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The American Optometric Association at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The American Optometric Association

Health care and public policy related to eye care will uniformly recognize optometrists as primary health care providers and ensure the public has access to the full scope of optometric care.

$258k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$2.0MHuman Services$110kPublic Benefit$75k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$42M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
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
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 (FY17–24, $1.6M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%OPTOMETRY CARES THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%OPTOMETRY CARES THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation: $200k → 11%OPTOMETRY CARES THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%OPTOMETRY CARES THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%OPTOMETRY CARES - THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%OPTOMETRY CARES THE AOA FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%Optometry Cares The AOA Foundation: $200k → 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

ID
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
DC
TX
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.
$1.8M · 5 repeat orgs$388k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +2% since the first grant, against -13% for those 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

+2%
-13%

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.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Public BenefitHuman ServicesHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • OC
    Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +263% · 39% of their budget
  • NC
    NATIONAL CONSUMERS LEAGUE INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $75k · revenue +10%
  • PR
    PATIENTS RISING INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • TO
    TEXAS OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue -7%
  • CO
    CALIFORNIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2022 · $99k · revenue -29%
  • VO
    VIRGINIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue -17%
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
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
American Academy of Optometry

To maintain and enhance excellence in optometric practice.

Education
3
The American Optometric Association

Health care and public policy related to eye care will uniformly recognize optometrists as primary health care providers and ensure the public has access to the full scope of optometric care. optometrists and other professionals will look…

—
4
Texas Ophthalmological Association

Education in advancing ophthalmological medicine

—
5
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.

—
6
American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Inc

The american society of ophthalmic plastic and recontructive surgery (asoprs) was founded to establish a qualified body of surgeons who have training and experience in the highly specialized field of oculofacial plastic surgery. the…

—
7
United Opticians Association Inc

Advance the profession of opticianry through education, credentialing and advocacy.

Community Improvement
8
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
9
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.

—
10
California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons

To serve the total visual health care needs of the people through public and professional education, membership services and legislative advocacy.

—
11
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,…

—
12
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…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Optometry Cares - the Aoa Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Hillvets Foundation. 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

10 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation: $1,600,000 · Human ServicesOptometry Cares - The AOA FoundationTEXAS OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION INC: $100,000 · OtherTEXAS OPTOMETRI…CALIFORNIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $98,853 · OtherCALIFORNIA OPTO…THE COLORADO OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $74,200 · OtherTHE COLORADO OP…IDAHO OPTOMETRIC PHYSICIANS INC: $40,000 · OtherIDAHO OPTOMETRI…AMVETS NATIONAL SERVICE FOUNDATION: $90,000 · Public BenefitAMVETS NA…NATIONAL CONSUMERS LEAGUE INC: $75,000 · Public BenefitNATIONAL …HILLVETS FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Public BenefitHILLVETS …VIRGINIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $75,000 · Community ImprovementPATIENTS RISING INC: $50,000 · Health
Human Services$1,600,000Other$313,053Public Benefit$185,000Community Improvement$75,000Health$50,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOptometry Cares - The AOA Foundation: $1,600,000 over 8y, 39% of budgetTEXAS OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetCALIFORNIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $98,853 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetAMVETS NATIONAL SERVICE FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetVIRGINIA OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $75,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetNATIONAL CONSUMERS LEAGUE INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetTHE COLORADO OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION: $74,200 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetPATIENTS RISING INC: $50,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetIDAHO OPTOMETRIC PHYSICIANS INC: $40,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetHILLVETS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 2.8% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 American Optometric Association?

    Find your warmest path to The American Optometric Association 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 10 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 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

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    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