California · Nonprofit
GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION
GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 126 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,974,073 to it, the largest being Melza M and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation Inc ($3,500,000). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 126
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Glaucoma Research Foundation does
Mission
Cure Glaucoma and restore vision through innovative research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization promotes and supports research and education concerning the causes and treatment of glaucoma. It has been a leader in collaborative research through the landmark multi-center normal tension glaucoma study which transformed glaucoma treatment, as well as the creation of the "catalyst for a cure" (cfc). This unique research model brings together scientists from different disciplines to work together to understand glaucoma and find ways to improve treatment and find a cure. The first cfc team made a significant impact on the field of glaucoma and helped to transform the understanding of glaucoma from an eye disease to a neurodegenerative disease.taking the findings from the first team, a second cfc team was created to develop new biomarkers to diagnose and manage glaucoma more effectively before vision is lost and open pathways to new treatment options for patients. A third cfc team was launched to discover ways to restore vision lost to glaucoma by restoring, regenerating or replacing the retinal ganglion cells damaged in glaucoma.a fourth cfc team was launched to investigate common mechanisms of glaucoma and alzheimer's to prevent and cure these and other…
$5,950,391 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,950,391.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $15M to $17M (+13%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
91% of GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (7% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Thomas M Brunner
President & CEO
Board chair
Andrew G Iwach Md
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 47 funders, grant income rose $643k → $2.0M.
29 of 126 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 126 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
45% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 31% · 2019 16% · 2020 10% · 2021 12% · 2022 35% · 2023 41% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 28 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,969 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,969 health nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 23 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 126 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,974,073 to it, the largest being Melza M and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation Inc ($3,500,000). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 126 organizations giving $12,974,073 in grants to GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 69 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- Melza M and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $3,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GLAUCOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 126 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing