About E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind
The E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind concentrates its giving on sight-related services and biomedical vision research: it funds major service providers that support blind and visually impaired people while also underwriting investigator-led basic and translational eye/retina science. Grants include multi-million-dollar institutional awards to service organizations and a consistent stream of mid-sized research grants to individual investigators working on retinal disease, glaucoma, drug delivery, and neural visual pathways. The foundation favors organizations and projects that directly improve independence for people with blindness (including guide dog programs) and advance scientific understanding or treatments for vision loss.
Focus Areas
Support for residential and rehabilitation services for people who are blind (e.g., Lighthouse-style programs, state institutes for the blind)Translational and basic retinal research (animal models, retinal cell biology, retinal pigment epithelium studies)Glaucoma and mechanosensitivity research with clinical relevance to vision preservationSupport for guide dog training and placement programsInvestigator-driven grants to early/mid-career vision scientists and clinician-researchers
Who They Fund
people who are blind or have visual impairment
About E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind
A defining feature of the E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind is its split between large operating support for organizations serving blind and visually impaired people and investigator-led grants in vision science. In 2025, it made a $3,639,000 grant to the American Action Fund for Blind for research on a murine model to investigate vitreous aging, alongside a $3,300,000 award to Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired for care, maintenance, or education of individuals with blindness. That combination shows a funder backing both direct services and biomedical work aimed at understanding vision loss. The foundation’s recent awards also reach state-level service providers, including The Connecticut Institute for the Blind, while its research funding supports universities and medical researchers studying retinal disease, glaucoma, nanophthalmos, drug delivery, and neural visual pathways. Its program description identifies early-career investigators as a target group, and the grant list shows awards to individuals at universities and research institutions as well as to established blindness-service organizations. The result is a portfolio that connects practical support for blind people with scientific projects that may inform future treatment or prevention.
What E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind Funds
The foundation supports blindness services through substantial awards to organizations that provide care, maintenance, or education for people with blindness. One 2025 grant went to The Connecticut Institute for the Blind for that purpose, and another supported Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In research, it funds projects on retinal biology and disease. Examples include a 2024 grant to Jason M L Miller MD PhD for polarity and composition of retinal pigment epithelial lipoprotein secretion and a 2023 grant to William Spencer PhD for understanding ectosomes in retinal disease. It also backs translational work with clinical relevance. Wendy Liu MD PhD received support for mechanosensitivity of the retina and its role in glaucoma, while Charles Deboer MD PhD was funded for targeted drug delivery to the posterior segment using a lens-capsule based delivery system. The foundation’s awards extend to neural and developmental vision science as well, including projects on sensory substitution and cortical visual pathways.
How E Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$9.9M
Total Assets
$10.3M
Total Revenue
$1.1M
Total Expenses
$10M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $150K and $250K, with a median of $250K.
25th Percentile
$150K
Median
$250K
75th Percentile
$250K
Geographic Reach
National6 states funded
About 23% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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