Mission Statement

To find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.

Organization Profile

Diabetes affects nearly 24 million Americans, including as many as 3 million with type 1, or juvenile diabetes, a disease that strikes in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, but lasts a lifetime. An autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes results in the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas by the body’s own immune system. The loss of these cells leads to a loss of the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, setting the stage for a range of all too common complications such as kidney failure, blindness, amputation, stroke, heart failure and nerve damage, not to mention an average life expectancy that is 15 years shorter that for those without diabetes. Individuals with type 1 diabetes, including children, must rigorously monitor their sugar levels, take multiple insulin injections each day, and regulate their food intake and physical activities in a complex daily balancing act to maintain normal blood sugar levels and prevent the onset of life-threatening complications. Far from a cure, insulin is merely life support and even with the most meticulous of routines, the threat of complications is constant. For each of these individuals, the best hope-and JDRF’s promise to them-is a cure.

Additional Information

DRF is structured on a business-world model that efficiently and effectively directs resources to research aimed at finding a cure as soon as possible. More than 85 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education. Because of its unwavering focus on its mission to find a cure, JDRF annually receives top rankings from independent sources that rate charitable giving. JDRF leverages its research impact by partnering with and stimulating increased research spending on the part of public and private medical organizations and other entities throughout the world.





JDRF was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with type 1 diabetes. As a result, JDRF volunteers have a personal connection to type 1 diabetes, which translates into an unrelenting commitment to finding a cure. These volunteers are the driving force behind more than 100 locations worldwide that raise money and advocate for government spending for type 1 diabetes research.