The CDC Foundation is an independent nonprofit that helps strengthen public health and save lives.

We are a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your donation receipt as your official record.

Community Overdose Prevention Efforts (COPE)

Stop Overdoses.
Save Lives.

Your gift helps communities prevent overdoses, respond faster and connect people to care.

Your gift goes twice as far.
Every donation is matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000 thanks to Richard Taite, founder of Carrara Treatment and host of We're Out Of Time, a #1-ranked mental health podcast on Apple.

Richard Taite Matching Gift

Double Your Impact

Every donation is matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000 thanks to Richard Taite & Carrara Treatment.

Richard is founder of Carrara Treatment and host of We're Out Of Time, a #1-ranked mental health podcast on Apple, where he sits down with leading experts in addiction, mental health, neuroscience and other fields to raise awareness about addiction, mental health and overdose prevention. Richard has spent more than two decades helping individuals and families affected by substance use disorders. Through his treatment organizations, he has helped thousands of people access recovery services while advocating nationally for improved addiction treatment and overdose prevention.

Overdose remains the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-44, and communities with the fewest resources and the greatest barriers to care are most affected. While recent national data shows progress, too many individuals and families remain at risk.

Behind every number is a person–a neighbor, a parent, a young adult with their future ahead of them.

The CDC Foundation is an independent nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners in support of public health efforts across the United States.

Through Community Overdose Prevention Efforts (COPE), the CDC Foundation works alongside communities nationwide to strengthen overdose prevention and response efforts.

Every community deserves the ability to respond quickly, support people in crisis and build healthier futures. Through COPE, we are helping communities strengthen prevention efforts, expand access to care and save lives.

Community-based overdose prevention and response efforts

How Your Support Helps

Turning insight into action

Communities need more than information—they need the ability to respond quickly, strengthen partnerships and connect people to care when lives are at risk.

Outreach & Support

Your donation expands peer navigation, recovery support and connections to treatment.

Real-time overdose response and community coordination

Real-Time Response

Your support strengthens real-time data systems that help communities detect and respond to overdose spikes.

Healthcare workers and community providers receiving training and support

Educating Providers

Your gift helps educate frontline workers, including physicians, to provide safer and better integrated care.

Learn More About This Work

A closer look at our work in overdose prevention

Preventing overdose requires coordinated, real-time action across healthcare, public health, public safety and community organizations.

The Challenge

Overdose remains the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-44, and communities with the fewest resources and the greatest barriers to care are most affected. While recent national data shows progress, too many individuals and families remain at risk.

Behind every number is a person–a neighbor, a parent, a young adult with their future ahead of them.

Making Prevention Possible

Your support helps advance proven lifesaving interventions — powering the people, communities, partnerships and systems that prevent overdoses before they happen and respond when they do.

We work alongside communities nationwide to build a coordinated, real-time response. This includes:

Placing trained public health professionals, peer navigators and recovery specialists directly in communities to scale prevention and response activities.
Equipping local partners with timely and novel data and tools to track overdose trends, identify novel substances and identify emerging hot spots.
Supporting rapid response efforts, including outreach after an overdose to reduce the risk of it happening again
Expanding access to recovery support, basic needs services and connections to treatment
Providing hands-on training and technical assistance to strengthen local organizations and frontline workers, including physicians.
Mobilizing partnerships between public health, public safety and community-based organizations to implement community driven solutions.

CDC Foundation’s overdose prevention programs also extend upstream—supporting prevention efforts that reach young adults early, strengthen community connections and address the risk factors that can lead to substance use.

Much of this work happens behind the scenes. You won’t always see the data systems being built or the partnerships being formed—but you will see the impact: faster responses, stronger support networks and lives saved.

Why This Matters

The overdose crisis is evolving. New substances, shifting patterns of use and persistent gaps in access to care mean communities must constantly adapt.

At the same time, many local systems remain under-resourced—especially in rural and underserved areas, where distance, stigma and limited infrastructure make it harder to access support.

Public funding provides a critical foundation, but it cannot always move quickly enough or adapt to meet emerging needs.

Philanthropy makes it possible to act in real time—filling urgent gaps, scaling proven approaches and supporting innovation where it’s needed most.

Your Gift in Action

With your support, we can:

Detect overdose spikes sooner and mobilize response efforts faster
Reach individuals at highest risk with timely, life-saving outreach
Reduce repeat overdoses through follow-up care, peer support and navigation
Strengthen local systems so communities are better prepared for future challenges
Invest in prevention strategies that address risk before it becomes crisis

Every dollar helps transform insight into action—and action into lives saved.

Stories of Impact