Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation

What Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation does

The Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation (GDATF) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit patient advocacy organization founded in 1990 by Dr. Nancy Hord Patterson following her own battle with Graves' disease and thyroid eye disease. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Fe, California with a staff of approximately five, the foundation delivers free patient education, peer support, and physician referral services to individuals affected by Graves' disease, thyroid eye disease (TED), Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and related thyroid disorders. Since inception it has served more than 20,000 people through a portfolio that includes over 35 hours of expert-vetted educational video content, patient bulletins, Zoom support groups, a moderated online forum preserving two decades of patient discussions, a physician registry, in-person patient conferences, and pediatric-focused resources.

The foundation's underlying technology stack is conventional rather than proprietary: a WordPress-based website and forum, Zoom for twice-monthly virtual support groups, YouTube for multimedia content, and email newsletters for community engagement. Its most differentiated research asset is the TED Survey 2022-2023, a GDATF-commissioned patient-experience study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology with grant support from Amgen (formerly Horizon Therapeutics). It also co-operates the oneGRAVESvoice platform with Horizon Therapeutics and rareLife solutions.

GDATF's business model is donation-funded rather than transactional. Revenue derives from individual contributions solicited through the website and annual campaigns, supplemented by corporate sponsorships — Amgen, Viridian Therapeutics, Immunovant, Tourmaline Bio, argenx, and Merida Biosciences operate as Diamond-level sponsors, alongside the Bell Charitable Foundation. All patient-facing services are provided free of charge; no subscription, licensing, or fee-for-service revenue stream exists. The organization is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors with no parent company, no VC or PE backing, and no subsidiaries.

Name

Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation

Legal name

Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation

Website

https://gdatf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1990 that provides free patient education, peer support, and physician referral services to individuals with Graves' disease, thyroid eye disease, and related thyroid disorders, funded by donations and biotech sponsorships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Patient Advocacy and Disease Education Services

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212)

SIC

Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Patient advocacy services
• Thyroid disease education
• Peer support groups
• Health resource library
• Nonprofit patient support

Headquarters

HQ city

Rancho Santa Fe

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. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization (EIN: 59-3009617), the GDATF relies on donations from individuals and organizations. The foundation offers donation options through its website and conducts annual fund campaigns.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit patient advocacy organization that provides free education, peer support, and resources to patients living with Graves' disease, thyroid eye disease (TED), and related thyroid disorders. Its core offerings include a comprehensive resource library with over 35 hours of educational videos and bulletins, online and Zoom-based support groups, an online community forum, a physician registry, patient education conferences, and a toll-free national hotline. All services are provided at no cost to patients and are funded through donations and corporate sponsorships.

Product overview

The Graves' Disease and Thyroid Foundation (GDATF) operates as a patient advocacy nonprofit organization offering a unified portfolio of educational, support, and research services centered on Graves' disease, thyroid eye disease, and related thyroid disorders. The core offerings include a Comprehensive Resource Library with over 35 hours of multimedia content, Patient Bulletins providing in-depth articles on diagnosis and treatment, Online Support Groups hosted via Zoom, an Online Forum preserving two decades of community discussions, a Physician Registry for specialist referrals, Patient Conferences featuring medical experts, the oneGRAVESvoice collaborative platform, the TED Survey 2022-2023 research publication, Featured Videos on YouTube, clinical trials listings, and a toll-free hotline for individual counseling and physician referral. The organization functions as a single integrated service platform rather than a modular product architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Comprehensive Resource Library Free library of over 35 hours of educational videos, infographics, brochures, reading lists, and interviews with experts and specialists covering Graves' disease, thyroid conditions, and thyroid eye disease, provided to patients and caregivers.
• Online Support Groups Free Zoom-based support group meetings connecting patients and caregivers, hosted twice per month with trained moderators, for peer support across geographic boundaries.
• Online Forum Free WordPress-based community forum preserving two decades of patient discussions, accessible to patients and caregivers and supported by trained moderators in a secure environment.
• Physician Registry Free directory of specialists in Graves' disease, thyroid disorders, and associated conditions, filterable by specialty and location across U.S. states, helping patients find knowledgeable care.
• Patient Conferences Free in-person patient education events featuring experts in endocrinology, ophthalmology, oculoplastic surgery, radiology, and endocrine surgery, with recordings available on YouTube.
• Toll-Free National Hotline Free toll-free national hotline (1-877-643-3123) providing individual counseling, physician referral, and answers to disease-related questions for patients and caregivers.
• TED Survey 2022-2023 GDATF-commissioned survey of the thyroid eye disease patient community published in Frontiers in Endocrinology, providing comprehensive quality-of-life data and unique patient experience evidence.
• oneGRAVESvoice Platform Collaboration platform with Horizon Therapeutics (now Amgen) and rareLife solutions featuring curated content, current events, and a social wall for patients and caregivers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Served over 20,000 people since 1990

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• rareLife solutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare communications company that helped bring the TED Survey 2022-2023 project to fruition, working with the foundation on patient-centered outcomes research.
• oneGRAVESvoice PlatformminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration between GDATF, Horizon Therapeutics, and rareLife solutions featuring curated content, current events, and a social wall for patients and caregivers.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Autoimmune Association (formerly AARDA): National nonprofit dedicated to autoimmune disease advocacy, education, and research. Graves' disease is autoimmune, making this a directly comparable patient-organization model operating in an overlapping disease category.
• Thyroid Federation International: International coalition of thyroid patient organizations co-founded by GDATF. Ashok Bhaseen (GDATF Board Director) serves as President. Directly comparable as a thyroid-focused patient advocacy network operating across geographies.

Broad incumbents

• American Diabetes Association: Large disease-specific health nonprofit with patient education, support programs, research funding, and corporate sponsorships. A scaled-up reference model for what a mature endocrine-disease nonprofit can become.
• American Thyroid Association: The leading professional medical society dedicated to thyroid disease research and clinical care. Comparable in thyroid focus but operates as a physician/researcher membership organization rather than a patient-support nonprofit.
• National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD): Umbrella organization representing rare-disease patient communities. Operates a similar disease-specific patient-support and education model but at significantly greater scale across many conditions.

Others

• Inspire: Patient community platform hosting condition-specific forums and support groups. Comparable as the underlying technology and community engagement layer that disease-specific nonprofits like GDATF also rely on.
• WEGO Health: Patient advocacy network connecting patient leaders with healthcare organizations. Comparable as ecosystem infrastructure serving the same disease-specific patient-organization community that GDATF operates in.

Regional players

• Hashimoto's Awareness / Thyroid UK: UK-based thyroid patient organization. Comparable in mission (thyroid patient education and support) but primarily serves a different geographic market than the US-focused GDATF.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GDATF
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCONJaoWexqoz1cr6m5313Dw
• Facebookfacebook.com/GDATF
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/graves'%E2%80%8B-disease-&-thyroid-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation