Tinnitus Quest is established in Germany since 26 June 2024 as a “Verein”, which is a non-profit entity.

We have also established a non-profit entity, a 501(c)(3), in the United States, in December 2024.

As such, we do not have any commercial aims. All our activities and spending are geared towards our mission of silencing tinnitus through funding cure-focused research.

We have an “ANBI” status in the Netherlands.

We have also established a non-profit entity, a 501(c)(3), in the United States.

This means that people in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States are eligible to make tax-deductible donations.

Tinnitus Quest was founded in 2024 by a group of tinnitus sufferers who were frustrated with the lack of progress in research, and decided to take matters into their own hands. Sven, Markku, and Hazel each suffer from tinnitus, and have long experience in tinnitus research and engaging with the patient community. They involved some of the top researchers in the field to help make strategic decisions and ensure scientific impact. Learn more about the people involved in Tinnitus Quest on the People page.

Our income currently comes 100% from donations by individuals. Our donations come from high-net-worth individuals, typically those who suffer from tinnitus themselves, and from online crowdfunding through our website. We may in the future explore other sources of income, such as corporate sponsorships.

We have a section on our homepage showing the amount in our Research Fund, and showing which segment of this funding is already allocated to particular research project(s). 100% of online donations go directly into our Research Fund. Our program & operational costs are covered through separately earmarked donations.

We are committed to being a lean organization with limited overhead. That said, program & operational costs are required to organize events, run our website and social media, create valuable content, liaise with researchers, and more.

To maintain a clean separation between research funding and program & operational funding, we have separate income streams for the two. 100% of each donation made online goes into our Research Fund; our running costs are covered from other income streams.

Tinnitus Quest does not own or rent any office space, allowing us to keep our overhead low.

We do pay modest compensation to several people for tasks like financial administration, project management, public relations, website maintenance, video editing, and social media. We believe that an organization run entirely on volunteer efforts is unsustainable and risky. That said, more hours for Tinnitus Quest are spent on a volunteer basis than on a compensation basis, and we are continuously expanding our network of volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer, you can email us at info@tinnitusquest.com and outline your skills and interests, ideally attaching a CV or LinkedIn profile.

In short, we fund exploratory science testing out new potential treatments that could silence tinnitus. Learn more on our Research page.

Decisions on grant allocation are taken by our Executive Board, which is composed of 3 patients and 2 researchers. Our Innovation Board, responsible for the scientific and operational framework for our research funding, conducts the first assessments of research applications. Input and advice are provided by our Scientific Advisory Board, composed of scientists, and our Patient Advisory Board, composed of tinnitus patients. You can learn more about the people involved here – click on each name to see their bio.

Interested researchers can apply whenever we publish a Request for Proposals (RFP). Bureaucracy is kept to a minimum; the process consists of submitting a short Letter of Intent (LOI) outlining the research idea, and round two for selected applicants is a “pitch” meeting via a video call.

Detailed information about the 2025 application round and decision-making process can be found here. We expect the 2026 process to look broadly similar.

No. Their role is to help make decisions on where we should allocate funding, based on their scientific expertise. We would not however prohibit researchers affiliated with them – for example, PhD students working with the researchers who are part of Tinnitus Quest – from applying to our grants program. In that case, the board member with the affiliation to the applicant will be recused from the decision-making process.

Read our Conflict of Interest policy.

No. Although there is some promising research going on at private companies, we believe that these companies should be able to acquire their own funding, for instance through venture capital firms. Furthermore, sponsoring the research of a commercial entity should be done as an investment (with the potential for return on said investment) and not as a grant; and this is not something we are legally or operationally set up for. Finally, when it comes to private companies, they are not the habit of making the details of their findings public, nor of collaborating with other researchers to share knowledge and ideas.

For all these reasons, the cons of treating for-profit private firms the same as researchers at non-profit institutions (hospitals, universities, institutes) outweigh the pros. Tinnitus Quest’s principles of transparency and scientific rigor could potentially come into conflict.

2025 was our first full financial year. Hence, we will release a 2025 annual report in April of 2026, and going forward in April of each year.

If you would like to make a sizeable donation, please contact us first. We can then discuss the best process and help ensure tax-effective donations, transnationally if needed.

We also offer the possibility to donate in cryptocurrency or stock.

Furthermore, you can donate directly from your Donor Advised Fund with any asset management firm.

Contact pay@tinnitusquest.com for more information.

Any donation made offline (i.e., not via our website) can be earmarked in consultation with us. Donations made online automatically flow into our Research Fund.

For donations over USD 50,000 into our Research Fund, you can request to direct the funds to a particular research area or question, provided it fits our general philosophy for the type of research we fund (see our Research page).

We collect personal data only when you voluntarily provide it or when you interact with our website. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. To learn more, read our Privacy Policy.