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Non-profit funding sight-saving research for children

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

18,400+ 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
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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.
  • 18,400+ 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

Real winners

Latest fundraiser stories

Who won, how the day unfolded, and what every entry funded for children with inherited retinal diseases.

All fundraiser stories
The white 2026 Toyota Camry XSE from the Donor Appreciation fundraiser

Winner story, October 28, 2026

Who Won the Donor Appreciation Camry XSE Fundraiser? Claudine L. from North Carolina

Claudine L. from North Carolina won our one-week, email-only Camry XSE fundraiser on June 28, 2026 and chose the $35,000 cash alternative.

Read the story

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 · 18,458 reviewsTrustpilot
  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Honest Sweepstakes

    Honest sweepstakes. The drawing announcements are live. There's transparency. They give away life changing prizes while seeking to change/prevent the outcome of others going blind. Great cause to support!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Shari Demke)

    Shari DemkeOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I like the ease of being able to see…

    I like the ease of being able to see what this business stands for. Raising money for a disease a child should never have to experience. If this family had not raised awareness thru winning prizes about childhood blindness, I would not even know this disease even exists. I love the great prizes you can win, but most of all that they are educating people about this and hopefully one day there will be a cure so no other child will go through this.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Beverly)

    BeverlyOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Self-Employed boat storage owner (recently retired)

    Your programs was very well run, great information about the products and it kept me thinking and wondering if this could be mine what could I do with it? It was very impressed every time I saw the ads.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Marc Bertorelli)

    Marc BertorelliOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Great way to use social media platforms!

    Super excited to see this family use social media platforms to benefit research for a great cause while also creating a fun opportunity to win great prizes!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Teena Walter Billings MT)

    Teena Walter Billings MTOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    The gifts are great, but the thought of being even a small part of the reason a cure could be found for these kiddos is what makes it worth it!

    The gifts are great, but the thought of being even a small part of the reason a cure could be found for these kiddos is what makes it worth it!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Sherry Bradstreet)

    Sherry BradstreetOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    It was easy and very understandable for…

    It was easy and very understandable for me to make my purchase/donation. I never felt that it was a scam as is most everything else out there. Win or lose; a very worthy cause and i hope that my small donation helps. Good luck to all that donated 🙏

    Read on Trustpilot (review by customer)

    customerOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    It's a great organization

    It's a great organization, and I'm happy to be a part of helping you reach your research goals and find a cure.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Cindy D)

    Cindy DOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Great opportunity to potentially win a…

    Great opportunity to potentially win a great prize while supporting a cause that most people take for granted. Until you lose your vision or have partial blindness, you have no idea how precious our sight is to us.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Sean)

    SeanOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    The live moment of most recent draw…

    The live moment of most recent draw showed what an amazing, generous-of-spirit donors have formed around the fund-raiser. Truly a community of people wishing good for others.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Marcia T)

    Marcia TOctober 2026Verified

  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    I asked the company’s serval times how…

    I asked the company’s serval times how are the winners picked. By hand, electronically, how are electronic entries selected in drawing. Crickets no one answered

    Read on Trustpilot (review by James Vivolo)

    James VivoloOctober 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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