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· Public charity
The American Optometric Association
The aoa mission is to advocate for the profession and serve doctors of optometry in meeting the health and vision care needs of the public.
$258k
Granted FY2024
4
Grants
3
Communities
$200k
Largest
01What you fund
0186% classified
What you funded, over time
Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY2017–2024.
Human Services$1.6MPublic Benefit$185kCommunity Improvement$75kHealth$50kOther$313k
02beneath the categories
Past the labels — and the year it shifted
Beneath the NTEE codes, this is what the grant descriptions actually say.
…and in their own words, year by year
2018
—
2019
—
2020
—
2021
—
2022
advocacyveteransdependents
2023
future practiceveteransdependents
Words distinctive to each year’s grant purposes (TF-IDF) · event-driven terms in cyan.
03FY2024 · 4 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k3 grants · $55k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$42M
Total assets
Largest grants
- Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation$200,000
- Patients Rising Now Inc$25,000
- National Consumers League$20,000
- Amvets National Service Foundation$10,000
02The need
04
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
show:
Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.6M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11% — the area typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
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; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA, United Way ALICE — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
03Your edge
repeat funding
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
83%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.8M · 5 repeat orgs$388k to everyone else
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +263% since the first grant, against +26% for the ones you funded once.
5 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
5
5
Total granted
$1.8M
$388k
Median revenue growth · since first grant
+263%
+26%
Still filing today
100%
100%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
Public BenefitHuman ServicesHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- OCOptometry Cares The AOA Foundation8× · 2017–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +263% · 39% of their budget
- ANAmvets National Service Foundation3× · 2022–2024 · $90k · revenue +10%
- NCNational Consumers League3× · 2022–2024 · $75k · revenue +88%
Funded once
- TOTexas Optometric Associationone grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue -1%
- COCALIFORNIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATIONone grant, 2022 · $99k · revenue -23%
- VOVIRGINA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATIONgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue +26%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
04Your field
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
1
Oklahoma Optometric Association
The oklahoma association of optometric physicians is a professional association dedicated to advocacy, education, and other resources for oklahoma optometric physicians. mission statement: unite. empower. advocate.
—
2
Texas Ophthalmological Association
Education in advancing ophthalmological medicine
—
3
World Council of Optometry Inc
To facilitate the development of optometry around the world and support optometrists in promoting eye health and vision care as a human right through advocacy, education, policy development and humanitarian outreach.
—
4
The American Optometric Association
The aoa mission is to advocate for the profession and serve doctors of optometry in meeting the health and vision care needs of the public.
—
5
Association for Ocular Pharmacology & Therapeutics
To serve as a global forum and network for the publication, dissemination and exchange of information and knowledge of eye diseases.
Health
6
American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic
To advance education, research, and the quality of clinical practice in the fields of aesthetic, plastic and reconstructive surgery specializing in the face, orbits, eyelids, and lacrimal system.
—
7
Missouri Optometric Association
The missouri optometric association promotes the advancement of optometry by advocating for and educating its members and protecting access to the highest quality eye and vision care for the citizens of missouri.
—
8
Opticians Association of America
The organization's mission is to promote and expand opticianry by being the single unified voice of america's opticians. in support of this mission, we are committed to promoting professional stature through leadership, education,…
—
9
North Dakota Optometric Assn
The North Dakota Optometric Association is a nonprofit affiliation of licensed optometrists and associated businesses dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the vision welfare of the people of North Dakota. The North Dakota…
—
10
Virginia Society of Ophthalmology
Advocate for the best quality eye care through education, legislative efforts and community service. The members are committed to heightening public awareness that eye disease and blindness can be reduced through prevention, and early…
Community Improvement
11
California Academy of Eye Physicians and
To serve the total visual health care needs of the people through public and professional education, membership services and legislative advocacy.
—
12
Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology
Promote high quality eye care for all minnesotans.
—
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Optometry Cares - the Aoa Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Patients Rising Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network
10 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
8/10
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Human Services$1,600,000Other$313,053Public Benefit$185,000Community Improvement$75,000Health$50,000
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds Optometry Cares The AOA Foundation ↗
- Who funds Texas Optometric Association ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Amvets National Service Foundation ↗
- Who funds National Consumers League ↗
- Who funds VIRGINA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds COLORADO OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Patients Rising Now Inc ↗
- Who funds Idaho Optometric Physicians ↗
- Who funds Hillvets Foundation ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organisation The American Optometric Association funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
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. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
05Through Plinth
Through Plinth
Your grantmaking, live and operational
This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: Optometry Cares The AOA Foundation.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
low risk
~48 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 8 filed years.
Track record & reputation
low risk
8 years of Form 990 filings, still active; revenue up 3.6× since.
Legal standing
low risk
US 501(c)(3); EIN 237292391 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.
Governance
Live in Plinth
Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.
Compliance & sanctions
Live in Plinth
OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.
Program capacity
Live in Plinth
Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.
Live · Plinth’s real DD engine
Run the actual assessment on Optometry Cares The AOA Foundation, cold from public data.
Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.
Post-award monitoring · continuous checks
- On trackFinancial stability— Roughly 48 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2024; revenue grew over the period.
- On trackReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 39% of their budget — diversified.
- Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.
What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.
Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing
Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro
How do I get to The American Optometric Association?
Find your warmest path to The American Optometric Association through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.
Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines