Donate A Day for CF

Are you ready to help improve CF therapies and enable more research? Donate here!

How much have we raised together? Click here!

If you’re here, it’s probably because I asked you to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). I’m fundraising for the Foundation because the medicines that have been funded through the CFF over the last 20 years have improved my quality of life as someone with cystic fibrosis; those medicines have improved my lung function by 10% since 2019 too.

Who does this help and why Give?

In the short run, this helps fund research labs, companies, and organizations who work both on new therapies and continuing care for people with cystic fibrosis.

In the medium run, this helps people with cystic fibrosis because better patient support equates to better quality of life and new therapies mean that fewer medications are needed to maintain health on a daily basis.

In the long run, this benefits genetics research. Gene therapy is on the leading edge of cystic fibrosis research currently; if successful, these therapies will further our understanding of how we can fix cell-level issues without causing other issues in the body. Similar research is being done for other diseases too because this is the big hurdle between temporary treatments and cures that correct body functions.

how much are you asking me To give?

Donate 1/365 of your annual pre-tax or post-tax salary; if that feels a bit steep, do a day’s worth of disposable income. I’m asking for this because it’s what I’m comfortable giving, and I think it scales with people at different points in their career. If you’re not comfortable with quite that much or you’d like to donate more to push the research even faster, I completely support that. I know that it is a hard choice between a large donation and an awesome 50lb bag of flour for your winter baking (which for the record, I have not bought yet)!

The donation can be tax-exempt because the CF Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization, so a quick tax reminder:

- if you don’t itemize your taxes, you cannot deduct your donation. Sadly, the tax code changed for 2022 and removed a small provision that previously enabled small deductions.

- if you itemize your taxes, you can deduct donations up to your total earnings for the year

How Can I Make sure my money is used best?

Check out the CF Foundation’s information on research and clinical trials; it details both what’s being done now and their plan for future work.

You can find the CF Foundation’s annual reports and financials at this link. Here you can find both the goals and activities of the foundation as well as the actual financial report detailing income and spending.

Charity navigator- an independent body focusing on providing external reviews of nonprofits- has a page on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that provides a good outside source.

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

It’s a genetic disease that can affect someone’s ability to breathe and their ability to digest fats and proteins in food. The underlying issue is a mutation that affects the CFTR protein and prevents normal use of this protein in the body. Untreated, lifespan is usually less than 20 years due to malnutrition and severe lung infections that result from CF’s thicker-than-normal mucus . As of 2012, average lifespan was 37 years, but with medicines released in the last decade, average lifespan is currently at 52 years! For a deeper explanation, you can find well-updated information on this page.

How do i Actually donaTe?

Go to this fundraising page via the CF Foundation’s website- you can pay by card or paypal. If you’d rather do a check, let me know and I can help you with that information. Your receipt will be emailed to you and can be included in your annual tax return if you include charitable deductions.

There’s no event?!

At least for this year, I’m not intending to do an event because it means more money spent on activities and less spent on achieving the research and patient care goals that drive the fundraising. I’m hoping to sort out something fun as a celebration for future fundraising, but don’t quite have my act together on that front yet.

If you’re interested in helping me figure out a fun event that might celebrate the fundraising, shoot me a message so we can start talking about it!