duradash® 2025

This year’s virtual fundraiser will run from May 25–June 7, 2025. As with each year’s annual virtual activity challenge, duradash® 2025 aims to raise awareness and funds in support of spinal CSF leak research and education, so that more patients living with this under-diagnosed and disabling neurologic disorder are able to receive correct and timely diagnosis and treatment.

ALL ABOUT DURADASH® 2025

What is duradash®?

duradash® is a community awareness and fundraising event that takes place annually during Spinal CSF Leak Awareness Week. This year, duradash® is from May 25 – June 7, 2025.

During these 14 days, the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation hosts a virtual challenge to raise funds in support of its mission and educational goals to reduce the suffering of anyone affected by intracranial hypotension or spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak, including via patient and physician awareness of spinal CSF leak — essential for reducing the time between symptom onset, diagnosis, and treatment.

In addition to its commitment to education and awareness, the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation remains dedicated to advancing research that improves the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of spinal CSF leak, directly impacting the lives of those affected. Funds raised will go toward the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation’s general operations, its soon-to-launch international patient registry, the ileak registry℠, as well as providing educational grants and co-sponsorship for conferences such as the Intracranial Hypotension conference and the patient-centered Spinal CSF Leak: Bridging the Gap conference.

This virtual fundraiser is open to everyone who wants to support the cause.

Whether you’re a caregiver, friend, family member, coworker of a patient, healthcare provider, advocate, researcher or just someone who wants to make a difference, your involvement, registration, and participation is welcome and appreciated.

I want to sign up! Where do I register to create my own duradash® fundraising page?

With your own fundraising page, you can participate in our virtual challenge and share your story about why you are fundraising in support of spinal CSF leak awareness and research.  The virtual challenge aims for a total of 150 minutes of any activity, to be done at any time, anywhere, What you do and when you do it is up to you—and ANY activity counts, not just physical activity! In previous years, participants logged activity minutes doing crochet, playing video games, creating photography projects, reading to their kids, taking short walks, spending time with their pets, making art while flat, and more.

Our theme is “start where you are,” and our goal is to raise $20,000 for spinal CSF leak research, awareness, and education. We’ve included a short video here summarizing what duradash® is all about as well!

We’re using an online platform called Qgiv for our duradash® 2025 event. If you’ve used Qgiv for a fundraiser before, you will be prompted to log in after you follow the steps below. If you are new to Qgiv, you will be asked to create a username and password during the step-by-step flow below. For more details about how to use Qgiv and different aspects of your personal fundraising page, including the Welcome Quest Qgiv created to help get you familiar with their platform, see our online toolkit.

To register:

• Step 1: Visit https://secure.qgiv.com/event/duradash2025/ and click the white button that says “Register Now” .
• Step 2: Choose to register as an individual or as part of a team. If you opt to join or create a team, a pop-up will appear allowing you to search for an existing team or start a new one. If you create a team, you’ll automatically be designated as the team captain.
• Step 3: Enter your personal fundraising goal. If you’re on a team, it will count toward the team’s total.
• Step 4: Fill in your personal details. Signing up more than one person? Click ‘Add Another Participant’ to do so.
• Step 5: Click “Complete Registration” to finish. If it’s your first time using Qgiv, you’ll be prompted to create a password to access your fundraising dashboard later.
• Step 6: The Welcome Quest walks you through the main features of your Fundraising Dashboard. Click “Get Started” in the prompt at the top of the page, or expand the bar at the bottom of the screen to begin. You’ll earn a badge when you complete the Welcome Quest.

I don’t want to register, but I DO want to donate!

If you don’t have the time or capacity to create a personal fundraising page, you can also choose to give directly to a patient or make a general gift on the duradash® campaign to support the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation’s work and mission.

Donations are tax-deductible, and every donation helps us get closer to our duradash® fundraising goal and furthers our ability to fund research, support patients, and provide education.

To donate to duradash® 2025:

Go to our main duradash® campaign page, and click on the purple “Donate Now” button. You can then select a participant to donate to, or you can click the box that says “No one specifically, just the overall campaign” and make your donation.

Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like when you receive those donation options:

Do you have graphics or templates I can use to help spread the word about duradash®?

YES! We have an online toolkit for you with this year’s graphics, more detailed instructions about using QGiv for your personal fundraising, and more — all to help you share the event with your friends, family, and network. Included in the templates are scripts for social media, emails, and texting.

Can I buy merchandise for this year’s Spinal CSF Leak Awareness week?

Yes—our leakweek / duradash® shop has been updated with our 2025 logos, and some fun new products like stickers and magnets!

You can also buy t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other duradash® and leakweek merch on our online store, all in support of the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation. Note that we do NOT make a profit from any sales. All items are listed at their print-on-demand base pricing. 

What else can I do to get involved?