BUSNA Celebrates 5-Year Anniversary
Birdshot Uveitis Society of North America is celebrating 5 years of supporting the birdshot uveitis community!
Incorporated on June 16, 2020, in the early days of COVID-19, BUSNA is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in the State of Pennsylvania.
Christina Griffith initiated the organization’s inception. She invited six “birdies” who had attended a Birdshot Day 2019 to meet on Zoom and consider establishing such an organization. Within months those seven women formed BUSNA’s first Board of Directors. In 2023, an Advisory Board was established to support the Board of Directors in the area of strategic planning.
Five years after its inception, BUSNA boasts over 2000 followers from 49 American states, the District of Columbia, all ten Canadian provinces, the UK, Australia, and 66 other countries. The BUSNA website hosts 56 blog posts. It also features pages about birdshot resources, BUSNA events, Canada-specific birdshot news, and ways that birdshot patients can get involved. Together, we can achieve our mission of supporting birdshot patients and the research community.
Some of BUSNA’s popular events have included:
The Gathering – These Zoom support meetings are held several times each year.
Walktober - This fitness event is held each fall.
Webinars – These feature birdshot specialists and relevant professionals. New webinars will take place this fall.
Fundraisers have included an auction, t-shirt sales and birthday calendar sales, Giving Tuesday, and Facebook Birthday fundraisers that are initiated by members of the community. Many of our followers also engage on various BUSNA social media platforms, including the BUSNA YouTube channel.
The organization’s most ambitious endeavor was hosting Birdshot Day 2024 in Philadelphia. It was well-attended by birdshot patients and medical professionals from the US, Canada and the UK. It was a great day of education and community-building!
In its five years, BUSNA has contributed around $42,000 to various research institutions that are studying birdshot uveitis and uveitis in general.
Currently, the organization is engaged in a major fundraising campaign that will fund a birdshot-specific AI Study at Wills Eye Institute. The project is expected to be completed in 2-3 years. BUSNA’s initial goal is to raise $45,000, and so far, just over $28,000 has been contributed towards the study. If you haven’t yet made a donation, please visit our website.
The Board is pleased with the tremendous progress made by the Society. In five short years we have achieved an excellent reputation in the nonprofit world, having participated in several broad conferences such as The Autoimmune Summit. We’ve boosted birdshot and uveitis research in North America. We’ve also earned encouragement and active participation from birdshot patients as well as medical and industry professionals. We have increased awareness of birdshot uveitis and have filled a void within the birdshot community. Our ultimate goal is to help find a cure for this rare autoimmune disease.
Thank you for helping us reach our objectives!