Arthritis Foundation

National Board Chair Dennis Ehling, a partner at law firm Blank Rome LLP, leads the foundation's board as of 2025. The foundation is a nonprofit governed by a national board of directors that sets strategic direction for its research funding, advocacy, and community programs. Day-to-day executive management sits with a professional staff based at the Atlanta headquarters.

The foundation sustains its grantmaking through an endowment invested across domestic and international equity mutual funds, fixed income mutual funds, real estate funds, commodity exposure, and beneficial interests in perpetual trusts. This diversified pool generates the financial base for multi-year research commitments alongside annual fundraising from events, corporate partners, and collegiate philanthropy through Alpha Omicron Pi.

The Arthritis Foundation and the Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF) are separate entities that collaborate on research funding and jointly host scientific summits. ANRF focuses specifically on early-career investigator grants, while the Arthritis Foundation maintains a broader mandate spanning research, advocacy, and patient resources. The collaboration creates a pipeline from discovery science to patient-facing programs.

The foundation's disclosed portfolio indicates a traditional endowment allocation: mutual funds across equity and fixed income, real estate funds, commodity exposure, and perpetual trusts. There is no public evidence of direct venture capital or early-stage biotech commitments. The research funding model operates through grants to academic investigators and collaborative agreements with partner foundations rather than equity investments.

Alpha Omicron Pi, a national sorority, has designated the Arthritis Foundation as its international philanthropy. Chapters across the United States raise funds and awareness through campus events and community programming. This partnership provides a recurring collegiate donor base distinct from the foundation's traditional individual giving and corporate sponsorship channels.

The foundation operates nationally from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with programs and local chapters serving communities across the United States. Its research funding supports investigators at US academic medical centers and research institutions. There is no publicly disclosed international grantmaking program, though scientific collaborations and summits draw global participants.

While named for arthritis, the foundation funds research and advocacy across the spectrum of arthritic and related autoimmune conditions, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, lupus, and gout. Its public health messaging targets the roughly 60 million US adults and hundreds of thousands of children living with doctor-diagnosed arthritis or rheumatic conditions.