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Non-profit funding sight-saving research for children

Check our Past Winners page for all past winners! ✨🌟

17,100+ reviews · rated 4.9 Excellent on Trustpilot and Google

We’re Funding Sight-Saving Clinical Trials to Treat Childhood Blindness.

Our goal is to advance therapies for pediatric inherited retinal diseases. Our current target: we are fundraising for rare disease research and gene-agnostic therapies for childhood blindness.

ENTER A FUNDRAISERSee our impact

Current Fundraisers

You can make an impact on saving childhood eyesight by entering our giveaway fundraisers.

How our fundraisers work

Built on trust and transparency

Learn how you can make an impact on sight-saving research and have a chance to win a life-changing prize.

  1. Donate to support sight-saving researchEntries are automatically captured and can be seen in your Donor Portal.
  2. Winner selection by third-party adminWe aren't involved in the winner selection process, to ensure fairness and compliance.
  3. Winner livestream announcementWe announce all winners live on social media. See our past winner calls!
  4. It's time for winner day!For vehicle prizes, we fly the winner to Arizona to get the keys, a free-and-clear title, and the prize cash.

What you can check for yourself

  • Registered 501(c)(3), EIN 92-2174042Exempt under Section 501(c)(3); look us up on the IRS and Candid.
  • 17,100+ verified reviews on Trustpilot and GoogleRated 4.9 Excellent. Read what past entrants and winners say.
  • Registered and bonded sweepstakesEligibility, all methods of entry, and start and end dates are published before every fundraiser.
  • Donor PortalCheck your entries for any fundraiser you've joined.
Fundraiser FAQs

Our impact

Sight-saving research funded

$6.1M

granted to sight-saving research as of October 2026, from giveaway fundraisers and direct donations. Every mile below was paid for by entries like yours.

  1. $1MFirst grant: AXV-101 gene therapy for BBS1

    To Axovia Therapeutics, to move a gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa caused by BBS1 toward a clinical trial.

    Oct 2024
  2. $2MManufacturing and safety studies

    Second Axovia grant: GLP toxicology, manufacturing, and the regulatory work needed before a trial could open.

    Dec 2024
  3. $1MClinical trial authorization

    Third Axovia grant, bringing AXV-101 funding to $4M; the UK trial application was cleared in Q3 2025.

    Sep 2025
  4. $1.1MTrial fully funded

    Closed the remaining funding gap; RAB's total funding for AXV-101 reaches $5.1M, from lab to first patient.

    Jan 2026
  5. $1MGene-agnostic research

    With Foundation Fighting Blindness: $775,000 to the RD Fund for gene-agnostic research, matched dollar-for-dollar by the Gund Foundation Challenge, and $225,000 to Dr. Thomas Mendel at Ohio State.

    Jun 2026
  6. OpenResearch Grants Program

    Researchers worldwide can now apply for RAB funding through the Grants Portal.

    Aug 2026
  7. Next grantThe next grant

    Decided by the fundraisers running now.

    Enter a fundraiser
Where the totals come from

Amounts and dates come from our grant records and update when a new grant is announced. Each grant links to its announcement where available.

Visit the Grants Portal

About us

We were told there was nothing we could do.

It isn't a race we run. It's a race against time. Kristina and Stephen Johnston founded A Race Against Blindness after their son Luke was diagnosed with Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a rare genetic condition that is slowly taking his sight. What began as a race to fund one gene therapy for one gene has grown into funding research across inherited retinal diseases, a grants program for scientists, and an education hub for families.

  1. 2020Luke's diagnosis, and a decision

    No treatment existed for RP caused by BBS1. We decided to fund one.

  2. 2023A Race Against Blindness is founded

    Our family became the first donor, donating our first prize: the 2023 Adventure Van giveaway fundraiser that started it all.

  3. 2024First $1 million grant

    To Axovia Therapeutics for AXV-101, a gene therapy for RP caused by BBS1.

  4. 2026Initiation of the AXV-101 gene therapy clinical trial

    A total of $5.1M in grant support from RAB made this trial initiation possible.

  5. 2026Expanding our impact

    New $1M grant to gene-agnostic clinical research in partnership with Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Read our storyMeet the team

See our Feature on Good Morning America!

Luke’s story of seeing the world before losing more vision was featured on GMA, helping propel our mission to the national level.

Winner's circle

Recent winners

View all past winners

Don't take our word for it. Take theirs.

Every review you see here is collected and verified by Trustpilot, not by us. We can't edit them, hide them, or pick the order.

We show every star rating, one through five, because that's what transparency means.

ExcellentTrustScore 4.9 out of 5Rated 4.9 / 5 · 17,165 reviewsTrustpilot
  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Completely open and transparent on…

    Completely open and transparent on entire process, which makes potential donors confident that their contribution is legit!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Laura Rowland)

    Laura RowlandOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    They provide clear information about…

    They provide clear information about the current research they are supporting as well as simple, easy and quick ways to donate to them.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Austin Andrews)

    Austin AndrewsOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Donations go to a good cause.

    Best description of giveaway prizes. The best thing about this giveaway is that my donation goes to a very good cause and I take pride in knowing I'm contributing to a possible cure.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Edgar Martinez)

    Edgar MartinezOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I have a family histor of eye disease…

    I have a family histor of eye disease so supporting this cause is important to me.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by BLB)

    BLBOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I started donating to The Race Against…

    I started donating to The Race Against Blindness quite a while ago because it seemed to be a great cause with the benefit of possible Special wins for donators. I regularly wondered who had won and how the donations were working for the foundation and as time went on their transparency did not disappoint . I am Happy to donate when my budget Can afford and wish the best of luck to donators and their chances along with great success to The Race Against Blindness for research and solutions. 😊

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Cindy Braak)

    Cindy BraakOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    These guys are awesome and I’ve been…

    These guys are awesome and I’ve been really impressed by the whole process. It’s awesome they’ve found a way to give back to the community by giving back to the community. I found the website was easily navigable but I think they could benefit from investing into something optimizing fewest clicks to checkout. It was also awesome seeing the instagram page and while they’ve found success reaching an audience through giveaways the mission is clearly the priority.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Xander Cordova)

    Xander CordovaOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    The drawings are a nice opportunity to…

    The drawings are a nice opportunity to donate and have a chance for a nice prize.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by John)

    JohnOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A-1 experience!

    I could see myself contributing to the cause of preserving eyesight even if the fantastic prizes were not offered as an incentive. This organization is top of the line in the way they conduct their business and offer insight on the total operation of the company. Good luck to all the people that contribute!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Edward Garner)

    Edward GarnerOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    This nonprofit organization is amazing

    This nonprofit organization is amazing!! They have raised millions of dollars for a worthy cause and have done so without gimmicks, and with professionalism.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Marci Lindsey)

    Marci LindseyOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Sometimes it just feels right to make a…

    Sometimes it just feels right to make a donation. The site makes it super easy and fun to donate within minutes. Thank you.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Robert Darter)

    Robert DarterOctober 2026Verified

Reviews come from real donors and supporters who entered a fundraiser or had a direct interaction with our team, each one verified by Trustpilot.

Read all reviews on Trustpilot

Grant funding updates

The impact you made possible

Blindness Education Resources

Are you looking for education or resources for blindness?

As a family-run nonprofit and parents of a child facing blindness, we know how it felt when we got the diagnosis and didn't know where to begin. The resources were limited, and we felt alone. This education hub is here to help change that.

Open the Education Hub

Where would you like to start?

A mother and son in matching caps and RAB shirts smile side by side.

RAB educational series

Learn with Dr. Steve Johnston

Blindness Education Podcasts with Co-Founder Dr. Steve Johnston

Explore the full series on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

For information only. Discuss clinical trial information with your retina specialist.

Meet the Team

We founded the nonprofit when we found out our son has a rare genetic condition and is slowly going blind. But that really only scratches the surface in terms of our motivation. Since learning of Luke's diagnosis, we have become strongly connected to the rare-diseases community. While rare diseases are actually not unusual, with more than 7,000 diseases classified as rare, each one individually often affects only a small number of people. Thus many rare diseases don't receive enough attention and resources to help fund research for adequate treatments or even possible cures.

Stay in the race

New fundraisers, winners, and grant news, about twice a month. Questions? The Help Center is our front door.

Visit the Help Center

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