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Concussion & CTE Foundation
The Catalyst
Research & Innovation · Funding Ask

Support the work that makes CTE diagnosable in a living person.

Three legacies. One mission. The Catalyst funds the research, the Brain Banks, and the partnerships that close the gap between exposure and diagnosis.

Choose your legacyTalk to Tia →
1,000+
brains donated to UNITE Brain Bank
80%+
of NFL donors diagnosed with CTE
14,779
research registry pledges
2008
first CTE brain bank opened
What your gift funds

This isn't a program gift. It's a legacy.

CTE cannot yet be diagnosed in a living person. That means it cannot be fully treated. It cannot be monitored. It cannot be caught before the damage is done.

Every athlete who retires today, every veteran who comes home, every parent watching their own symptoms emerge - they are waiting for science to catch up.

The Catalyst funds the research that closes that gap. Not awareness. Not education. The actual science - the Brain Banks, the research partnerships, the studies that will one day give a living person a diagnosis and a treatment plan.

Your gift is not a transaction. It is a commitment to the work that outlasts all of us.

A father's gift

Daryl gave what remained, so others might be spared.

Cameron Adamson at graduation with his mother and sister
Cameron Adamson with family
"In Cameron's case, his writings and the discussions he had before he died indicate to me that he felt he was a burden to those who loved him. In his suffering mind, Cameron felt we would all be better off without him."
- Daryl Adamson
Father of Cameron Adamson · wrestler, Marine, Legacy Brain Donor · lost at age 22
Daryl Adamson donated Cameron's brain to the UNITE Brain Bank after his son died by suicide in January 2021. That gift is now part of the science. Your gift makes sure it counts.
Three Legacies

Every donor comes to this work through a different door. Choose where you want to stand.

There are no small gifts in research. Every level is a meaningful stake in the science. The ladder exists so you can start where you are and grow with the work as it grows.

Legacy

The Gift

$10,000
2-year commitment

You honored a life by advancing the science. Your gift is a meaningful stake in the research - funding a portion of a selected study, supporting the Brain Bank, or advancing Project Enlist.

For legacy families, veterans, and athletes who want their experience - or their loved one's sacrifice - to fund the breakthrough.

What you receive
  • Annual research impact report from The Catalyst
  • Recognition as a research supporter
  • Invitation to annual supporter briefing with research leadership
Commit to The Gift
Entry

The Discovery

$25,000
2-year commitment

You are part of the science. Your gift funds the research infrastructure that moves the diagnosis of CTE in living people from impossible to inevitable.

For the scientist-minded donor and the philanthropist who funds at the intersection of science and social change.

What you receive
  • Everything in The Gift
  • Named recognition in research program materials
  • Direct annual conversation with research leadership
  • Your giving acknowledged as a Legacy Research Gift
Commit to The Discovery
Infrastructure

The Foundation

$50,000
2-year commitment

You are the infrastructure. At 10% of the annual research budget, your gift is foundational - funding Brain Bank operations, research studies, and the partnerships that produce breakthroughs.

For major philanthropists who want to be named as a founding research partner and shape the direction of the work.

What you receive
  • Everything in The Discovery
  • Named on The Catalyst program page as a founding research partner
  • Quarterly research updates direct from the science team
  • Invitation to participate in research priority conversations
Commit to The Foundation
The science already producing results

This isn't a plan. It's a track record.

When you give to The Catalyst, you join a research program that has already changed what the world knows about CTE.

  1. 01
    Origin
    1,000+
    brains studied

    The world's first CTE brain bank

    The UNITE Brain Bank - co-founded with Boston University and the VA - was the first in the world dedicated to CTE. It has since studied more than 1,000 donated brains.

  2. 02
    Breadth
    6+
    sports affected

    Not just a football story

    CTE has now been found in athletes from soccer, rugby, baseball, ice hockey, and college football - because the Brain Bank expanded its reach beyond the NFL.

  3. 03
    Magnitude
    80%+
    of NFL donors diagnosed

    The finding that changed the conversation

    More than 80% of professional football players who donated their brain to the UNITE Brain Bank have been diagnosed with CTE.

  4. 04
    Mechanism
    Total
    impact exposure, not concussions

    A paradigm shift in how risk is understood

    Research we supported established that CTE risk correlates with total head impact exposure, not just diagnosed concussions. That finding changed how sports organizations think about brain injury.

  5. 05
    Forward bridge
    14,779
    living registry pledges

    From after-death study to living diagnosis

    Living athletes and veterans are building the longitudinal dataset that will one day bridge after-death study and diagnosis in living people.

Why private dollars move first

Private donors built the field. Federal dollars followed.

The entire field of CTE research was built on private dollars. In 2008 the federal government had invested exactly zero in CTE-specific research - and the UNITE Brain Bank opened with just 6 legacy donors. Private donors built it anyway. Today the Brain Bank holds 1,735 pledged brains - a 289x repository that exists because donors moved before the federal government did. Then the federal government noticed.

  1. 2008
    NIH CTE-specific funding: $0
    The Concussion & CTE Foundation opens the UNITE Brain Bank with Boston University and the VA - the first brain bank in the world dedicated to CTE.
  2. 2009–2013
    NIH CTE investment: under $1M/year
    Private donors continue funding the Brain Bank, building the tissue repository that will make federal research possible.
  3. 2014
    First major NIH investment: $6M cooperative grant
    Anchored by the tissue bank private donors built. The foundation we created attracted federal dollars.
  4. 2015–2022
    DIAGNOSE CTE study: $15.86M federal
    Runs through infrastructure private donors created. NIH annual CTE investment grows to $5–8M/year.
  5. 2020
    $10M NIH grant to Dr. Ann McKee
    The same lab. The same researcher. The same infrastructure private dollars built in 2008.
  6. 2025
    DIAGNOSE CTE-II launches: $15.3M
    NIH CTE-specific annual funding reaches $10–15M. Total NIH CTE investment 2005–2025: ~$55–85M. Total before private donors moved first: $0.
Your gift moves first. That's what makes it powerful.

For every dollar private donors invested in building this infrastructure, the federal government has invested multiples more - because the science we built together proved it was worth funding.

The programs

Five research programs. One through line - close the gap between exposure and diagnosis.

01

Brain Banks

Every donated brain is a step closer to an answer.

The UNITE Brain Bank is the world's largest CTE brain bank - 1,000+ brains studied. The Global Brain Bank network extends that reach internationally.
02

For Military · Project Enlist

Veterans carry a disproportionate burden of brain trauma. Their brains hold answers.

Project Enlist recruits veterans to pledge their brains and participate in research that distinguishes blast exposure from impact and repetitive sub-concussive hits.
03

For Athletes · Research Registry

14,779 pledges. Every one a commitment to the next generation.

Living athletes pledge to donate their brain after death and participate in longitudinal studies that no post-mortem research can replicate.
04

Imminent Brain Donation

The most profound gift anyone can give to science.

A clear, supported pathway for families at end-of-life - yielding the richest datasets in the Brain Bank, with cognitive history confirmed before death.
05

Selected Research Studies

Funding the questions that have no answer yet.

Biomarkers for living diagnosis. The relationship between nonconcussive impacts and CTE risk. The long-term cognitive effects of youth sports.
The urgency

CTE cannot be diagnosed in a living person.

That means it cannot be fully treated. It cannot be monitored. It cannot be caught early. Every athlete who retires today, every veteran who comes home - they are waiting for science to catch up.

The Catalyst funds the research that closes that gap.

Start the conversation
Tia Sneath
Director of Development
tsneath@concussionandcte.org
Commit to the science