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The Alcon Foundation Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Alcon Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$5.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
99
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Health$11MInternational$8.2MEducation$2.3MPhilanthropy$1.8MHuman Services$1.4MHousing & Shelter$1.2MArts & Culture$590kReligion$385kOther$0
02FY2024 · 99 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $45k
  • $10k–50k62 grants · $840k
  • $50k–250k28 grants · $2.6M
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.0M
$10,000
Median grant
19
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALCON CHILDRENS VISION CENTER$1,500,000
PROJECT ORBIS INTERNATIONAL INC$550,000
VISIONSPRING$175,000
HELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL$150,000
EYELLIANCE INC$150,000
FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY$150,000
SURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC$150,000
HIMALAYAN CATARACT PROJECT INC$140,000
MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED$125,000
INTERNATIONAL EYE FOUNDATION$120,000
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION$100,000
VISION CARE USA INC$100,000
VISION FOR THE POOR$100,000
RETINA GLOBAL$100,000
EMORY UNIVERSITY$85,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 82% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $75k → 10%WINGS OF HOPE EQUITHERAPY: $10k → 10%ASCRS FOUNDATION: $50k → 6%SERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $60k → 10%WINGS OF HOPE EQUITHERAPY: $10k → 10%FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: $119k → 14%AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $50k → 6%SERVE THE PEOPLE: $51k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF FT WORTH INC: $10k → 11%AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $50k → 6%SERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $50k → 10%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $20k → 14%AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $50k → 6%SERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $50k → 10%CIRCLE OF FRIENDS INC: $10k → 13%AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $50k → 6%SENIOR CITIZEN SERVICES OF GREATER TARRANT COUNTY: $10k → 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH: $10k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $20k → 14%SHARE OUR SELVES CORPORATION: $10k → 10%NORTH TEXAS SNAP INC: $10k → 11%BUCKNER CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES INC: $10k → 14%HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS-HOUSTON: $75k → 16%HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS - HOUSTON: $20k → 16%HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS- HOUSTON: $20k → 16%AMERICAN RED CROSS ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER: $10k → 10%HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS - HOUSTON: $20k → 16%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $10k → 10%YMCA OF METROPOLITAN FORT WORTH: $10k → 11%CENTER FOR TRANSFORMING LIVES: $10k → 11%SIXTY AND BETTER INC: $10k → 11%CENTER FOR TRANSFORMING LIVES: $10k → 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH INC: $10k → 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH INC: $10k → 11%COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT CENTER: $10k → 11%FAMILY PATHFINDERS OF TARRANT COUNTY: $10k → 11%FAMILY PATHFINDERS OF TARRANT COUNTY: $10k → 11%MHMR VISIONS: $10k → 11%THE PARENTING CENTER: $10k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $10k → 11%MHMR VISIONS: $10k → 11%MHMR VISIONS: $10k → 11%LENA POPE HOME: $10k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $10k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $10k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $10k → 11%TARRANT COUNTY ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND: $60k → 11%TARRANT COUNTY ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND: $50k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
PA
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$23M · 129 repeat orgs$4.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

129 repeat relationships: 85 still active in FY2024, 44 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

129
122

Total granted

$23M
$4.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+21%

Still filing today

88%
35%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $230k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthHuman ServicesInternationalEducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • AC
    ALCON CHILDREN'S VISION CENTER
    4× · 2021–2024 · $4.6M · revenue +82% · 100% of their budget
  • TF
    THE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +37%
  • HK
    HELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • OI
    ORBIS INTERNATIONAL
    one grant, 2020 · $861k
  • S
    SIGHTLIFE
    one grant, 2019 · $325k
  • V
    VISIONSPRING
    one grant, 2019 · $275k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
OneSight

OneSight is a leading global nonprofit 501(c)(3)organization dedicated to creating a world where lack of access to vision care is no longer a barrier to human achievement and potential. From one-day charitable clinics, serving those with…

Human Services
2
American Board of Ophthalmology

None

—
3
Restoringvision

To empower lives by restoring vision for millions of people in need.

Health
4
Houston Eye Associates Foundation

Houston eye associates foundation is committed to preserving and restoring sight with comprehensive eye care surgeries, medications, and ancillary services for individuals in financial hardship; and supporting education and research…

Unclassified
5
The Boston Foundation for Sight Inc

Our mission is to improve quality of life by transforming the understanding, treatment, and care of the ocular surface.

Human Services
6
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council

The mission of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council is to drive evidence-based improvement in patient care and health equity throughout the region.

—
7
Sankara Eye Foundation Usa

To work towards eradicating curable blindness all over india. our key program is vision 20/20 - with the goal of performing 500,000 free surgeries per year throughout india. we have been primarily partnering with sankara eye foundation in…

Health
8
University Hospital & Clinics Inc

The organization provides medical care to improve, maintain, and restore the health of the people in the communities we serve.

Health
9
Unite for Sight Inc

Empower communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness.

Health
10
Altamed Health Services Corporation

To eliminate disparities in health care access and outcomes by providing superior quality health and human services through an integrated world-class delivery system for latino, multi-ethnic underserved communities in southern california.

