3154. Austin the Premature Baby Bear

The March of Dimes Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.

The March of Dimes is a not-for-profit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.[2] The foundation is headquartered in White Plains, NY and has 51 chapters across the U.S., including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The March of Dimes provides mothers, pregnant women and women of childbearing age with educational resources on baby health, pregnancy, preconception and new motherhood, as well as supplying information and support to families affected by prematurity, birth defects, or other infant health problems.

The organization began as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The name "March of Dimes"—coined in the late 1930s by vaudeville star Eddie Cantor as a play on the contemporary newsreel series "The March of Time"—was originally used for the foundation's annual fundraising event and gradually became synonymous with that of the organization.[4] It was officially adopted as the organization’s name in 1976, when it became known as the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. In 2007, the name became the March of Dimes Foundation.