How We Use Donations

The Epilepsy Foundation is the national charitable organization committed to a better world for people living with epilepsy. Through research, education, advocacy, and services, we aim to prevent, control and cure epilepsy, and to ensure a positive quality of life for everyone living with epilepsy.

We use your donation to empower people with epilepsy and their families, to improve epilepsy prevention and treatment, to increase public awareness and reduce discrimination and stigma.

We use your donation to support clinical and behavioral research. And we help everyone touched by seizures access accurate and current information, and connect with support networks to ease the burden of daily life.

We use your donation to advocate in Congress, in the courts, in state legislatures and regulatory bodies for access to healthcare, protection of civil rights, job training, social security, and special education services. Because of you, fathers and mothers with epilepsy are finding stable employment, becoming more productive citizens, and are able to care for their families.

We transform people's lives everyday. And we need your help.

Meet just a few of the special people your donation will help.

Here are just some of the ways we'll use your donation to make a positive difference in someone's life:

Research

Research Grants
The Foundation invites research investigators to apply for one-year grants to test new ideas and follow new research leads.

Research Fellowships
To attract the best scientific minds to the study of seizures and seizure disorders we offer training fellowships in basic, clinical and behavioral science to scientists at the start of their careers.

Gene Discovery Project
As one step towards discovering the genetic causes of epilepsy, and possibly a true cure, this program offers families in which several members across generations experience seizures the opportunity to assist research in a confidential setting.

Education

Epilepsy Answer Place
This extensive collection of information on seizure disorders is available to everyone online.

Women & Epilepsy Initiative
We educate women and healthcare providers about the unique health concerns of more than one million American women and girls living with seizure disorders.

Entitled to Respect Initiative
We fight stigma and provide youth with epilepsy the resources to make a healthy adjustment to their condition, create a support network, and achieve a positive quality of life.

E2R
Entitled to Respect, a website on the Internet where teens can chat with friends, play a trivia game, tell stories or just give a shout out.

Advocacy

Speak Up Speak Out
Join our grassroots network of concerned individuals who unite as one voice and take an active role in shaping public policy to support people living with epilepsy and their families.

Kids Speak Up!
Offers young people ages seven to 16 an opportunity to meet with elected officials in Washington, DC to present the need for a better public understanding of epilepsy and research towards a cure.

Programs

JobTech Employment Program
We help people living with epilepsy obtain employment in a technology-based customer service field.

JobTalk™
Our experts, who include corporate executives and Americans with Disabilities (ADA) specialists, understand the unique challenges epilepsy can bring to the workplace and answer your questions.

H.O.P.E. Mentoring Program
Helping Other People with Epilepsy (H.O.P.E.) trains people with epilepsy on how to educate patients, families and the public about available resources and support.

National Epilepsy Library
Gives consumers and healthcare providers access to more than 2,000 texts and monographs, plus a bibliographic database of more than 19,000 citations from periodicals and books.