About Us

The Alabama Kidney Foundation (AKF) was founded to assist kidney patients and has a 50 year history of serving Alabama's kidney patient population. Today, the AKF is the only state-based organization dedicated to assisting kidney patients, and each year touches the lives of thousands of Alabamians.

AKF Mission

The Alabama Kidney Foundation serves kidney patients by providing financial assistance, education, and support services. The Foundation provides public education to promote organ donation awareness and prevention of kidney disease.

Our History

It all began with a conversation in 1975 between two kidney patients where one made known his decision to stop expensive treatments because he feared it would leave his family destitute. That hopelessness and despair would have far-reaching effects. William E. Rowe was the patient who listened to this tragic bedside confession, and he knew other patients faced similar circumstances. His empathy and concern drove him to gather a group of volunteers and form an organization dedicated to financially supporting the kidney patient. This compassionate group of volunteers soon became known as the Alabama Kidney Foundation. Incredible advancements in the world of kidney medicine have occurred since those early days, but the despair and hopelessness caused by kidney disease is still evident.

Alabama has an usually high occurrence of kidney disease, ranking fifth in the nation. Today over 14,000 Alabamians seek dialysis treatments three times a week simply to sustain life. Many of those patients turn to the Alabama Kidney Foundation for help.