American Heart Association, Inc.

The American Heart Association (AHA) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing illness and death from cardiovascular disease and stroke. Established in 1924 by six cardiologists, it developed from a professional association concerned with heart disease into one of the country’s largest voluntary health organizations. Its work combines scientific research, clinical guidance, public education, professional training, community programs, fundraising, and public-policy advocacy. AHA’s research role is central to its identity. The organization supports biomedical and population-health research and disseminates evidence intended to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term management of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions. It also publishes scientific and clinical information, convenes medical professionals, and promotes standards for appropriate cardiac and stroke care. The American Stroke Association operates as an AHA division, concentrating the organization’s stroke-related education, advocacy, and research activities. For the public, AHA provides information on heart-healthy nutrition, physical activity, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, weight management, warning signs, and emergency response. Its educational ecosystem includes consumer resources, workplace and community initiatives, materials for patients and caregivers, and guidance designed to help people recognize and respond to cardiac arrest and stroke. Through professional education and certification programs, it also supports training in CPR, basic and advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric life support, and automated external defibrillator use. The organization is funded through contributions, grants, fundraising events, program fees, educational-material sales, investment income, royalties, and other sources. Its public-facing fundraising and cause-marketing campaigns connect individual motivations for healthier living with donations and corporate partnerships. AHA maintains a nationwide network of local offices, volunteers, supporters, healthcare professionals, researchers, and advocacy partners. Although headquartered in Dallas after relocating from New York in 1975, it works through local and national programs across the United States and participates in international scientific and health collaborations. AHA is not a conventional commercial brand or software company. The supplied industry classification of data and analytics software does not fit the organization’s documented identity; its principal category is nonprofit cardiovascular-health and medical-research services. The brand’s contemporary positioning links scientific authority with practical, emotionally resonant action: helping people live longer, healthier lives while mobilizing donors, volunteers, clinicians, employers, retailers, and policymakers around heart and brain health.

The American Heart Association was founded in 1924 by six cardiologists who sought to build a stronger institutional response to heart disease. At the time, cardiovascular disease was increasingly recognized as a major public-health problem, but scientific understanding, clinical practice, and public awareness were still developing. AHA initially functioned primarily as a professional and scientific organization. Over subsequent decades it expanded into research funding, publication, medical education, public information, fundraising, and advocacy. The organization’s growth reflected the changing nature of cardiovascular medicine. As research clarified the roles of blood pressure, cholesterol, tobacco, diet, physical activity, diabetes, and other risk factors, AHA became a conduit between medical evidence and everyday health behavior. It supported investigators, circulated clinical knowledge, promoted prevention, and encouraged improvements in emergency and hospital care. Its publications and professional programs helped establish a recognizable evidence-based voice in heart health. AHA moved its national headquarters from New York to Dallas in 1975, a change intended to provide a more central base for its nationwide operations. It continued to develop a network of local offices, chapters, volunteers, donors, researchers, and healthcare partners. The organization’s activities broadened beyond coronary disease to include stroke, congenital heart conditions, hypertension, resuscitation science, women’s cardiovascular health, health equity, and the social and environmental conditions that shape health outcomes. In 1997, the American Stroke Association was created as an AHA division to bring together the association’s stroke-related work. This structure strengthened public recognition of stroke as a major vascular emergency and enabled focused education, professional resources, advocacy, and research support. AHA also built a substantial emergency-care training operation, offering programs associated with CPR, basic and advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric life support, and AED use. The modern association operates as a large voluntary health nonprofit rather than as a commercial product company. It earns support from individual and institutional contributions, grants, fundraising events, program fees, educational materials, investments, royalties, and partnerships. Its public campaigns have increasingly connected scientific credibility with personal stories and participation. The 2014 Dalton Agency campaign represented a significant attempt to make the brand more emotionally immediate, while the 2017 appointment of CP+B Boulder and Edelman as its first global agency partners reflected an effort to coordinate and modernize communications. Fundraising platforms such as Life Is Why and Life Is Why We Give use retail, digital, social, and community participation to convert personal reasons for living healthier into support for research and programs. By its centennial period, AHA presented its mission in broader terms encompassing both heart and brain health and a goal of longer, healthier lives for everyone. Its continuing role is to fund research, translate evidence into guidance, train professionals and the public, advocate for healthier policies, and provide accessible resources for prevention and emergency response.

1. 2024Centennial-year Life Is Why campaign

   Retail and brand partners supported heart and brain health fundraising during American Heart Month and AHA’s centennial year.

