Thank You, Brilliant Challenge Raises $400,000

The Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF) is very excited to announce that it has raised $400,000 through the Irving G. Brilliant Parkinson’s Research Challenge, all of which will be directed towards Parkinson’s research programs.

It was only because of your support - our donors and friends to whom the fight against Parkinson's is a priority - that we were able to surpass our original goal. How did we do it? Here's our story behind the challenge.

March, The Challenge Begins!
As you may remember, on March 30, PDF announced the launch of the challenge, by Mr. Brilliant, a businessman from Brooklyn, New York who lives Parkinson’s. Mr. Brilliant offered to match all gifts made during April, for up to $100,000.

April, The Challenge Doubles
On April 28, we announced with excitement that due to a generous gift by The Light of Day Foundation and Mr. Bob Benjamin, PDF far surpassed the original challenge goal.

Upon hearing about Mr. Benjamin's gift, Mr. Brilliant DOUBLED his challenge, promising to match any gifts for up to $200,000 made by Thursday, June 30.

May and June, More Than 1,000 Supporters
The community responded with enthusiasm to the doubling of the challenge. To date, more than 1,000 people have donated well over $200,000.

Mr. Brilliant is matching the $200,000 with his own generous donation, meaning a total of $400,000 will be directed towards Parkinson's research.

$400,000 for Parkinson’s Research
Thank you all for your generosity. As my colleague Eddie Pelto discussed several months ago, the fact that many donations were of modest size shows the impact of our grassroots community.

Stay tuned to our website next week, when we’ll announce our fiscal year 2012 research grants, so you can see the research your funds will support. As always this research is designed to bring us closer to understanding the cause(s) of and a cure for Parkinson's.

Sincerely,

Robin Elliott