Maryland · Nonprofit
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 486 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,232,995 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($19,540,000). 279 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $37M
- Funders on record
- 486
- Grants received
- $97M
- Net assets
- $84M
What The Foundation Fighting Blindness Inc does
Mission
To drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures, for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, usher syndrome, and the spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research: the foundation fighting blindness, inc. (the foundation) funded researchers are achieving remarkable success in discovering, testing, and delivering to patients a wide range of promising therapies to prevent, stop the progression of, and cure blinding diseases due to retinal degenerative diseases. The foundation has encumbrances of over $36 million, not included on our june 30 financial report, for active research projects that have future research milestones. Our science committee's spending plan includes spending at an average of $28 million annually to support future research. As of the end of our fiscal year 2025, the foundation's research grants program is funding 104 grants being conducted by more than 133 investigators at 92 institutions, eye hospitals, and universities in the u.s. And around the world. A sampling of the research projects funded are listed below: "defining the underlying causes of retinal degeneration in crb1 disease." jeremy kay, duke university dr. Kay and his team hypothesize that loss of cell-cell connections in the outer retina underlies rp-like aspects of crb1-associated disease, while loss of junctions between embryonic progenitors…
$32,043,327 spentof which $22,880,201 as grants$2,004,208 earned by the program86% of program spendingPublic health education: during fy25, the foundation continued to provide education and support to people affected by retinal degenerative diseases. The foundation also fields a team of professionals focused on educating ophthalmologists and optometrists on the latest advancements with the foundation's resources and research on the inherited retinal disease space. To keep our constituents and professionals informed, the foundation publishes extensive content via the website and social media/email channels; distributes a newsletter online and in print; produces and shares educational podcasts with leading experts in the space; hosts virtual and in-person educational and networking seminars; and holds quarterly insights forum calls to inform the community about scientific progress. The content includes the latest developments in research and clinical trials, as well as personal stories from members of our community. Additionally, the foundation hosts regional forum presentations that provide timely content to eye care professionals. Chapters bring the foundation's message and mission to life. In fy25, the foundation supported over 47 volunteer-led chapters in 23 states in the us and…
$3,681,241 spent10% of program spendingMy retina tracker registry: the foundation maintains a research database of people and families affected by rare inherited retinal degenerative diseases. The registry is designed to share de-identified information about people with an inherited retinal disease within the ird research and clinical communities to help accelerate the discovery of treatments and cures. During fiscal year 2025, approximately 8,000 additional members were added to the registry, bringing the total number of registered individuals to approximately 43,000.
$1,641,058 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $37,365,626.
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 2018 to 2019, from $138M to $166M (+20%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 4% · 2022 3% · 2023 2% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC’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. 8 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
Jason D Menzo
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 137 funders to 167 funders, grant income rose $6.5M → $15M.
57 of 486 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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: $5k from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Richman Family Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 486 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
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
28% 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 THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 37% · 2019 32% · 2020 34% · 2021 38% · 2022 46% · 2023 39% — broadly stable.
“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
39% of THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 42 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25M arriving through sponsors registered in 26 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
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC is better cushioned than half 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 THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 34 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Foundation Fighting Blindness Retinal Degeneration Fund · exempt
- Macular Degeneration International Inc · exempt
- National Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC: 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 THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC?
- THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 486 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,232,995 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($19,540,000). 279 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC have?
- IRS filings report 486 organizations giving $97,232,995 in grants to THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC, 279 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC?
- THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $19,540,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 486 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