What is Stimpunks?

Stimpunks is a neurodivergent- and disabled-led nonprofit that builds practical infrastructure for dignity, access, and survival.

We support people directly through mutual aid while also producing education, frameworks, and cultural resources that help systems move away from harm and toward humane, evidence-aligned practice.

Our guiding principle is simple and measurable in impact:
When people are allowed to be authentic, outcomes improve.

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The Problem We Address

Neurodivergent and disabled people are routinely harmed by:

• Deficit-based medical and educational models
• Compliance-focused therapies and institutions
• Inaccessible environments and communication norms
• Systems that require masking, self-erasure, or crisis to receive support

These conditions lead to burnout, poor health outcomes, disengagement from education and work, and unnecessary dependence on crisis services.

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Our Approach

Stimpunks works at both the individual and systems level:

• Immediate support to reduce harm and instability
• Education and reframing to prevent future harm
• Community-driven design to ensure relevance and trust

We do not “fix” people.
We fix access, expectations, and environments.

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Programs & Activities

❤️ Mutual Aid & Direct Support

• Direct financial assistance to neurodivergent and disabled people
• Creator and community grants
• Fast, low-barrier support that prevents escalation into crisis systems

Impact: Stabilization, reduced stress, improved capacity to engage in life, work, and care.

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🧠 Learning Pathways & Educational Resources

• Neuroaffirming learning pathways (autism, ADHD, neurodiversity, access)
• Grounded in lived experience and contemporary research
• Freely accessible, globally used

Impact: Improved understanding, reduced stigma, better decision-making by families, educators, and professionals.

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🧱 Access-Centered Frameworks

• Communication access
• Sensory and spatial access
• Education and healthcare access
• Psychological safety as a design requirement

Impact: Increased participation, reduced exclusion, fewer behavioral and disciplinary interventions.

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Community & Cultural Documentation

• Storytelling and scrollytelling grounded in lived experience
• Language and frameworks that replace deficit narratives
• Trust-based community engagement

Impact: Stronger identity development, belonging, and resilience among marginalized populations.

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What Makes Stimpunks Distinct

• Led by the communities served
• Combines direct aid with long-term systems change
• Rejects coercive and compliance-based models
• Centers psychological safety as a core outcome
• Low overhead, high trust, high relevance

We align closely with disability justice, trauma-informed care, and evidence showing that autonomy and safety improve long-term outcomes.

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Who We Serve

• Autistic, ADHD, and neurodivergent people
• Disabled people across bodymind differences
• People questioning identity or diagnosis
• Families and professionals seeking non-harmful approaches
• Institutions willing to reform ableist practices

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Outcomes Funders Support

• Reduced crisis intervention and burnout
• Increased engagement in education, work, and community
• Improved wellbeing through access and autonomy
• Sustainable, community-owned support systems
• Scalable, open educational resources

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Bottom Line

Stimpunks invests in people and the conditions that allow them to thrive — not in systems that demand conformity.
Funding Stimpunks supports immediate relief and durable cultural change, led by those most affected.

Donate

Mutual Aid and Human-Centered Learning for Neurodivergent and Disabled People

Founded 2021 · 501(c)(3) · EIN: 87-4010796 · Candid Silver Seal 2026

When people are allowed to be authentic, outcomes improve.

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At a Glance

110 Mutual Aid Grants	$67,850 Mutual Aid Dollars
14 Creator Grants	$42,000 Creator Grant Dollars
$109,850 Total Grants Awarded	1,305 Web Pages Published
65 Google Scholar Citations	11,000+ Social Media Followers

Cumulative since founding in 2021. Social media aggregated across Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Mastodon, LinkedIn, X, and Tumblr as of October 2025.

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Who We Are

Stimpunks Foundation is a neurodivergent- and disabled-led nonprofit building practical infrastructure for dignity, access, and survival. We move money directly to disabled and neurodivergent people who need it, and we produce free tools, language, and frameworks that help people survive systems that were not built for them.

We are small, honest, and led by the people we serve. Every director and board member is themselves neurodivergent or disabled. Lived experience is not a side note here — it is the operating system.

• Founded: 2021
• Structure: 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 87-4010796
• Candid Silver Seal of Transparency (2026)
• BBB Accountability Standards aligned
• Employer matching enabled

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Direct Support: Mutual Aid Grants

Mutual aid is not a side project. It is care infrastructure. Mutual Aid Grants are direct, low-barrier financial support for disabled and neurodivergent people navigating systems that routinely withhold what people need to survive: housing, healthcare, assistive tools, sensory safety, rest, and time.

