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Non-profit funding sight-saving research for children

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

19,200+ 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.
  • 19,200+ 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 November 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 · announced Feb 2025
  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.

    Dec 2025 · announced 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 2026 GMC Yukon Denali hitched to the Grand Design Serenova 160LG travel trailer

Winner story, November 11, 2026

Who Won the Yukon Denali + Serenova Fundraiser? Colin R. from Vermont

Colin R. from Vermont won the 2026 GMC Yukon Denali, Grand Design Serenova 160LG and $50,000 cash on Oct 4, 2026, and chose the $125,000 cash option.

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 · 19,236 reviewsTrustpilot
  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I have macula and I realized how…

    I have macula and I realized how important your eyesight is. I am praying for a cure for all eyesight problems.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Carolyn Evans)

    Carolyn EvansNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Preventing blindness in our children

    This non profit organization is first class. Preventing blindness, especially in precious children should be a goal of everyone. I would give to this organization even without their giveaways. Thank you for all you do. God Bless

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Joey White)

    Joey WhiteNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Donating to stop child blindness

    It’s so easy to donate and they do the winners in real time I have IIH which in time will take my sight so I am very willing to to donate to this cause

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Kelly Lapp)

    Kelly LappNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A Race Against Blindness- A Worthy Cause

    Entering the giveaways are very simple and straightforward. The team is very responsive and consistently provides updates. It's for a good cause. I was born with a cataract that left me legally blind in my left eye. Growing up I had challenges with peripheral vision and learning how to adjust to things in my environment. So I can relate to the reasoning behind the cause and I do hope that one day a cure will be found.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Kris Allbright)

    Kris AllbrightNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Dedication

    The dedication to their son is inspiring. A contribution gives you a few days to dream about "what if" if you won but goes towards the end result of curing his blindness.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by KJ)

    KJNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    It’s easy to enter

    It’s easy to enter. Videos of prizes are fun and interesting. Knowing that it’s all for a good cause makes it worth the time and money.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Randall Smith)

    Randall SmithNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Clear future

    Not going to lie. What got me here was the rvs and cash prices. knowing ill probably never win, at least I am happy the money will go towards a better future for others.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Pedro Guzman)

    Pedro GuzmanNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I love the cause

    I love the cause. Although different, I suffer from diabetic retinopathy. Fear of losing your eyesight is not fun. When I ran across your cause it hit a nerve. Not to mention my dream of retirement is to travel the United States in an RV. My donation was a win-win. Thank you.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Brenda L Torres)

    Brenda L TorresNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I feel like this is a good cause to…

    I feel like this is a good cause to donate to. My father in law would always donate to children’s charities and when he passed my husband and I said we would like to donate at times as well. We don’t have much to donate but I know every little bit helps.

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Mrs. Darling)

    Mrs. DarlingNovember 2026Verified

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I have entered a few fundraisers and…

    I have entered a few fundraisers and with one, unbeknownst to me I had entered my email incorrectly. When I tried to look for my entries they weren’t there. I sent an email to see if this could be fixed and they responded and fixed it that day. I also love that this is for a cause. Good luck to everyone!!

    Read on Trustpilot (review by Tricia Harding)

    Tricia HardingNovember 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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