Founding Members
Founding members are non-profit organizations dedicated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome through Research, Medical Care and/or Advocacy. From the beginning of the society, founding members supported the establishment and maintenance of T21RS.
The Global Down Syndrome Foundation (Global) is the largest non-profit in the U.S. working to save lives and dramatically improve health outcomes for people with Down syndrome. Global has donated more than $32 million to establish the first Down syndrome research institute supporting over 400 scientists and over 2,000 patients with Down syndrome from 28 states and 10 countries. Working closely with Congress and the National Institutes of Health, Global is the lead advocacy organization in the U.S. for Down syndrome research and care. Global has a membership of over 100 Down syndrome organizations worldwide, and is part of a network of Affiliates – the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the Sie Center for Down Syndrome, and the University of Colorado Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center – all on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Global’s widely-circulated medical publications include Global Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome, Prenatal Testing and Information about Down Syndrome, and the award-winning magazine Down Syndrome WorldTM. Global organizes the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show, the largest Down syndrome fundraiser in the world. Follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter @GDSFoundation, Instagram @globaldownsyndrome). Learn more at:
Since the cause of Down syndrome was discovered by Pr. Jérôme Lejeune in 1959 (J. Lejeune, M. Gautier and R. Turpin), treatment and care of those suffering from a genetic intellectual disability, and particularly Down syndrome, have improved. The quality of diagnosing mental retardation and identifying its cause, seriousness and related disorder, as well as appropriate monitoring, now afford better comprehensive medical care for patients.
Having created the Jerome Lejeune Institute which is now the largest specialized medical office (more than 10,000 patients) and its Biobank BioJeL, the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation is at the heart of such progress.
Since that time, the discovery opens the way towards therapeutic research to correct the intellectual disability with a particular focus on Down syndrome. The Jérôme Lejeune Foundation is initiating projects, encouraging research, coordinating and funds research and clinical programs all around the world.
Thanks to private donators who are only private ones, the total budget for research represents around 4,5 to 5 million EUR each year. An international Scientific Advisory Board, consists of recognized experts and scientists, is regularly reviewing the projects in order to select the best projects to be funded. Learn more at:
LuMind IDSC Foundation envisions a world where every person with Down syndrome thrives with improved health, independence, and opportunities to reach their full potential. A small group of passionate parents who wanted to fund more research, clinical trials, and improve the lives of people with Down syndrome (DS) founded LuMind IDSC in 2004. The foundation has grown to be a leader in translational DS research, and a trusted resource of information, inspiration, and connections for the largest online DS community worldwide with a safe forum for parents and families to find peer-to-peer support, evidence-based research information and acceptance throughout the lifespan of their loved one with Down syndrome. Today, LuMind IDSC is building on a legacy of accelerating research with over $85M in total funding to the projects supported and the establishment of the Down Syndrome Clinical Trial Network with top Down syndrome specialty clinics in the US. The organization continues to increase research awareness, empower families, and accelerate research. Learn more at:
Trisomie 21-France promotes and takes stand for the Rights of individuals with Trisomy 21 and other individuals with intellectual imperment, as well as their families. T21-France stands for these people on local and national Level.
Our values are : confidence in their abilities and capacities. Taking stand for their citizenship as regular citizens, abble to contribute to their community.
We believe that they can make their own choices for their life having same dignity. We help them become self advocates with individual and cooperative training. We Defend thus their rigths for Inclusion in French Society and bring them to the capacity of defending themselves as self advocates.
The Federation helps the persons to become citizens like every body else, through the local associations. The federation helps with cooperation between people (peer to peer help) and local groups on promoting and fighting for mainstream education, sports, leisure, employement, health, housing, citizenship.
Also at a local and national Level, Trisomie 21-france cooperates with other associations which stand for the rights of handicaped people. Learn more at:
The Matthew Foundation has been formed to improve the quality of life for persons with Down syndrome and developmental disabilities over their entire life span. We are taking a multi-prong approach to address different challenges that persons with Down syndrome and developmental disabilities face. We can IMAGINE what it will be like to live in a society that welcomes all people with developmental disabilities and hope you will join us in making it a reality. We support research and believe in the possible impact research can have on the life of a person with Down syndrome. The first programs The Matthew Foundation introduced were to support research.
We established the first and only endowed fund for Down syndrome research at ﾵStanford Universityﾧ. Soon thereafter, we became Founding Sponsors of ﾵTrisomy 21 Research Societyﾧ. In 2018, in conjunction with LuMind RDS Foundation’s support of Stanford research, we are further supporting Stanford’s Down syndrome research and set up an expendable fund.
Long term, we hope to see Centers of Excellence for Down syndrome research and care around the world.
The Matthew Foundation has received statewide recognition and has established national and global relationships in its efforts to support the Down syndrome community. We were acknowledged by the New York State Senate when they passed the resolution to recognize Down Syndrome Awareness Day on March 21.
Supporting Members
Supporting members are non-profit organizations dedicated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome through Research, Medical Care and/or Advocacy. Supporting members contribute to the maintenance of T21RS.
DOWN SPAIN- The Spanish Federation of Organizations for Down Syndrome- was constituted on April 23, 1991. Through our 90 federated associations we are located in every Spanish region, which turns us into the only Down’s Syndrome national organization in our country. Our commitment is to promote the inclusion of people with Down syndrome in all areas of their lives and to ensure compliance with Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Our values are: commitment, equal opportunity, transparency, innovation, leadership, excellence.
It is a member of the CERMI-Spanish Committee for People with Disabilities, a consultative member of the INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS, of the EUROPEAN DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION (EDSA) and DOWN SYNDROME INTERNATIONAL (DSI), founding member of the IBERO-AMERICAN DOWN SYNDROME FEDERATION- FIADOWN and collaborating member of the T21RS Trisomy 21 Research society. Learn more at:
Association Française pour la Recherche Sur la Trisomie 21 (AFRT) was founded in 1990 with the purpose of 1/contributing to a better scientific and medical knowledge of Down syndrome; 2/ informing about the results of this research, especially people with Down Syndrome and their relatives; 3/ collaborating with the other associations or teams devoted to research on chromosomal anomalies in France and in the world.
According to its purposes, the aims of AFRT are:
– to develop the research on the understanding and the therapy of trisomy 21, by grants and sponsoring of specific programs,
– to help the people with trisomy 21 and their families to be fully integrated in the social, economical, educational and cultural activities of the society, according to the laws of the French Republic.
-to encourage the creation of centers of clinical and fundamental research intended to improve the health of people with trisomy at all ages of their life.
Among its achievements:
– Since 1998, AFRT has sustained many research programs and has given fellowships for PhD thesis and in the last ten years for master degrees.
– Since July 1995, AFRT offers in “Nouvelles du Chromosome 21”, information about events, medical and scientific news and reports on national and international meetings.
– AFRT organized in Paris on March 21st, 2005 a Workshop with other associations and Foundation. In May 2005, during an International Symposium in Palma de Mallorca, proposed to the European (EDSA) and international (DSI) organizations to choose this date to promote awareness and research about trisomy 21 at the international level. The date of March 21 was endorsed by several associations already in 2006, and it was recognized by the WHO on December 20, 2007 and then by the UN General Assembly on December 19, 2011. Every year around this date, people concerned by trisomy 21 gather, exchange their knowledge and their requests and thus create a stimulating dynamics at the local, national and international level. Every year since 2005, AFRT organizes a Workshop in France to present and discuss issues related to trisomy 21.
Learn more at: