I, James Brains, have a birthday this Thursday, September 21st. I’m not proud of it, and I’m not looking for “Happy Birthday” messages. I only bring it up because Facebook prodded me to solicit donations from my friends. I figured, what could it hurt? So, I set up a donation event with all proceeds going to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Below, we will look at this new initiative from Facebook, what the BBRF is, and I’ll pass the hat around.

What Is This Facebook Donation Thing?

I first noticed the Facebook donation thing in late August. Facebook released the feature to all users in the United States on August 16th. You can select from any of the 750,000 nonprofits on Facebook, choose a goal amount, and awkwardly ask all of your friends to donate money in your honor.

The whole thing feels weird, but that’s probably because it’s new. I looked into it, and Facebook takes about 5% of the money, which is the standard for such a thing. 2% goes to administrative costs like fraud protection and vetting nonprofits. 3% is to cover the processing of payments.

Why the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation?

I don’t like how we handle mental illness. Many mentally ill people end up in prison and don’t get the treatment they need. I want us to get to the root of the problem. The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation exists to provide grants to scientists doing good work in

  • Addiction
  • ADHD
  • Anxiety
  • Autism
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Depression
  • Eating disorders
  • OCD
  • PTSD
  • Schizophrenia

100 percent of the money donated to the Foundation is invested directly into the grants they offer. Their operational expenses are underwritten by some rich people with hearts of gold. So far, their work has supported transcranial magnetic stimulation, optogenetics, rapid-acting antidepressants, deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression, and much more.

Also, they have a 4-star rating (out of 4) on Charity Navigator and an A+ on Charity Watch. They also have a “2 Legit 2 Quit” on the Hammer scale.

Of course, don’t donate if you can’t afford it. I only donated $20 because things are tight here. But, if y’all do the $5 minimum, maybe we can help improve the world’s brainpower.

To donate to the birthday fundraiser thing, visit the event page. If you donate, let us know below so we can say, “Thank you1” (sic).