About the Lavelle Fund for the Blind

The Lavelle Fund for the Blind is a charitable grant-making foundation dedicated primarily to supporting programs that help individuals who are blind or visually impaired live independent and productive lives. While priority for direct service grants generally is given to programs in the greater New York metropolitan area, the Fund also considers grant requests with wider impact both nationally and internationally.

Our Work

Cumulatively, we’ve awarded$99.6Min Total Grants (as of December 31, 2022, excluding Scholarships)

Map of Northeast USA with NY, CT, and NJ highlighted.

Of this grant total, $53.5 million has gone to organizations serving our home, Tri-State New York region.

421Grants Awarded (as of December 31, 2022; excluding Scholarships)

Map of South Asia with India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, and Indonesia highlighted.

Our international grantmaking focuses predominantly on medical eye care training and delivery, and education for children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities.

We’ve given$4.3Mto Brother Kearney Scholarship Recipients (as of December 31, 2022)

Map of Latin America with Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina highlighted.

Latin America has been selected as our region of focus internationally with emphasis on building the foundation for sustainable eye care and quality education for blind and multiply disabled children.

Case Study Highlights

Study

Funding Area: Medical Eye Care

Man putting ribbon around wall plaque acknowledging Lavelle Fund's support of LVPEI.

Courtesy of LVPEI.

LV Prasad Eye Institute

In April 2020, the Fund approved a two-year grant of $180,620 to support the L. V. Prasad (LVP) Eye Institute's upgrade of 20 existing Lavelle-supported Vision Centers in the state of Telangana, India. By providing them with IT-enabled ophthalmic equipment, the centers would be able to connect to LVP’s tertiary care center through the transmission of images, thereby expanding the scope and efficiency of eye care to rural areas.

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More About Medical Eye Care

Funding Area: Medical Eye Care

Courtesy of Fred Hollows Foundation USA

Fred Hollows Foundation

In January 2020, the Fund approved a 12-month grant of $50,000 to the Fred Hollows Foundation to support the provision of free or subsidized, high-quality cataract surgeries for 500 patients in the Greater Hanoi, Vietnam area by Alina Vision, a social enterprise eye hospital dedicated to reducing preventable blindness and visual impairment in Vietnam. A primary purpose of this grant was to help Alina Vision move toward breakeven through increasing revenues from sliding-scale fees.

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More About Medical Eye Care

Funding Area: Medical Eye Care

Seva Foundation

In January 2017, the Fund approved a three-year grant of $428,937 to the Seva Foundation, to help expand the capacity of two mentor eye clinics in Latin America-- Visualiza Eye Clinic in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Divino Nino Jesus (DNJ) Eye Clinic in Lima, Peru-- to train Allied Ophthalmic Personnel (AOPs) through strengthened curricula.

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More About Medical Eye Care

Funding Area: Medical Eye Care

Karol Bagh Rotary – Shroff Eye Clinic’s first patient

Courtesy of Rotary Internationals / Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital

Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital

In 2013, the Fund approved a grant of $473,679 to Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH) in New Delhi, India to build sustainable capacity for training additional numbers of new vision technicians, ophthalmic nursing assistants, and patient counselors. The overall goal of the project was to produce a combined total of 150 such trainees within the grant’s three-year life. SCEH expected ultimately to hire most of the graduates of the training and to use these cost-efficient “physician-extenders” to drive a near-doubling of the hospital’s yearly volume of cataract surgeries.

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More About Medical Eye Care

Funding Area: Vision Rehabilitation & Resources

Blind jobseekers visiting Google to learn about their job openings.

Courtesy of VISIONS / Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired

VISIONS Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired

In 2013, the Fund approved a grant of $500,000 to support VISIONS, with its partner Helen Keller Services for the Blind, in launching an employer-centered and -guided job training and placement program for adults who are legally blind and live in New York City or Long Island. The program was to cultivate sustainable relationships with selected NYC and Long Island employers who hire entry-level workers.

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More About Vision Rehabilitation & Resources

Funding Area: Vision Rehabilitation & Resources

Rutgers University Foundation

In October 2017, the Fund approved a two-year grant of $365,604 to Rutgers University Foundation, to support Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC) in launching a peer tele-support mental health program for New York City and Northern New Jersey residents who are blind or visually impaired. The project aimed to provide peer support services, to develop a clinical psychology referral network in NYC as well as within UBHC, and, to refer callers to professional mental health care and vision rehabilitation services.

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More About Vision Rehabilitation & Resources

Funding Area: Education

Perkins School for the Blind

Since 2020, the Lavelle Fund has supported scholarships for special education teachers from Latin America to participate in the Perkins Educational Leadership Program (ELP) for advanced training in the education of blind children with multiple disabilities, program development and leadership.

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More About Education

Funding Area: Education

children sitting on the floor during educational playtime

Courtesy of Perkins School for the Blind

Perkins School for the Blind

In 2016, the Fund approved a three-year grant of $330,062 to Perkins School for the Blind, the oldest school in the nation for children who are blind and multiply disabled, for two purposes: (1) building the capacity of Perkins’ Resource Center in Cordoba, Argentina, to strengthen the practice of K-12 teachers and schools that serve children who are blind and multiply disabled in targeted Spanish-speaking South American countries, and (2) helping to stabilize and strengthen the financial management of three model schools for such children in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Lima, Peru.

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More About Education

Funding Area: Education

Courtesy of Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School

Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School

In 2019, the Fund approved a nine-month grant of $26,000 to the Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg (FMDG) Music School, a community music school dedicated to providing adaptive music instruction and performance opportunities to NYC area residents with vision loss. The purpose of the grant was to support the School’s 2019 sustainability planning, fundraising, and associated activities to preserve the School’s existence during its transition.

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More About Education

Funding Area: Education

Boy with visual impairment in suit sitting at table

Courtesy City Access New York

City Access New York

In 2014, the Fund approved a three-year grant of $180,000 to City Access New York (CANY). The grant served to underwrite vocational education, career exploration, and orientation and mobility training for 12 NYC secondary school and college students who are blind and visually impaired through participation in at least 30 one-semester paid internships at any of 20-25 partner museums and cultural institutions in NYC.

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More About Education

Funding Area: Education

Courtesy of Learning Ally

Learning Ally

In 2014, the Fund approved a grant of $303,560 to Learning Ally, the country’s largest provider of recorded textbooks for students who are otherwise print-disabled, to create a national program designed to help blind and visually impaired students succeed in college. The College Success Program was to consist of (1) a website presenting online resources and information, and (2) a mentorship program pairing students with mentors who have been successful visually impaired college graduates.

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More About Education