Step Up to T1D: A Challenge Built by a Student, Run by Students

Max Kopp started asking questions about diabetes in a lab, not a boardroom. As a high school researcher, he published peer-reviewed work on needle-free glucose sensing in Biosensors & Bioelectronics and filed three patents on the technology.

Then he asked a bigger question: what happens to young people with Type 1 diabetes after the diagnosis, when the supplies, the costs, and the isolation start to pile up?

His answer is the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes: a nonprofit founded in 2025 and run by students, with chapters at 12 universities, more than 1,200 volunteers, and over 15,000 students reached. By youth, for youth.

This November, during the week of World Diabetes Day, we are inviting everyone to move with us. Run it, walk it, roll it. Just step up.

Your $25 Goes Straight to Work

Every registration and every donation to this campaign helps put diabetes supplies and real support within reach of a young person living with Type 1 diabetes.

Through the foundation's assistance programs (Microgrants, Device Sponsorships, the Youth Fellow Support Fund, and Clinic and Pharmacy Navigation), young people ages 6 to 24 get help that moves in days, not months: supplies they cannot afford, devices they are waiting on, and a person on the phone who helps them find care. The helpline is 1-800-469-5471, and applications go to assistance@koppfoundation.org.

Your $25 is not a race fee. It is a young person's supplies covered, a device sponsored, a family breathing easier. That is what you are funding when you step up.

How It Works

Register. Sign up for $25 on RunSignup, or join a chapter team below and fundraise your way in (students, see the next section).
Move. Run or walk your 5K anywhere, any time between Friday, November 13 and Friday, November 20, 2026. Your street, your campus, your trail.
Show it. Post your finisher graphic, tag your chapter, and share your team page. Every post brings the next donor.
Fund the help. Donate on this page or text KFD5K to 53-555. Every dollar raised goes to the assistance programs above.

Every Finisher Gets the Pack

This is a virtual challenge, so we made the finish line real. Every registrant receives a free digital finisher pack:

Your digital bib, personalized with your name and bib number, ready to print or post.
Your finisher certificate, with your name and finish date, signed by our founder.
Your finisher graphic, built from the official 2026 challenge artwork, sized for Instagram and Stories, so your finish shows up everywhere your friends are.

Register, finish your 5K, and your pack is yours. Wear the week proudly.

Students: Join Free, Fundraise First

You do not need $25 to start. If you are a student, you can step up today for free:

Create or join your chapter team on this campaign page, under your university's full name.
Share your team page and text-to-donate keyword: text KFD5K to 53-555.
Register on RunSignup when you are ready, and log your 5K during challenge week, Nov 13 to 20.

Chapters are the engine of this challenge. Twelve campuses are already in. Presidents, your team page is your scoreboard: every member who joins, every dollar your campus raises, shows up there. New campus and no chapter yet? Start the team anyway. That is exactly how every one of our 12 chapters began.

Our Goal: $10,000

Ten thousand dollars, raised by students and the people who believe in them, during one week in November.

It is a first-year goal for a young foundation, and it is within reach: hundreds of finishers, twelve campuses, one week. When we pass it, every additional dollar still goes to the same place, straight to young people with Type 1 diabetes who need supplies and support now.

Be One of the First to Step Up

Challenges like this one are built by the people who move first. Register today, join your campus team, or make the donation that gets this page rolling.

Run the week of World Diabetes Day. Fund a young person's next month of living well with Type 1 diabetes. Step up to T1D.

Register on RunSignup · Donate here or text KFD5K to 53-555 · Questions: 1-800-469-5471

Kopp Foundation for Diabetes is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2025. By youth, for youth.

KFD Step Up to T1D Challenge 2026