Brain Support Network helps families with brain donation arrangements
We are honored to assist your family.
source: NeuroscienceNews
Most likely you’ve been given this webpage as you have a family member coping with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), or multiple system atrophy (MSA).
We’ve provided some details below about the CurePSP brain donation grant for families coping with these diagnoses. Plus, there’s additional information about how Brain Support Network may be of assistance with grant funds as well.
CurePSP offers taxable grant of up to $1,000 for PSP, CBD, and MSA families
CurePSP offers “a grant of up to $1,000 of taxable income to cover the cost of tissue harvest and transportation” to PSP, CBD, MSA, and FTLD-parkinsonism families. (If your family member has FTD *with* parkinsonism symptoms, we can investigate if this qualifies as “FTLD-parkinsonism.” Parkinsonism symptoms include rigidity, slow movement, balance problems, falls, and possibly tremor.) The brain must be donated to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
Up until early 2019 or so, CurePSP would occasionally pay the pathology provider directly, but this is no longer allowed. Now, the grant recipient must be a family member. CurePSP will not allow the grant recipient to be a pathology provider, funeral home, or Brain Support Network.
The family must bear the expense, and then seek the reimbursement grant from CurePSP once the brain donation has occurred.
To seek reimbursement from CurePSP, please send Joanna Teters via email ([email protected]) or fax (410-785-7009) the following:
* Proof of patient’s diagnosis
* Receipt of payment for the brain donation (this is provided by Brain Support Network)
* W9 tax form for the individual who will be receiving reimbursement
* mailing address of person who will be receiving reimbursement if it differs from information stated on W9 tax form
At tax time, all grant recipients will receive a 1099 from CurePSP, indicating the value of the grant received.
For “proof of patient’s diagnosis,” we believe that you can share a page from an appointment visit with an MD that provides the donor’s name and diagnosis. This could even be a page from a hospice medical record. Or, if you wait long enough, this could be the neuropathology report, “proving” the diagnosis.
Brain Support Network may be able to help
If the $1000 grant from CurePSP is insufficient, or if your family is unable to pay the pathology fee before end-of-life, please let us know (cell 650-814-0848). Brain Support Nework or one of our partners are often able to help. For example, a generous non-profit has granted us funds to help defray shipping costs.
Many diagnoses — frontotemporal dementia (which includes bvFTD, PPA, SD), Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, atypical parkinsonism, early onset Alzheimer’s, or a family history of dementia — are not covered by the CurePSP grant. Contact Brain Support Network for help.
Are you a generous donor able to assist families with brain donation grants? Brain Support Network welcomes your charitable contributions. Please contact us (cell 650-814-0848) for details. You may limit grants to certain diagnoses and for specific amounts (such as $1,000 or a maximum of half the cost of brain donation).
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This information last updated: June 1, 2026.
Key changes to CurePSP info (June 1, 2026): grant is no longer available to FTD families.
Key changes to CurePSP info (August 1, 2022): grant amount now $1,000 (had been $750 for at least two decades).
Key changes to CurePSP info (March 31, 2020): W9 form now required from CurePSP (as grants are now taxable); cancelled checks are sufficient documentation.