Call to Action: Contact the ATA Right Now — 3 Minutes to Make a Difference

Hi Everyone.

The American Tinnitus Association ("ATA") has recently received a bequest of $2.7M (see article below).

American Tinnitus Association Receives $2.7 Million Gift

It is no secret to many that they spend their money on virtually everything else but research (a paltry 5-17% of contributions).

PLEASE take 3 minutes of your time to shoot them a quick email to the address below and demand that they spend their money on funding research grants.

Everyone wants to know how they can help, here is a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY with a low time investment that can truly make a difference! Tinnitus suffers get a bad rap sometimes for not always being engaged. Let's get off the sidelines and do something small but meaningful!

It has come to my attention that they have developed a task force to discuss the strategy of the deployment of these funds and are forwarding patient/stakeholder emails to the task force to report back to the Board of Directors. There is a small movement within the Board of Directors to fund more research. Let's give them the kick they need to refocus their priorities away from call-lines and magazines to funding research. (My personal preference is that they create an endowment to generate income to consistently fund research each year.)

ATA can be reached here: tinnitus@ata.org

 

@Agrajag364 @Andrea Rings @Autumnly @BBakkers @Candy @Contrast @Ed209 @FGG @Frédéric @Jack Straw @Manny @OnceUponaTime @Paulmanlike @TheDanishGirl @TuxedoCat

Please like, share, and participate!

 

@Watasha 30 years ago I joined the ATA because it was the go to place. I ordered books and machines they recommended.

Nothing worked.

I stopped subscribing to the ATA.

30 years later I decided to rejoin the ATA. The Tinnitus Today magazine is tinnitus of yesterday except for being printed in glossy.

Jack A. Vernon, PhD, passed away, which I was sorry to read about.

But there's nothing new with the ATA that I can't access on the internet.

 

If you choose not to participate, it would be helpful if you could please provide your reasoning.

Thanks for all the responses!

 

I agree, the ATA are largely worthless but they are a still a player and we should try to steer them.

Thankfully, there is new blood on the Board of Directors.

Recently, they received a large grant and are accepting feedback from the tinnitus community.

Let's send a message to them on what WE want!

 

Did you even read Watasha's post?

Take 3 minutes to email ATA and tell them they should use their $2.7M bequest wisely, funding tinnitus research!

I just did.

 

Hi there,

My first ever comment on this forum.

I think a lot more people would email the ATA if they had an example email to copy paste from.

I'm not native English speaker, so someone else could have drafted this better.

Anyway, here's my proposal for a template if you want to copy paste it:

To whom it may concern,

I read the American Tinnitus Association has received a bequest of $2.7 million.

Please use this bequest wisely. Invest it exclusively in research focused on finding a cure for tinnitus.

I'm a member of the Tinnitus Talk forums. Please check out the discussion thread below to keep the ATA up to date on the needs of the tinnitus patient community. Please engage in conversation with me and others who are hoping you use the bequest as effectively as possible:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/569992/

Sincerely,

 

Thank you AJC!

 

First, thank you for posting for the first time, that's awesome!

You're right. I considered providing a template but did not. In hindsight, that would have been helpful. Here's my proposal as well:

Hi - It has come to my attention that the ATA has received a very generous donation of $2.7M. Historically, the ATA has contributed only a small portion of contributions to research, roughly 5-17% of contributions. In addition, contributions (excluding one-time gifts have been declining).

In order to meet the long-term needs of tinnitus research and to ensure a permanent source of funding in the future, I'd ask that you please consider reserving this donation in the creation of an endowment, which would provide an annual income stream for funding seed grants.

While there are many noble goals of the ATA, only through research will we put a permanent end to the suffering experienced by many. Thank you for your time and consideration.​

 

Great! I will do this. The more messages they get, the better.

I think I prefer @Felipe's version. I think it is a good idea to mention Tinnitus Talk and many people's dissatisfaction with the ATA. They should send a person to talk with us here.

 

I shot them an email asking for more research funding specifically towards the etiology and treatment of tinnitus. Worst they can do is ignore my email.

 

Thank you! Please mention that to them!

 

Exactly! There is power in numbers. Thanks for participating!

 

On it.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ATA got pissed off that we emailed them about wanting them to spend more money on research. They might have blacklisted us now.

I don’t trust the ATA or even the BTA. They haven’t spent enough money on research.

 

Worth a try. Done.

 

Thank you!

 

They might or they might not. My experience is that they are at least open to hearing feedback. I have received responses from them in the past. The important thing is to be clear and respectful.

Thanks for helping!

 

Thank you!

 

Done

 

Has anyone thought about the idea that some of these academic people don't even care about tinnitus research? For them, doing sociology studies is just a short time thing they involve themselves in so that they have something to put on their resume. They're all about making it big, and all this sociology research is just something to add to their resume.

 

@Watasha

Done and dusted as they say. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, happy to help out. @Felipe and your templates were extremely helpful.

@Felipe, welcome to the forum!

@ajc, you crack me up

TC

 

Thank you! You rock!

 

Thank you so much!

 

In ATA's defense, their research criteria is quite stringent and has to fit their roadmap to a cure, so no mindfulness studies at least in the last several years.

To this day, I have no idea where their money goes when so few dollars are allocated to research. If someone can find that out, I have some ocean front property to sell in Arizona...

 

That's good news, in which case the ATA is in sharp contrast to the BTA, whose research fund has funded little other than mindfulness studies over the past few years.

 

Yes, their research focus tends to be more cure based. It's the only area that I've seen them outperform the BTA.

Past ATA Funded Research

Did you have a chance to e-mail them? I know that I received a reply from them, curious if others did.

 

I haven't received a response from the ATA.

Not surprised.

 

No reply.

 

@ajc @Ken219

Hmmm, they're probably overwhelmed! I doubt they receive that much activism. Keep us posted.