110 grants distributed · $500 per grant · $67,850 total mutual aid

What grantees tell us:

“I can’t believe how incredible y’all are. I’m in tears. This is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me like this.”

“I want to say thank you and tell you you made a big difference in someone’s life today. I can’t stop crying. I’ve never felt understood or seen like this before.”

“Huge thank you for this generator so if we lose power, the oxygen concentrator can still run! I can’t thank you enough!!”

“You made someone struggling alone feel a little better and less lonely today.”

Read all grantee testimonials →

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Creator Grants

Disabled and neurodivergent creators are constantly asked to share their stories, educate, and advocate for free. Creator Grants pay people instead of extracting from them. We fund writers, artists, educators, and builders creating disability justice knowledge, access tools, and neurodivergent cultural work.

14 creator grants · $3,000 per grant · $42,000 total creator support

What creators tell us:

“Receiving a Stimpunks creator grant has been life changing. It has ensured the continued creation of the Major Pain podcast for many months, while giving me some flexibility to experiment.” — Jesse Mercury

“The Stimpunks Foundation provided me with so much more than financial support. They gave me a space in a community that I never knew existed for a person like myself.” — Brett L. Wery

Meet our creators →

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Public Knowledge Commons

Stimpunks.org functions as a living encyclopedia of disability and difference — 1,305 freely accessible pages covering neurodivergent experiences, design frameworks, coping tools, learning pathways, a full glossary, and field guides. All content is published under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA license.

• 1,305 web pages published
• 65 citations in Google Scholar — cited in academic books, papers, and curricula globally
• Featured in Narrating the Many Autisms (Routledge, Stenning 2024) as a model of neurodivergent-led institutional design
• Freely accessible, globally used, designed for skimming and cognitive accessibility
• Available in 14 languages

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Academic and Peer Recognition

From Narrating the Many Autisms (Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture, 2024):

“As ‘self-consciously subversive bricolage’ (Stimpunks), it paves the way for collective forms of expression that are modular and lively.”

“Organizations such as Stimpunks and AutCollab facilitate connections between individuals to counter the isolation and perceived burdensomeness that many autistic people experience through dominant social practices.”

From educators and peers:

“Stimpunks is an essential resource for educators.” — Ira David Socol, co-author of Timeless Learning

“Stimpunks gives us the tools to build neurodiversity-friendly spaces.” — Human Restoration Project

“We love Stimpunks, their Glossary is a rich source of information presented through an affirming lens.” — Pebble Autism

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Financial Transparency (2025)

Category	What This Funds	Amount	%
Program Services	Mutual aid, creator grants, public education, access toolkits	$78,000	65%
Administration	Governance, compliance, operations, infrastructure	$30,000	25%
Fundraising	Donation processing, grant writing, donor stewardship	$12,000	10%
Total		$120,000	100%

65% of expenses go directly to program services. We pay living wages to staff and treat administrative costs as mission-aligned stewardship, not overhead to minimize.

Full financial documentation →

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Outcomes We Track

We do not reduce impact to counts. We track whether our work is used, adapted, and whether it reduces harm. Our outcomes are often qualitative, cultural, and systemic.

Direct Support

• Stabilization and crisis prevention for mutual aid grantees
• Sustained creative and advocacy work by neurodivergent and disabled creators
• Reduced stress, improved capacity to engage in life, work, and care

Knowledge and Education

• Improved understanding of neurodivergent life among educators, families, and clinicians
• Reduced stigma and deficit framing through accessible, affirming language
• Adoption of Stimpunks frameworks in classrooms, clinics, and organizations
• Academic citations demonstrating uptake in research and scholarship

Systems Change

• Shift from compliance-based to consent-based models in education and care
• Expanded language for neurodivergent and disabled experience
• Community knowledge that outlives any single grant cycle
• Open, reusable infrastructure that scales without extraction

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What Makes Stimpunks Distinct

Led by the communities served. All directors and board members are themselves neurodivergent or disabled. There is no guessing what people need.

Direct aid + systems change. We combine immediate material support with long-term infrastructure that prevents harm before it occurs.

Rejects coercive models. We do not fix people. We fix access, expectations, and environments. No compliance-based approaches, no masking required to receive support.

Low overhead, high trust. 65% of expenses are program services. We maintain public accountability without gatekeeping.

Investing in an underfunded community. One in four U.S. adults has a disability. Yet disability organizations receive only 2% of U.S. grant funding, and only 19% of disabled people are employed. Stimpunks invests directly in the community most systematically underfunded.

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Bottom Line

Stimpunks invests in people and the conditions that allow them to thrive — not in systems that demand conformity. Funding Stimpunks supports immediate relief and durable cultural change, led by those most affected.

Donate → · Accountability → · Full Impact Page → · Contact →

Download the brief as .docx:

Organization Overview
Stimpunks is a neurodivergent- and disabled-led nonprofit that builds practical infrastructure for dignity, access, and survival. We support neurodivergent and disabled people through direct mutual aid while also producing open educational resources and access frameworks that reduce systemic harm. Our work is grounded in lived experience, disability justice, and a simple principle: when people are allowed to be authentic, outcomes improve.

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Statement of Need
Neurodivergent and disabled people are routinely harmed by deficit-based medical, educational, and social systems that prioritize compliance over wellbeing. These systems often require masking, self-erasure, or crisis to access support, leading to burnout, poor health outcomes, exclusion from education and employment, and overreliance on emergency services. While resources exist, many are inaccessible, coercive, or disconnected from lived experience. There is a critical need for supports that are humane, low-barrier, and designed by the communities most affected.

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Program Description & Approach
Stimpunks addresses this need through a dual strategy:

1. Immediate stabilization through direct support, and
2. Long-term harm reduction through education and access-centered frameworks.

Rather than attempting to “fix” individuals, Stimpunks focuses on changing conditions — access, expectations, and environments — so people can participate safely and authentically.

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Key Activities

• Mutual Aid & Direct Support:
  Provide low-barrier financial assistance and creator grants to neurodivergent and disabled individuals to reduce crisis, stress, and instability.
• Learning Pathways & Educational Resources:
  Develop and maintain free, neuroaffirming learning pathways on autism, ADHD, neurodiversity, and access, grounded in lived experience and contemporary research.
• Access-Centered Frameworks:
  Produce practical guidance on communication, sensory and spatial access, education access, healthcare access, and psychological safety.
• Community & Cultural Documentation:
  Center disabled and neurodivergent voices through storytelling and shared language that counters deficit-based narratives.

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Outcomes & Impact
Funding Stimpunks supports outcomes including:

• Reduced burnout and crisis escalation
• Increased participation in education, work, and community life
• Improved wellbeing through autonomy and psychological safety
• Greater understanding and reduced stigma among families and professionals
• Scalable, open resources that prevent harm before it occurs

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Organizational Strengths
Stimpunks is led by the communities it serves, ensuring relevance, trust, and accountability. We combine direct aid with systems-level education, maintain low overhead, and prioritize transparency and accessibility. Our work aligns with disability justice, trauma-informed practice, and evidence showing that autonomy and safety improve long-term outcomes.

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Conclusion
Stimpunks invests in people and the conditions that allow them to thrive. Grant support enables immediate relief while building durable, community-owned alternatives to systems that demand conformity. This funding advances both human dignity and sustainable impact.

Donate

1. Your money goes directly to people, not bureaucracy

Stimpunks practices mutual aid, not charity theater. Donations are moved quickly and with low barriers to neurodivergent and disabled people who need relief now—for rent, food, care, survival. This prevents crises before they become emergencies, which is both more humane and more effective than downstream interventions.

Impact: Immediate stabilization, reduced stress, fewer crisis escalations.

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2. Stimpunks fixes conditions, not people

Most systems are built around compliance: behave correctly, mask well, suffer quietly, and maybe you’ll get help. Stimpunks rejects that model entirely. It invests in access, psychological safety, and autonomy, which research and lived experience both show lead to better long-term outcomes.

Your donation supports:

• Communication access
• Sensory and space access
• Education and healthcare access
• Environments where people don’t have to erase themselves to survive

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3. It’s led by the people most affected

Stimpunks is neurodivergent- and disabled-led. That means:

• No guessing what people need
• No extractive storytelling
• No top-down “solutions” that create harm

Lived experience isn’t a side note here—it’s the operating system.

Result: Higher relevance, higher trust, higher impact per dollar.

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4. It prevents harm instead of managing fallout

Compliance-based therapies, inaccessible systems, and deficit narratives cost people their health, education, jobs, and lives. Stimpunks intervenes upstream by:

• Publishing open, neuroaffirming learning pathways
• Challenging harmful practices
• Giving families, educators, and professionals better tools

Prevention is cheaper, kinder, and more effective than repair.

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5. Your donation creates compounding impact

Stimpunks doesn’t just help individuals—it builds shared infrastructure:

• Free learning resources used globally
• Language and frameworks that change how people think and act
• Community knowledge that outlives any single grant

One donation helps one person and strengthens the ecosystem that supports thousands more.

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6. This is accountability without gatekeeping

Stimpunks operates with transparency, low overhead, and a clear ethical spine. There’s no pressure to sanitize stories or soften the truth to appease funders. Donations support honest work rooted in dignity, not optics.

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7. Because people shouldn’t have to mask to deserve care

At the deepest level, donating to Stimpunks is a values decision.

It says:

• People are not broken
• Difference is not a defect
• Care should never be conditional on conformity

Authenticity is our purest freedom—and freedom requires resources.

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Bottom line

If you want your money to:

• Reach people fast
• Reduce harm instead of rebranding it
• Support work led by those who live it
• Build something real, not polite

Donate to Stimpunks.org.

How many people do you serve?
We don’t reduce people to counts. We focus on whether our work is used, shared, and adapted in real-world settings—and whether it reduces harm.

What measurable outcomes can you prove?
We document learning, adoption, and qualitative change. Our outcomes are often cultural, educational, and systemic, not short-term or linear.

How do you ensure accountability?
We default to open: public goals, public updates, transparency logs, and honest reflection on what worked and what didn’t.

How do you scale?
We scale ideas, not extraction. Our resources are designed to spread without burning out the people who create them.

How do you know your work matters?
Because people tell us—and because they keep using, remixing, and teaching with what we make.

This crosswalk translates common grant application prompts into how Stimpunks Foundation actually answers them—without flattening our work or our people.

Mission / Purpose
Grant prompt: Describe your organization’s mission and goals.
Our answer: We aim to reduce harm and increase access for neurodivergent and disabled people by changing how systems think, design, teach, and work.

Programs / Activities
Grant prompt: What programs do you run?
Our answer: We publish field guides, frameworks, and cultural tools grounded in lived experience, supported by care infrastructure that enables participation.

Population Served
Grant prompt: Who do you serve and how many?
Our answer: We serve neurodivergent and disabled people, and the educators, designers, families, and workers who learn from our resources. Reach is demonstrated through use, reuse, and adaptation—not headcounts.

Outcomes / Impact
Grant prompt: What outcomes do you achieve?
Our answer: Reduced harm, increased understanding, and practical change in how environments are designed and navigated. Outcomes are often qualitative, cultural, and systemic.

Evaluation
Grant prompt: How do you measure success?
Our answer: Through qualitative feedback, evidence of adoption, public reflection, and transparent documentation of learning over time.

Accountability / Governance
Grant prompt: How are you accountable to stakeholders?
Our answer: We default to open—publishing goals, updates, budgets, and reflections publicly, and centering lived experience in decision-making.

Sustainability / Scale
Grant prompt: How will this work grow or sustain?
Our answer: We scale ideas and access, not extraction. Sustainability means protecting people from burnout while enabling knowledge to spread.

The 2026 philanthropy data tells a consistent story: total charitable dollars are roughly flat, but the donor base is contracting and trust is migrating away from large institutions toward local, community-rooted, peer-accountable models.

The numbers are stark. Through the first three quarters of 2025, the number of donors to U.S. nonprofits declined 3% even as total dollars raised grew 3.7%. Donors giving $100 or less — the majority of all donors — declined by more than 10%. The Q1 2026 American Giving Index scores the sector “stable but under pressure.” Eighty-six percent of donors say they would prefer to give directly to a person in need rather than through an organization.

That preference describes Stimpunks’ care grants exactly.

Philanthropy forecasters at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NonProfit PRO, the Johnson Center, and Julep CRM converge on the same structural shift: everyday giving is moving from individual transactions toward collective models — giving circles, peer-to-peer networks, mutual aid infrastructure. National surveys confirm that trust in large institutions is declining while trust in local organizations, neighbors, and community-rooted groups is rising. Grassroots organizations communicate faster, adapt quicker, and earn trust through proximity. Yet resources have not kept pace. Many of the groups closest to community needs operate with minimal staff and limited funding.

That gap is the opportunity.

Most funders who want to support mutual aid are building from scratch — assembling community trust, designing grant logistics, establishing accountability structures. Stimpunks Foundation has operated care grants and a bi-monthly grantee cycle for years. The infrastructure exists. The community trust exists. The model is proven and neurodivergent-led.

Funders looking to back mutual aid as a durable strategy — not a pandemic-era experiment — are looking for organizations that have already done the hard work of building it. We have.