Cataldo, the man that founded it, is the man that invented the life alert system, (Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!) and has put most of his own money in to help these children. I recently signed on to help him further his cause. He’s done a tremendous job mostly on his own over the years and the foundation would really benefit from this exposure to help bring awareness of its existence.

I would love to design the ad myself if that helps.

I don't care if it's only when there are no other ads or always there and secondary.

I do feel we should pick a charity that has a primary focus of helping women, whether it be in healthcare, rights, areas of poverty, or abuse.
Karen

I would love to see PSA ads from Planned Parenthood.

And I would be pleased with PSAs running in secondary spots and when there's nothing else.

Our charity is March of Dimes. Prematurity it a BIG problem in our country for many reasons.

Jenna Hatfield

Family Living; Hatfield Style.

I second (or third, or whatever) Heifer International. Love them.

Family Care International works to improve women's right and access to reproductive health in developing countries. As a women-centric organization, I'd love to see one of our chosen charities be women-focused. (If not this one, another.)

I think Grameen Bank is a wonderful idea, as well. As is the Dave Thomas Foundation.

Thanks for working on this for us, ladies!

Mir

I heartily second Heifer.org; this is an org I support myself by contributing. What I like about it: It gives poor people throughout the world -- including the U.S. -- livestock that enables them to not only nourish their own families, but also trade for other things they need. (In most cases, these are not food animals.) They also teach recipients how to care for the animals in ways that don't hurt the environment. You can donate a bee hive, chickens or ducks, rabbits as well as larger livestock, so someone without land or even a yard can benefit - a family living in a Haitian slum can raise rabbits in their kitchen on table scraps. I especially love to give bees, becaus they play such a big role in ecology and are becoming endangered.
- Susan Kuchinskas

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
http://www.davethomasfoundation.org

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a non-profit public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the number of adoptions of foster care children in North America. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s and an adopted child, created the Foundation in 1992 in support of the vision that every child needs a permanent home and a loving family. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption focuses on increasing adoption awareness while supporting model adoption service programs and is committed to ensuring that adoption from the foster care system is streamlined, affordable and accessible to any family wanting to adopt.

Reasons why outside of the obvious...

One of the reasons I feel so strongly about this group and their website is that they have a three prong approach that can really making an impact.

The AWBC gets my vote as a good PSA. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is held throughout the U.S. from April to October each year. I've been doing the walk for a few years now and it's a great cause. The money goes to not only research but funding for women who need treatment and tests but have little to no healthcare. Please consider using the Avon Walk as a PSA. Get the word out that research still needs to be done and a cure needs to be found!

I'd like to see these groups featured in the rotating non-profits on BlogHerAds:

Heifer International: http://www.heifer.org/
Perfect for all gift-giving occasions

Web Accessibility in Mind: http://webaim.org/
Working to expand the potential of the Web for people with disabilities

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Thanks, everyone, for your patience. Bring on the ideas!

Best,
Lisa

Great post -- I'll send out the email tonight, letting folks know that your post is up. Appreciate you taking this on.