American Kidney Fund

The American Kidney Fund (AKF) fights kidney disease on all fronts as the nation's leading kidney nonprofit. AKF works on behalf of the 37 million Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, with an unmatched scope of programs that support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease - from prevention through post-transplant living.<br>With programs that address early detection, disease management, financial assistance, clinical research, innovation and advocacy, no kidney organization impacts more lives than AKF. One of the nation's top-rated nonprofits, AKF invests 97 cents of every donated dollar in programs and holds the highest 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator for 20 consecutive years and the Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid, formerly GuideStar.

The American Kidney Fund's vision is a world without kidney disease. Until that day comes, we believ

Goal One: Community Impact: Ensure that every person at risk for, or living with, kidney disease has the opportunity to thrive.

Goal Two: Build upon our unique patient perspective to enhance clinical expertise to ensure people with kidney disease and those at risk have the opportunity to achieve their best health outcomes.

Goal Three: Elevate kidney disease as a policy priority and increase public awareness and understanding of the disease. Empower and mobilize patients to be their own best advocates

AKF invests in and encourages staff to engage with professional development opportunities including annual trainings, conferences, professional organization memberships and external workshops. AKF developed a multi-year training program to enhance these offerings, focused on Skill Building, Leadership Development, Compliance, and DE&I topics. AKF Senior Directors attend quarterly Executive Team meetings to expose these leaders to high level strategic conversations. AKF provides opportunities for staff at every level to gain experience participating in and leading large scale AKF projects, such as the development of the Strategic Operating Plan. Each staff member in a supervisory role is held accountable for encouraging their team to share information and support goals across the organization. This bigger-picture expectation of AKF supervisors helps to empower staff at every level of the organization and identify highly contributing team members who are deserving of promotions.

AKF held its annual Kidney Action Summit on May 4, 2022, connecting 36 AKF Ambassadors from 15 states with their senators and representatives’ offices in 48 virtual meetings • As part of the third annual Kidney Action Week 2022, AKF held a virtual Congressional briefing on June 7 entitled The Crisis in Kidney Disease, highlighting the troubling upward trajectory of kidney failure diagnoses (an estimated 1 million people will have kidney failure by 2030) and concrete ways we can address this national crisis • At the state level, AKF supported 48 bills in 25 states that passed in 2021, including seven living donor protection bills that provide job-protected leave to living organ donors, or provide employers with a tax credit if they provide employees with paid leave to recover from living organ donation surgery AKF released its second annual Living Donor Protection Report Card, which tracks our progress in achieving much-needed protections for living donors

Through every stage of the pandemic, though, our focus has been singularly focused on the patients that we serve. Despite pivoting to 100% remote work, AKF seamlessly continued its programs of education, financial assistance, advocacy, and clinical research grants. Due to the pandemic, we transformed our localized screening program into a free and 100% virtual Kidney Action Week. The event was held in a dedicated Facebook Live group with more than 2,000 people joining. Throughout KAW, participants contributed hundreds of posts, and nearly 27,000 comments and reactions to the interactive educational information we shared. In its third year, KAW has grown to reach over 8,500 attendees nationwide. This past year’s KAW featured over 30 sessions that educated the kidney community about testing for kidney disease, clinical trials, navigating the kidney transplant waiting list, kidney-friendly eating plans, kidney stones and causes of kidney disease. Transforming KAW into an annual virtual event allowed AKF to broaden our reach and educate more people about kidney disease than could be achieved through in-person efforts. In 2022, AKF launched a new website featuring site enhancements including: a responsive, mobile-first design; a searchable resource library of webinar and digital educational content with a focus on health literacy to meet the growing virtual-first needs of our community. AKF partnered with the Johns Hopkins Children's Center to host their Camp All-Stars program for children with kidney disease in 2019. In 2020 Camp All-Stars' in-person camp was canceled. Given the importance of having these campers remain connected, especially during a time of increased social isolation, so virtual camp was born. Every month, AKF hosts virtual camp nights where pediatric kidney patients from across the country can sign up to participate in fun virtual activities with their peers. In 2022, AKF has turned this into an experience for pediatric kidney patients nationwide.