· Public charity
American Academy of Optometry Foundation Inc
To develop and provide financial support for optometric research and education.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k20 grants · $156k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $69k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM | $25,000 |
| INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY | $12,500 |
| SUNY STATE COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY NEW YORK | $11,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY | $10,000 |
| STANFORD UNIVERSITY | $10,000 |
| THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $9,500 |
| UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE | $9,000 |
| ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $9,000 |
| NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $8,250 |
| MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $8,000 |
| MARSHALL B KETCHUM UNIVERSITY | $8,000 |
| SOUTHERN COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $8,000 |
| MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES | $8,000 |
| NOVA SOUTHEASTERN COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $8,000 |
| NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY | $8,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 71% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
Grants abroad, by region: $76k on the FY2025 return
Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions, $11k to organizations and $65k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.
Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIP AWARD · FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TNTHE NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY8× · 2018–2025 · $261k · revenue +32%
- MUMidwestern University8× · 2018–2025 · $73k · revenue +20%
- UOUniversity of the Incarnate Word7× · 2018–2025 · $71k · revenue +17%
Funded once
- UHUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEM INCone grant, 2020 · $60k
- TMTUFTS MEDICAL CENTER PARENT INCone grant, 2019 · $25k
- UOUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARKone grant, 2024 · $10k
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…
The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…
The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…
A.T. Still University of Health Sciences serves as a learning-centered university dedicated to preparing highly competent professionals through innovative academic programs. The University is committed to continuing its osteopathic…
See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.
Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.
Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…
Education, research, medical services and other public services.
Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.
We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.
Seton hall university is a catholic institution of higher education
Samuel merritt university educates students to become highly skilled and compassionate health care professionals who positively transform the experience of care in diverse communities.
How this is measured
17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 29 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds THE NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY ↗
- Who funds Midwestern University ↗
- Who funds University of the Incarnate Word ↗
- Who funds Nova Southeastern University Inc ↗
- Who funds Illinois College of Optometry ↗
- Who funds Southern College of Optometry ↗
- Who funds MARSHALL B KETCHUM UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds WESTERN UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES ↗
- Who funds SALUS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds MCPHS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds INTER AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO ↗
- Who funds PACIFIC UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE ↗
- Who funds FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN VISION INC ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds UNTHSC FOUNDATION ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Marco Family Foundation Inc · The Alcon Foundation Inc · American Heart Association Inc · Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry · American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy · Michael & Susan Dell Foundation · Cvs Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization American Academy of Optometry Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Academy of Optometry Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- Pacific University: 2% of income from government
- The New England College of Optometry: 2% of income from government
- Nova Southeastern University Inc: 2% of income from government
- Mcphs University: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
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Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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