12 Days Of Charitable Giving 2013: Sepsis Alliance

It's the tenth day of our 12 Days of Charitable Giving! In December, I'll be focusing on twelve charitable organizations which my readers have nominated as most deserving of your charitable donation. You have just a few more days to squeeze in your charitable deduction for tax purposes in 2013 – so why not consider one of our twelve?

Today's featured charity is the Sepsis Alliance.

Sepsis Alliance focuses on battling sepsis. Sepsis, sometimes called blood poisoning, is the body's toxic response to infection. In medical terms, sepsis is defined as either "the presence of pathogenic organisms or their toxins in the blood and tissues" or "the poisoned condition resulting from the presence of pathogens or their toxins as in septicemia." Signs and symptoms of sepsis include abnormalities of body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and white blood cell count.

When sepsis turns severe, it can lead to shock, organ failure and death. Sepsis remains the primary cause of death from infection, killing millions each year, despite advances in modern medicine; forty percent of patients diagnosed with severe sepsis do not survive. Every two minutes, someone in the United States dies of sepsis, resulting in a quarter of a million deaths. That's more than the combined death totals for breast cancer, prostate cancer and AIDS. It is the most expensive in-patient cost in American hospitals, costing over $20 billion in 2011 alone.

The mission of Sepsis Alliance is to raise sepsis awareness so it can be prevented, detected and treated early enough so that no harm is done. Every two minutes, someone in the United States dies of sepsis. This adds up to well over a quarter of a million people every year. Those numbers are greater than the annual total of those who die of breast cancer, prostate cancer and AIDS, combined.

To see how sepsis can affect friends and families, watch this short video made for World Sepsis Day:

So how can you help?

You can make a donation online. All donations to Sepsis Alliance directly fund projects and programs geared toward raising awareness of sepsis, providing survivor outreach, educational events, and efforts to make sepsis research a priority.

If you prefer to write a check, send your contribution to:

Sepsis Alliance
501 W. Broadway, Ste. 1700
San Diego, CA 92101

You can make a donation in memory or honor of someone; let Sepsis Alliance know by writing it in the memo section of your check or using the space provide in the online donation form. To learn more about honoring the memory of a loved one, email info@sepsisalliance.org or call (619) 232-0300.

Sepsis Alliance encourages fundraising via crowdfunding through CrowdRise. With Crowdrise, you can customize your fundraising campaign. Pop over to Crowdrise.com/SepsisAlliance and click the "Fundraise for this Charity" button. You can find out more details here.

Sepsis Alliance also encourages fundraising through two types of events: Spike Out Sepsis (sand volleyball) and Strike Out Sepsis (bowling). In 2013, the 5th Annual Spike Out Sepsis Sand Volleyball Tournament was a success with twenty-four teams participating, raising over $27,000. To find out more about next year's event, contact info@sepsisalliance.com.

As always, you want to make sure that your donation is going to a qualified charitable organization. A search using the IRS' Exempt Organizations Select Check reveals that Sepsis Alliance is on the IRS list of qualified charitable organizations. To find out more about the work of the organization, check out their website, follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook.

As we go along this month, I encourage you to check out the charities that made our list this year: