The Alex Manfull Fund

What The Alex Manfull Fund does

The Alex Manfull Fund (TAMF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2018 and headquartered in New Castle, New Hampshire, by Susan and Bill "Towny" Manfull following the death of their 26-year-old daughter Alex from PANDAS. The fund's mission is to advance awareness, clinician education, and research into post-infectious neuroimmune disorders—principally PANDAS, PANS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis—with an explicit emphasis on adolescents and young adults. Its primary constituents are healthcare practitioners (physicians, psychologists, nurses, mental health professionals, researchers, and policymakers) seeking training on diagnosis and treatment, and families and patients affected by these often-misdiagnosed conditions.

The organization's core scientific asset is the POND (Pediatric Neuroimmune Disorders) Brain Bank at Georgetown University Medical Center, established in collaboration with TAMF and described as the nation's only brain bank dedicated to storing tissue from individuals diagnosed with PANDAS, PANS, and related neuroimmune disorders. The bank conducts neuropathological evaluations and procures, stores, and distributes tissue and biofluids to researchers worldwide for biomarker discovery. Complementary educational infrastructure includes biennial symposiums in Portsmouth, NH (2019, 2022, 2024, with a fourth scheduled for November 14, 2026), the "Untangling PANDAS & PANS" podcast, periodic newsletters (Volume 1 launched May 2024), fact sheets (including Spanish translation), video archives, and the À Table Project for community engagement. TAMF also conducts annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill for legislative and policy change.

As a non-profit, TAMF generates no product revenue; funding comes entirely from charitable donations, sponsorships, and community fundraising events (including the 36 Hours weekend and 5K Run/Walk, which together raised more than $140,000 in 2024). Strategic financial supporters include the Neuroimmune Foundation, Minerva Foundation, George W. Pappas Family Trust, KabaFusion, American Tower, and the Louisa Adelynne Fund for Complex Diseases. Core operational partnerships are with Georgetown University Medical Center (Brain Bank and four-year PANDAS/PANS Fellowship Fund launched October 2024) and Dartmouth Health/Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, whose PING program regularly contributes speakers to TAMF programming. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors assembled in October 2021, supplemented by a Scientific and Medical Advisory Board.

Name

The Alex Manfull Fund

Legal name

The Alex Manfull Fund

Website

https://thealexmanfullfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Alex Manfull Fund (TAMF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2018 that advances awareness, clinician education, and research into post-infectious neuroimmune disorders (PANDAS, PANS, Autoimmune Encephalitis), with an emphasis on adolescents and young adults, through the POND Brain Bank at Georgetown, biennial symposiums, and donor-funded community advocacy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Health Advocacy

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGACAA

Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Health & Medical Nonprofits

SECONDARYBPAGAKAL

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Philanthropy, Foundations & Grantmaking

SECONDARYBPAGAKAA

Private Foundations

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Philanthropy, Foundations & Grantmaking

Keywords

• Neuroimmune disorder awareness
• Pediatric neuropsychiatric research
• Brain bank services
• Medical education symposiums
• Nonprofit health advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Portsmouth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations: The Alex Manfull Fund operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that raises funds through donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. The fund received transformational gifts from various donors and supporters in 2024, raising more than $140,000 from a single weekend event.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Alex Manfull Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports awareness, education, and research to further understand post-infectious neuroimmune disorders (PANDAS, PANS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis) with emphasis on adolescents and young adults. Its core offerings include biennial medical symposiums for clinicians, the POND Brain Bank at Georgetown University Medical Center, a podcast, newsletters, fact sheets, community fundraising events, and legislative advocacy including Capitol Hill Advocacy Day.

Product overview

The Alex Manfull Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates as an awareness, education, and research support organization rather than a traditional technology product company. The organization's core offerings include educational content products (podcasts, newsletters, videos, fact sheets), biennial symposiums for medical professionals, and research support through the POND Brain Bank at Georgetown University. The TAMF Podcast – Untangling PANDAS & PANS, TAMF Newsletters, and educational videos serve as the primary content-based products, while the organization's symposiums and the POND Brain Bank represent its research and professional education initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PANDAS/PANS Symposium Biennial educational symposiums held in Portsmouth, NH for physicians, psychologists, nurses, mental health professionals, researchers, and policymakers, featuring the latest research and clinical practice information on neuroimmune psychiatric disorders. Past events held in 2019, 2022, and 2024, with the next scheduled for November 14, 2026 under the theme 'ONE BODY'. Attendance is limited to medical and research professionals.

Quantifiable outcome

• The fund has established the only POND Brain Bank in the nation dedicated to PANDAS/PANS research
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Alex Manfull Fund collaborated with Georgetown University Medical Center to establish the POND Brain Bank, the nation's only brain bank dedicated to storing brains from individuals diagnosed with PANDAS, PANS, and other neuroimmune disorders. The fund also partnered with GUMC to establish The Alex Manfull PANDAS/PANS Fellowship Fund, a four-year initiative to educate neuroimmunology fellows on pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders.
• Georgetown University Medical Center - POND Brain BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe POND Brain Bank provides detailed neuropathological evaluations and oversees the procurement, storage, and distribution of tissue and biofluids to researchers worldwide to discover biomarkers for PANDAS and PANS. Alex Manfull's brain was donated to establish this resource.
• Dartmouth Health / Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDartmouth Health is a leader in research and treatment of PANDAS/PANS and has established a PING (Psychiatry Immunology and Neurology Group) program. Multiple speakers from Dartmouth present at TAMF symposiums, including Dr. Juliette Madan and Dr. Richard Morse.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD): Umbrella advocacy organization for rare diseases, including PANDAS/PANS; offers broader policy, research-grant, and patient-navigation infrastructure that TAMF taps into rather than competes with directly.
• Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance: Established nonprofit supporting patients with autoimmune encephalitis — a sibling neuroimmune condition explicitly named in TAMF's mission; broader disease portfolio and longer operating history.
• International OCD Foundation: National nonprofit for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a frequent misdiagnosis destination for PANDAS/PANS patients; targets overlapping clinician and family audiences at much larger scale.

Others

• Georgetown University Medical Center: TAMF's core academic partner that houses the POND Brain Bank and runs the PANDAS/PANS Fellowship Fund; institutionally adjacent but not a fundraising competitor.
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) - PANDAS/PANS Research Program: Major pediatric academic medical center running PANDAS/PANS clinical care and research programs; indirectly comparable as a research-and-care ecosystem stakeholder rather than a competing nonprofit.
• Brain & Behavior Research Foundation: Major U.S. nonprofit funding grants for psychiatric and neuroscience research, including areas adjacent to PANS/PANDAS; an enabler/funder peer rather than a direct competitor.

Direct peers

• PANDAS Network: Nonprofit focused on PANDAS/PANS awareness, education, and research support; mirrors TAMF's mission almost exactly and competes for the same donor and clinician audiences.
• Neuroimmune Foundation: Disease-specific nonprofit promoting understanding of PANS/PANDAS and related conditions; listed as a TAMF transformational-gift supporter and competes for the same mission-aligned donor base.
• ASPIRE (Alliance to Solve PANS, Immune-Related Encephalopathies): PANS-specific advocacy and clinician-education nonprofit that runs conferences, CME courses, and resource directories targeting the same healthcare practitioner audience TAMF serves.

Emerging players

• Moleculera Labs: Commercial clinical lab offering the Cunningham Panel of autoantibody tests used in evaluating PANS/PANDAS; complements TAMF's awareness and research mission but operates in the adjacent diagnostic-services layer.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagramthealexmanfullfund.org/instagram
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheAlexManfullFund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-alex-manfull-fund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Alex Manfull Fund