Health
11
Friends for Sight

Friends for sight works passionately each day to save sight and change lives. we do this by providing free vision screenings, working to ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds have access to quality eye care, and disseminating…

—
12
Texas Optometric Association Inc

Doctors of optometry working together to advance excellence in eyecare for every texan.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Visionspring Inc; the most unlike its peers is International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Soc At the Un Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

173 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. 173 of the 265 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.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
27
Early backer (in before they grew)
168/173
Grantees still filing
120/173
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALCON CHILDREN'S VISION CENTER: $4,612,500 · HealthALCON CHILDREN'S VISION CENTEREYELLIANCE INC: $750,000 · HealthEYELLIANCE INCRETINA GLOBAL: $350,000 · HealthMASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY: $276,950 · Health+30 more: $1,902,500 · Health+30 moreORBIS INTERNATIONAL: $860,500 · OtherORBIS INTERNATIONALTRINITY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $525,000 · OtherTRINITY HABITAT FOR HUMANITYSIGHTLIFE: $325,000 · OtherVISIONSPRING: $275,000 · OtherFORT WORTH AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $400,000 · OtherSIGHTLIFE: $510,000 · OtherSIGHTLIFE+89 more: $4,716,875 · Other+89 morePROJECT ORBIS INTERNATIONAL INC: $1,930,000 · InternationalPROJECT ORBIS INTERNATIO…HELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL: $1,013,000 · InternationalHELEN KELLER INTERNATION…INTERNATIONAL EYE FOUNDATION: $734,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL EYE FOUNDA…Mercy Ships International: $640,000 · InternationalMercy Ships Internationa…SURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC: $510,000 · InternationalSURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS…VISION FOR THE POOR: $210,000 · International+16 more: $956,502 · International+16 moreEmory University: $470,000 · EducationOPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION: $300,000 · EducationWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $235,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE: $225,000 · EducationIllinois College of Optometry: $210,000 · EducationGeorgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation Inc: $205,000 · Education+6 more: $183,000 · EducationTHE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY: $1,025,000 · Arts & CultureFORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY: $290,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $230,000 · Arts & CultureVISIONSPRING INC: $785,000 · PhilanthropyORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY: $400,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY INC: $160,000 · Philanthropy+6 more: $180,000 · PhilanthropySERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $285,500 · Human ServicesAMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Human ServicesHEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS-HOUSTON: $135,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $119,498 · Human ServicesTarrant County Association For the Blind: $110,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $60,000 · Human ServicesSAFEHAVEN OF TARRANT COUNTY: $50,000 · Human ServicesLENA POPE HOME INC: $50,000 · Human Services+11 more: $278,230 · Human Services
Health$7,891,950Other$7,612,375International$5,993,502Education$1,828,000Arts & Culture$1,545,000Philanthropy$1,525,000Human Services$1,338,228

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetALCON CHILDREN'S VISION CENTER: $4,612,500 over 4y, 100% of budgetPROJECT ORBIS INTERNATIONAL INC: $1,930,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTHE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY: $1,025,000 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetHELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL: $1,013,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetVISIONSPRING INC: $785,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetEYELLIANCE INC: $750,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetINTERNATIONAL EYE FOUNDATION: $734,000 over 5y, 20% of budgetMercy Ships International: $640,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC: $510,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetSIGHTLIFE: $510,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetEmory University: $470,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFORT WORTH AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $400,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY: $400,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetRETINA GLOBAL: $350,000 over 4y, 92% of budgetOPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetFORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY: $290,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetSERVE THE PEOPLE INC: $285,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN VISION INC: $261,500 over 3y, 17% of budgetAMERICAN SOCIETY OF CATARACT AND REFRACTIVE SURGERY FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 5y, 5.6% of budgetSIGHTSAVERS INC: $250,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $235,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE: $225,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS OF TEXAS INC: $220,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetIllinois College of Optometry: $210,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetVISION FOR THE POOR: $210,000 over 4y, 32% of budgetGeorgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation Inc: $205,000 over 5y, 3.1% of budgetHIMALAYAN CATARACT PROJECT INC: $188,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPrevent Blindness Texas: $184,000 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetUNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY INC: $160,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetJunior Achievement of Georgia: $140,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetNORTH TEXAS AREA COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER: $140,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetADVANCED CENTER FOR EYECARE GLOBAL: $140,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetBetter Vision Better Hope: $135,000 over 4y, 55% of budgetHEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS-HOUSTON: $135,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPTOMETRY FOUNDATION INC: $135,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetEversight: $125,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEducation Foundation for Fort Worth Schools: $125,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $119,498 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSEVA FOUNDATION: $116,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetLESTONNAC FREE CLINIC: $115,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTarrant County Association For the Blind: $110,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetWI Cook Foundation Inc: $110,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPrevent Blindness Georgia: $105,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetINTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 37% of budgetVISION CARE USA INC: $100,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetESSILOR VISION FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetNATIONAL SOCIETY TO PREVENT BLINDNESS: $90,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetChildren's Eye Foundation The Foundation Of AAPOS: $80,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budget
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.

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.

Thomas M Helen McKee …Sid W Richardson Foun…Amon G Carter Foundat…Community Foundation …Garvey Texas Foundati…United Way of Tarrant…Ann L Rhodes and Caro…The Morris FoundationBnsf Railway Foundati…Crystelle Waggoner Ch…Amon G Carter-Star Te…Mary Potishman Lard T…
Thomas M Helen McKee & John P Ryan Fo John P Ryan Foundation IncTX90.8× affinity43 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Thomas M Helen McKee & John P Ryan Fo John P Ryan Foundation Inc · Sid W Richardson Foundation · Amon G Carter Foundation · Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · Garvey Texas Foundation Inc · United Way of Tarrant County · Ann L Rhodes and Carol Greene Rhodes · The Morris Foundation · Bnsf Railway Foundation · Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust · Amon G Carter-Star Tele Emply Fund · Mary Potishman Lard Trust Walker C Friedman Co Trustee

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Alcon Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Alcon Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    53report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Alcon Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to The Alcon Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 265 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Alcon’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home