Bucks for Brains begins with donors who want to make a difference by creating or contributing to an endowed chair or professorship. The generosity of the following individuals and organizations makes it possible for the University of Louisville to fulfill the vision for Kentucky's Research Challenge Trust Fund:
- Arthur Keeney Fund
- Ashland Inc. Foundation
- Aung San Suu Kyi (Endowed Chair in Asian Democracy)
- Barnstable-Brown Foundation (Diamond Derby Inc.)
- Blondina Evans Trust
- Brown-Forman Corp.
- Carla Wallace
- Carol B. McFerran Memorial Fund
- Children's Hospital Foundation Inc. (Chair for Pediatric Research)
- Children's Hospital Foundation Inc. (Chair in Juvenile Diabetes Research)
- Delta Dental Plan of Kentucky
- Dr. Charles L. Bloch
- Drs. Elizabeth and Frederick Cressman
- Drs. Samuel D. and Lolita S. Weakley
- Edith and Henry Heuser Hearing Institute (Endowed Chair)
- Edith and Henry Heuser Hearing Institute (Professorship in Otology)
- Estate of Charles A. Grosscurth
- Estate of Charles Mather
- Estate of Evelyn J. Schneider
- Estate of Florence Lebby
- Estate of Florence Lutz
- Estate of Florence G. Strickler
- Estate of Henry M. and Stella M. Hoenig
- Estate of Herbert F. Boehl
- Estate of J. Samuel Bumgardner (Professor of Otolaryngolic Research)
- Estate of J. Samuel Bumgardner (Professor of Otolaryngolic Surgery)
- Estate of Magdalen McDowell Evans
- Estate of Paul A. Frank
- Estate of William H. and Blondina Evans
- Estate of Wilma Wise Nelson
- Fifth Third Bank
- Foundation for Healthy Kentucky
- George and Mary Lee Duthie
- George and Mary Lee Fischer
- Gerald L. and Jacqueline W. Nichols
- Gheens Foundation Inc.
- Gordon Foundation
- Hilliard Lyons Inc.
- James Graham Brown Foundation (Chair of Cancer Biology)
- James Graham Brown Foundation (Chair of Structural Biology)
- James Graham Brown Foundation (James Graham Brown Chair)
- James Graham Brown Foundation (Our Highest Potential Chair)
- James Graham Brown Foundation (Chair in Biophysics)
- James Graham Brown Foundation (Chair in Proteomics)
- Jewish Hospital Foundation (Chair in Hepatology)
- Jewish Hospital Foundation (Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery)
- Jewish Hospital Foundation (Chair in Transplantation Research)
- Jewish Hospital Foundation (Cardiovascular Innovation Institute Scientific Director)
- Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Institute (Chair in Cardiology)
- Joan L. Caldwell
- Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Foundation
- Dr. Michael and Joan Hamilton
- Leonard V. and Ruby J. Hardin
- Mann & Fox, PSC
- Norton Healthcare Inc. (Garretson Chair in Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research)
- Norton Healthcare Inc. (Petersdorf Chair in Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research)
- Norton Healthcare Inc. (Chair in Neurosurgery)
- Norton Healthcare Inc. (Shirley B. Powers Chair)
- Randall B. Hockensmith
- Rebecca and Henry P. Conn
- Robert W. Rounsavall III and Mary Rounsavall
- Samuel J. and Edna Stallings
- Drs. Samuel & Lolita Weakley
- Dr. Smith & Lucille Gibson
- Stanley J. Gordon Jr.
- Stewart and Ann Ford Cobb
- Swedish Match North America, Inc.
- Stodghill Foundation
- T. William Samuels Jr.
- UPS Foundation
- U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
- Dr. William G. and Joan L. Caldwell