In recognition of their support of the “America’s Mailing Industry” virtual exhibit, on display online at the National Postal Museum, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers is spotlighting a participating member with each edition of the upcoming Alliance Report.

With this edition, we spotlight the American Lung Association.

For more than 110 years, the American Lung Association has been America’s leading force for lung health—successfully tapping into America’s spirit of community that inspires us to work together for better health and longer life for all.

Targeting Tuberculosis

In 1904 it was a revolutionary concept—a nationwide organization to fight a single disease – tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) was the most feared disease in the world, striking down the young and old, the rich and poor.

Determined to battle TB, a group of doctors and concerned citizens formed the first voluntary health agency in America, the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis (NASPT), later to become the American Lung Association. One of these founders was Edward Livingston Trudeau M.D. As a young doctor, Trudeau himself had suffered from TB. He became the new association’s first president and dedicated his life to fighting the disease.

Over a difficult 50-year fight, the Association played a critical role in developing and funding increasingly effective weapons to prevent, detect and treat the disease. Along the way, the Christmas Seals® campaign was launched, the first “direct mail” fundraiser that has become an enduring symbol of the power of volunteers to battle disease.

The Birth of The Christmas Seals

The story of Christmas Seals dates back to 1907, when physicians were experiencing the first signs of success treating tuberculosis in special hospitals called sanatoriums. One of those facilities had fallen on tough times, and the tiny Delaware sanitorium would have to close its doors if $300 could not be raised to save it. One of its doctors explained the plight to his cousin, a volunteer named Emily Bissell. Bissell was a veteran fundraiser, and she soon came up with a plan based on one that had worked in Denmark: She would design and print special holiday seals and sell them at the post office for a penny each.

The campaign got off to a slow start, but a feature in the Philadelphia North American newspaper and a surprise endorsement by President Theodore Roosevelt, helped Bissell and a large group of committed volunteers raise ten times their goal. The American Lung Association Christmas Seals® were born.

A Broader Mission – The American Lung Association

Over the years, the NTA continued the fight, targeting other threats to lung health, and changing its name to the American Lung Association, guardians of everyone’s right to breathe.

Still revolutionary, the Lung Association was among the first to tackle smoking as the nation’s greatest preventable health risk, and to make the connection between air pollution and lung health.

Landmark victories include:

• Discovering an effective new treatment for children with TB
• Discovering the cause of infant respiratory stress syndrome
• Eliminating smoking on domestic air flights
• Strengthening the Clean Air Act
• Discovering the gene that causes cystic fibrosis
• Passing the Tobacco Control act to regulate the manufacture, sale, marketing and promotion of tobacco products
• Discovering a cancer causing oncogene, as well as treatment that inhibits the growth of lung cancer tumor cells
• Launching LUNG FORCE a nationwide movement to unite women against lung cancer and for lung health

The Legacy of Mail

Over the decades, Christmas Seals and other direct mail outreach played an important role in funding the Lung Associations lifesaving mission.

Emily Bissell, who created and led the Christmas Seals campaign into the 1940s was honored with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp in 1980.

Direct mail activity peaked for the Lung Association around 1990, with approximately 80 million pieces sent, raising $60 million that year.

Although online, special events and other outreach methods have become more prominent, direct mail still provides significant support to the Lung Association. In 2015, they mailed 27 million pieces and generated just over $23 million.