Fundraise for ALD Connect

ALD Connect brings together the largest and most comprehensive network of ALD experts, researchers, patients, families, advocates, and industry partners. Fundraising supports coordinated, collaborative efforts across the ALD community. Donor support fuels breakthrough research and essential programs and initiatives, including financial assistance for families, educational programming, community support, and our Annual Meeting and Patient Learning Academy. Our goal is to accelerate progress while keeping the patient voice at the center of everything we do.

ALD Connect’s strength is its connections. We bring the ALD community together in a way that allows us to move faster, reduce duplication, and align the field around shared priorities rather than fragmented efforts.

ALD Connect operates from the reality that no single center or institution can cure a rare disease alone. We encourage healthy scientific competition to bring the best ideas forward, but our strategy is intentionally collaborative and cross-institutional to accelerate progress for the entire community.

Yes. ALD Connect convenes a quarterly Industry Advisory Council and actively partners with biotech companies to align research priorities with therapeutic development. This collaboration helps accelerate translation from discovery to treatment and ensures stakeholders are working toward shared goals.

ALD Connect uses funds in accordance with donor intent. Donors may direct their gift to “Where It’s Needed Most”, allowing ALD Connect to allocate resources strategically, or to specific initiatives such as the Breakthrough Research Fund, Patient and Family Support Program, or The Grey Zone Project.

The Breakthrough Research Fund will support research projects that address unmet needs and research priorities identified by the ALD community, with dollars directed toward the most impactful opportunities to advance the field. ALD Connect has secured a $1 million pledge, along with additional major gifts, reflecting strong donor confidence and responsible stewardship of funds.

ALD Connect supports a coordinated, community-wide approach to fundraising. When everyone raises what they can, the dollars add up. Collective fundraising makes it possible to support meaningful research progress and move the field forward for all individuals and families affected by ALD.

Collaboration ensures limited resources are used efficiently and discoveries benefit the entire community. When individual priorities take precedence, opportunities for shared learning, scale, and impact are lost. A coordinated approach allows progress in one area to inform and accelerate progress across the field. Additionally, with a rare disease like ALD, every patient matters. Collaboration allows centers to pool their data from their patients, increasing their ability to ask and answer questions about ALD, and increasing the impact of their studies.