MJFF’s “All Grit. No Quit.” fundraising drive reaches midpoint toward $2.5B goal

# What happened

# Why the money matters Parkinson's disease involves progressive loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells, which causes motor symptoms such as tremor, stiffness, and slowed movement. Existing treatments ease symptoms but don't stop the disease process. MJFF says the campaign is timed to take advantage of advances in understanding Parkinson's biology and new potential treatment targets.

The foundation plans to fund projects across the full development pathway: basic research to understand disease biology, identification and validation of targets, and advancing promising treatments toward clinical testing. MJFF leaders describe the campaign as a way to fund parallel paths and reduce the time between discovery and meaningful benefit for people with Parkinson's.

# How the campaign is structured and supported The campaign has relied heavily on community-driven fundraising. More than 13,000 Team Fox events and fundraisers have supported All Grit. No Quit., and over 600 members of MJFF's Legacy Circle have included the foundation in estate plans. MJFF says it does not maintain an endowment or excess reserves, allowing donated dollars to go directly to current research efforts rather than being held for future use.

# What MJFF leaders say Debi Brooks, MJFF CEO and cofounder, described the foundation's history of building greater collaboration in Parkinson's research and framed the campaign around taking bold risks when the science calls for it. Todd Sherer, PhD and MJFF chief mission officer, said the campaign will allow the foundation to fund the strongest ideas at each stage and on parallel paths to shorten the gap between discovery and benefit.

Donna Krenicki, an MJFF patient council member and cochair of the campaign committee, pointed to the campaign's community focus and said the science gives her hope. Krenicki was diagnosed with Parkinson's 15 years ago at age 49.

# Concrete takeaways for donors and people following Parkinson's research

• Donations will be used across the research pipeline rather than reserved in an endowment.
• Community fundraising and legacy gifts have been central to the campaign's progress to date.
• MJFF emphasizes flexible, stage-based funding to accelerate promising projects and reduce delays between discovery and clinical impact.

# What to watch next