California · Nonprofit
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (California) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,105,480 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,146,450). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $10M
What Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired does
Mission
Vista Center enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to achieve their highest potential through evaluation, counseling, education and training which promotes independence and improves quality of life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Safe and healthy living - without sight the most routine tasks can seem insurmountable, the safe and healthy living program assesses the individual needs of a client and develops a customized plan of action for teaching the skills that enable independence.social services - participants receive an overall assessment of their current situation and needs. Vista center's social workers help individuals develop a rehabilitation plan, provide case management and keep the individual informed about programs, services and resources to support that person's independence.orientation and mobility - vista center's teachers work with clients onmastering activities such as cane use, crossing streets, using publictransportation, walking with a guide dog and navigating everydayenvironments.daily living skills - training helps clients live safely and becomemore independent by learning safe cooking techniques, independentmedication and health management, housekeeping, personal hygiene, moneyand paperwork management and adapting to everyday environments soclients can negotiate daily tasks.counseling and support groups - includes individual and/or groupprofessional counseling. Sessions help clients…
$1,654,875 spent$70,031 earned by the program47% of program spendingSchool and youth services - blind and visually impaired young people are no different from their sighted peers in their desire for opportunities to engage with others and make a difference in the world. The school and youth services program provides them with the tools, strategies, confidence and courage to build the future that they dream of and that is possible.family and youth activities - planned events are scheduled throughout the year for a family day of fun! They enjoy amusement parks, visiting the zoo, going fishing, kayaking, ice skating and a whole lot more!when I grow up - offers the opportunity for blind or visually impaired youth to "see" their future possibilities by getting to know blind and visually impaired adults who have succeeded in a sighted world.teens together plus - is a monthly support group for vista center's blind and visually impaired youth who are between the ages of 15 and 22 years old. It is an excellent opportunity to connect with peers, build social skills, receive emotional support and share information about technology and other areas of interest related to blindness.braille challenge - is a celebration of braille literacy in the form of a…
$924,267 spent$610,488 earned by the program26% of program spendingLow vision services - when someone is slowly losing sight, losing faith in one's ability to function independently becomes a real fear. By conducting evaluations, which result in recommendations and education to enhance the use of remaining vision, vista center's specially trained low vision optometrists provide devices, services and support that alleviate fear and restore hope.low vision clinic - the individual's functional vision will be evaluated by vista center's low vision optometrist who will recommend adaptive equipment to assist in daily life activities. These adaptive aids can assist with reading, writing, watching television, seeing street signs and many other daily activities.lighting evaluations and contrast training - vista center's occupational therapist will provide an evaluation to determine the best lighting for its clients' home environments and for completing a task. The use of contrast in client homes will also be demonstrated to make daily tasks easier.low vision aids and devices training - appropriate magnifying devices and electronic equipment are demonstrated and recommended to allow the client to maximize the use of remaining vision.low vision expo - event…
$867,323 spent$208,606 earned by the program25% of program spendingTechnology program - vista center's technology program, part of safe and healthy living, is leading the way in bringing technology that was once only available to the sighted community to those who are blind or visually impaired. Vista center's access transform and open up new worlds to vista center's clients.technology lab days - the tech lab is a free one-on-one session designed to demonstrate a variety of devices and help with selecting the best option in a supportive setting.technology user group - these free meetings are scheduled once a month in vista center's palo alto and santa cruz offices. Learn from speakers from assistive technology companies and be in the know about what is new.assistive technology training - this is a one-on-one training session at vista center's palo alto office with vista center's technology specialist. Topics include using a personal computer with the latest assistive software including zoomtext, magic, jaws, ms office with assistive technology and internet explorer with assistive technology. Individual instruction on the latest apple ios and android devices is also available.concierge training in your home - vista center offers individualized…
$53,001 spent$79,154 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,499,466.
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 $7.8M to $12M (+51%).
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: 2017 13% · 2018 11% · 2019 13% · 2020 24% · 2021 31% · 2022 12% · 2023 35% · 2024 25% · 2025 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Board chair
Patrice Maginnis
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 19 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $525k → $537k.
13 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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: $275k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Vista Center Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired raised.
From the IRS filings of Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% 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
85% 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 Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 51% · 2019 38% · 2020 34% · 2021 30% · 2022 42% · 2023 45% — 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
47% of Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
58% of Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.7M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired's revenue grew 28% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Vista Center Foundation · exempt
- Menlo Charity Horse Show Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired: 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 Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired?
- Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (California) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,105,480 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,146,450). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $4,105,480 in grants to Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,146,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired 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 Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired →
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 54 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