The Beta Cell Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that develops grassroots projects by type 1 diabetics to educate, empower, and unite our community. By drawing on community members’ experiences, we’re empowering people to give back to their community and make it stronger in ways that don’t necessarily align with fundraising benchmarks.
There are huge unmet needs in accessible diabetes education, community networks, and advocacy, all of which we are working to remedy by developing mobile apps and in-person programs.
BCF is built by diabetics and for diabetics.
🪟 We're 100% transparent about all of our finances
🚫 We will never take money from insulin manufacturers
💸 We have no paid employees (we're volunteers)
About Type 1 Diabetes (T1D)
Type 1 diabetes is an incurable autoimmune disease that causes the body’s antibodies to destroy the beta cells in the pancreas that create insulin—which every person needs in order to turn food into energy. Two million American children, teens, and adults currently live with T1D.
T1D is extremely expensive, with the uninsured and underinsured paying as much as $1,200 a month just for their insulin. 1-in-4 diabetics in the U.S. ration their insulin because they simply can’t afford it. With blood glucose test strips and devices like insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, many people with T1D can’t afford expensive events that would connect them with their community for education and empowerment.
The coupling of an “invisible” disease with the stigmatization of diabetes makes people less likely to find other people with diabetes and less like to search them out, isolating people with T1D. Only 25% of people with T1D have friends that they can empathize with.
Managing T1D can itself feel like a full time job, which is why 25% of people with diabetes experience depression. Unfortunately, most endocrinology programs focus solely on solely on physical health and do not address the mental strain that accompanies managing a chronic, high maintenance, financially burdensome disease.