Tinnitus Fundraising — Who Here Has Experience?

One thing I constantly hear over and over again is how underfunded tinnitus research is.

The ATA boasts that they've donated $6 million over the last 50 years of their existence and have recently allocated another $120k this year for research into difference projects.

If you do the quick math, $6 million divided by 50 years is around that $120k mark.

Granted, I don't know the costs it takes to finish a clinical trial or any trial for tinnitus research for that matter, so it's hard for me to know whether or not that $120k per year can actually go a long ways or not.

The list of new treatments out there that exist, TRT, CBT, and finally Lenire would say that the $120k may not be going as far as we all wished it did.

So here we all are. Waiting. Suffering. Visiting the forums.

I would like for there to be more efforts if not by the ATA and BTA, then by us here at Tinnitus Talk to fundraise more money. Granted, the question is how.

By trade, I'm a full-stack software engineer, not a fundraising coordinator or any other title someone of the sort might hold. The only fundraising experience I have is being able to raise $3,000 dollars in the past for diabetes and then riding a bike 100 miles for it.

But if there's people here who visit the forums out of the 30,000 registered users, and any of you have experience with fundraising, why don't we build things to get us closer to better treatments instead of just waiting. I swear even just thinking proactively rather than passively waiting feels better.

Anyways, this is a call out to anyone who has experience fundraising and wants to help fundraise money for Tinnitus Talk so we can choose how much money can or can't go towards tinnitus research.

Ideally I want to build something like the JDRF Ride where each member raises money and it lists out all those who are fundraising money, and their amounts that they've fundraised with the list of donors too. Transparency would be key as well. My wish is that we would be able to get away from "tinnitus is just too poorly funded"

I refuse to believe that we as a community can't muster enough effort to fundraise more money than the $6 million the ATA has fundraised in 50 years.

Simple math:

$6,000,000 / 30,000 Tinnitus Talk members = $200 / member

Not that I'm asking for all of us to donate $200, but it puts into perspective how much money we'd each have to contribute to match what the ATA has done in 50 years.

Anyways, if there's anyone with experience in fundraising, I'd love to hear more.

1. What are the barriers to fundraising?
2. What would a good fundraising experience look like from a website perspective?

How I could help:

If the costs to start a fundraiser are a barrier, I could help there. Tell me how much and within reason I'm willing to help donate that amount to get the ball rolling.

I'm a software engineer. I could build out a fundraising platform for us to list out the things I said above but would rather do it with a group of people who have experience fundraising rather than in a silo alone.

Anyway, happy Tinnitus Week.

 

I've heard past mentions of tinnitus being underfunded as well. I was very discouraged when I saw the Tinnitus Week Webinar that mentioned the American Tinnitus Association having funded tinnitus research with $6 million over 50 years. I figured it was a mistake or that I had misinterpreted it, but no. DoD no longer contributing also surprised me considering tinnitus is the number 1 VA disability. Pretty sad. I’m going to have to see if Canada is funding any tinnitus research. BIG THANKS to everyone who is.

Webinar: The Evolution of Tinnitus Research

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I regret to say, upon further investigation, Canada’s contribution is too embarrassing to mention.

 

How much?

 

Hi @Boardguy14. One small thing you can do is go over to this thread and email the ATA. They recently received a rather large bequest and we are respectfully asking them to contribute more towards research.

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

 

A copy of a post I made in another thread:

Like you I have no experience with actually organizing a fundraiser.

 

I did that the first day I saw it.

But honestly... I have no faith in the ATA.

The only thing they've shown in the last 50 years is their unwillingness to donate more towards research :\