California · Nonprofit
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $699,902 to it, the largest being THE ALCON FOUNDATION INC ($300,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $652k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $700k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Ophthalmology Foundation does
Mission
The Ophthalmology Foundation works with eye care professionals, societies and organizations to enhance and provide ophthalmic education, with special focus on low-resource and underserved countries. The organization commits to strengthening ophthalmic education, with the ultimate goal of improving eyecare and advancing the preservation and restoration of vision for all.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The faculty development consortium program provides ophthalmic educators around the world with the educational tools, techniques, and resources required to optimally train and improve ophthalmologist's skills and the eye care their patients receive. Opthalmic educators volunteer their services as content experts to promote and develop symposiums, workshops, courses, and other teaching interventions. The education program offers online courses, including teaching skills for ophthalmic educators, leaders in education program, mentorship programs, continuing professional development support, educator sessions at ophthalmic meetings and tools for teaching.
$407,344 spentof which $43,289 as grants43% of program spendingIn partnership with the international ophthalmological fellowship foundation (ioff e.v.), the foundation supports two major fellowship programs: the one-year ioff retina research foundation (rrf) helmerich international fellowship and the ioff subspecialty fellowship program. The ioff-rrf helmerich international fellowships (rrf fellows) are awarded annually to two young ophthalmologists from low-resource and underserved countries who are dedicated to deepening the quality of ophthalmic education and patient care in their home countries. Rrf fellows are required to commit to returning to their home countries after their fellowship and taking a position at a teaching institution or public service hospital to share their knowledge. Three and twelve-month fellowships are offered under the subspecialty program. The subspecialty fellowship program invites young ophthalmologists from low-resource or underserved countries to apply for an ioff-subspecialty fellowship award. Fellows are expected to bring their acquired knowledge and skills back to their native countries and participate in programs to preserve vision and prevent blindness.
$450,701 spentof which $362,500 as grants48% of program spendingThe Ophthalmology Foundation examinations provide accessible, affordable, high-quality ophthalmology exams for global trainees. Three exams are held twice annually in Visual Sciences; Optics, Refraction, and Instruments; Clinical Ophthalmology and aim to assess the depth and breadth of trainees' knowledge, benchmark performance, and ensure readiness for certification. Foundation exams are developed through a rigorous process and align with the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Basic and Clinical Sciences (BCSC) standards and the professional requirements in the field. Content is created by international experts in every subspecialty within ophthalmology and revised periodically.
$90,319 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $948,364.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2020 to 2021, from $61k to $2.4M (+3854%).
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.
78% of OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Christine R Graham
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $50k → $215k.
3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.8M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 79% · 2023 47% — 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.
Where its funders are
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $99k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like OPHTHALMOLOGY 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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPHTHALMOLOGY 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 OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION?
- OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $699,902 to it, the largest being THE ALCON FOUNDATION INC ($300,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $699,902 in grants to OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPHTHALMOLOGY FOUNDATION?
- THE ALCON FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPHTHALMOLOGY 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.
Play a game about who funds Ophthalmology →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 8 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing