History
Taking Out Toxo was started in 2010 as an annual fundraiser by Blythe, a 10-year old San Francisco girl infected with toxoplasmosis, who had lost vision in one eye and whose vision in the other was threatened by the disease. 100% of proceeds from Taking Out Toxo activities at that time went to fund research at the Toxoplasmosis Research Institute at the University of Chicago where Blythe was and continues to be enrolled in a research study. Fundraising activities included rock climbing marathons, jump rope-a-thons, volleyball tournaments, bake sales, and pie sales. Individual sponsorships of these activities were the source for the majority of funds raised. Over $400,000 has been raised to date.
It became compellingly obvious as the organization matured, that greater funding was needed to get to a cure as well as a vaccine. In addition, the organization recognized the need for more doctors, laboratories, and companies to undertake research in order to move from funding one researcher and one approach to encouraging investigation by many researchers into numerous approaches. At that point, it was decided to make Taking Out Toxo a stand-alone 501c-3. Taking Out Toxo was incorporated as non-profit on May 16, 2016 in the state of Illinois. Taking Out Toxo is a registered 501c-3 having received confirmation of our tax-exempt status from the IRS as of November 4, 2016. |