Frequently Asked Questions

Countdown Insiders is our membership community — a way to step inside the movement extending healthy human lifespan. Members receive research dispatches and explainers from the scientists we fund, invitations to private briefings and intimate gatherings, partner perks, and a genuine voice in how Countdown evolves. It’s part front-row seat to the science, part club for people who want their support to mean something.

A one-time gift moves the mission forward immediately, and we’re grateful for every one. Membership is a relationship rather than a transaction: it’s recurring support that lets us plan and fund research over the long horizons that real breakthroughs require, and in return you get ongoing access — the people, the progress, and the gatherings behind the work. If you want to give once, donating is perfect. If you want to come along for the journey, become an Insider.

Countdown Insiders offers monthly or annual billing, with full pricing shown on the membership page when you join. The majority of your membership directs to funded research, and you can switch between monthly and annual billing at any time.

Yes. We operate as Countdown for a Cure, Inc., d/b/a Countdown, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and we hold a Candid Gold Transparency rating.

Donations to Countdown are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law, and you’ll receive documentation for your records. Countdown Insiders membership is different: because membership provides benefits with monetary value (such as partner perks, briefings, and gatherings), membership payments are not tax-deductible as charitable contributions. Your membership still directly supports our research mission; it is simply structured differently for tax purposes. Countdown does not provide tax advice; please consult your own tax advisor regarding your specific situation.

We fund high-impact, translational science centered on mitochondrial health — the cellular energy that underwrites human longevity. Our grants span six pillars: early detection and precision diagnostics, brain energy and cognitive resilience, women’s health and hormonal longevity, primary mitochondrial and rare genetic disease, chronic disease and aging, and advanced therapeutics and frontier innovation. Every proposal is peer-reviewed against a rigorous framework before a dollar is committed.

Absolutely — there’s no lock-in. You can pause, or cancel at any time from your account, and it takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You can adjust your membership at https://countdown.memberful.com/account.

Countdown is a curated ecosystem. All brand partnerships and product-level relationships are subject to an alignment review before we agree to work together — not every brand we’re in conversation with becomes a partner, and some brands we feature are ones we’re personally aligned with rather than formal partners. This ensures that our content and recommendations reflect our mission and values.