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2. 2017First global agency-of-record appointments

   AHA selected CP+B Boulder for advertising and Edelman for public relations after a nationwide review.

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3. 2015Life Is Why We Give launches

   A national giving platform used corporate partnerships, retail point-of-sale requests, digital participation, and media to support AHA fundraising.

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4. 2014First major rebranding in decades

   AHA launched a multimedia campaign intended to make the organization’s identity more personal and emotionally engaging.

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5. 1997American Stroke Association created

   AHA formed the American Stroke Association as a division to consolidate stroke-related activities.

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6. 1975National headquarters moves to Dallas

   AHA relocated its national headquarters from New York to Dallas to support a more centrally located national operation.

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7. 1924American Heart Association founded

   Six cardiologists established the organization in the United States to address heart disease through professional collaboration and public-health work.

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A science-led, community-supported nonprofit health organization that translates cardiovascular and stroke research into clinical standards, public education, emergency-care skills, advocacy, and healthier everyday behavior.

• CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care TrainingProfessional and public training

  AHA provides structured education and certification associated with CPR, basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric advanced life support, and AED use. These programs are designed for healthcare professionals, first responders, workplaces, educators, and members of the public, with an emphasis on recognizing emergencies and delivering timely care.

• Heart-Check Certification ProgramConsumer health certification

  The Heart-Check mark helps consumers identify products that meet defined AHA nutrition criteria. It extends the association’s educational role into grocery and retail settings by connecting a recognizable certification symbol with healthier purchasing decisions.

• Life Is Why™Fundraising and cause-marketing platform

  Life Is Why connects people’s personal reasons for pursuing healthier, longer lives with donations supporting AHA’s heart and brain health mission. Retailers, brands, and consumers can participate through point-of-sale donations, qualifying purchases, and related awareness activity.

• American Stroke AssociationStroke-health division1997

  The American Stroke Association is an AHA division focused on stroke prevention, recognition, treatment, recovery, research, professional education, and public advocacy. It gives stroke-related work a distinct identity within the broader cardiovascular-health organization.

• 2024Life Is Why™ during American Heart Month

  United States

  AHA and national retailers invited shoppers to support cardiovascular and brain-health work through checkout donations or purchases that triggered a contribution. The campaign was tied to American Heart Month and AHA’s centennial year.

  Outcome. The initiative broadened consumer participation in AHA’s fundraising mission through retail and brand partnerships.

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• 2015Life Is Why We Give

  United States

  Matchfire helped AHA turn its corporate-partner network into a nationwide giving platform. The effort used retail register appeals, an interactive digital hub, online giving, traditional and social media, and public-relations activity.

  Outcome. The campaign supported AHA’s long-term fundraising ambitions and encouraged coordinated participation by retailers, companies, and consumers.

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• 2014American Heart Association Gets Emotional

  United States

  Developed with the Dalton Agency, this multimedia rebranding campaign used television, print, digital, social, and outdoor placements to present AHA through more personal and emotionally resonant stories rather than relying only on factual health education.

  Outcome. The campaign was intended to strengthen the public image of AHA and build a closer connection with volunteers, partners, and consumers.

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• 2017Appoint first global advertising and public-relations agencies of recordStrategy

  AHA had previously worked with multiple agencies and consultants across education, awareness, and fundraising programs. It conducted a nationwide review to create a more coordinated global communications approach.

  What changed. The association appointed CP+B Boulder as global advertising agency of record and Edelman as global public-relations agency of record.

  Aftermath. The appointments were intended to modernize the nonprofit brand and make it more relevant to new generations of volunteers, donors, and health-conscious consumers.

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• 2024Retailers support AHA’s Life Is Why™ campaign during American Heart Month

  During the organization’s centennial year, participating retailers and brands invited consumers to donate at checkout or through qualifying purchases supporting heart and brain health work.

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• 2017AHA appoints its first global advertising and public-relations agencies of record

  Following a review, AHA selected CP+B Boulder for global advertising and Edelman for global public relations to help modernize and reposition the nonprofit brand.

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• 2014American Heart Association launches an emotionally oriented rebrand campaign

  AHA introduced a multimedia campaign developed with the Dalton Agency that sought to complement its factual and educational image with more personal storytelling and stronger public connection.

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1. American Heart Association Gets Emotional
2. National retailers support heart and stroke health through annual Life Is Why campaign
3. Life Is Why We Give case study
4. American Heart Association executive profile
5. American Heart Association audited financial statements, 2023–2024
6. First global agency-of-record appointments