Lions VisionGift

What Lions VisionGift does

Lions VisionGift (legally VisionGift, formerly Lions Eye Bank of Oregon) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit eye bank founded in 1975 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with a second facility in Boston, Massachusetts opened in 2017. The organization recovers, screens, processes, and distributes donated ocular tissue for corneal transplantation, biomedical research, and medical education. It also operates donor referral services and a research laboratory focused on corneal science. Its core customers are hospitals, eye clinics, corneal surgeons, research institutions, and the donor and recipient communities that sustain the tissue pipeline.

The organization's product portfolio includes standard corneal transplant tissue alongside three proprietary sterile graft product lines: KeraNatural™ (a sterile corneal allograft for keratoconus with up to three-year post-donation usability), halo® (electron-beam irradiated sterile tissues with extended room-temperature storage), and Patient Ready DMEK® (preloaded Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty tissue). Beyond tissue products, VisionGift operates the Ocular WeSearch Consortium, a network of partner eye banks that fulfills external research tissue requests, and runs eye bank training courses and DMEK instructional content for surgeon education. Its 20,000+ square feet of laboratory and administration space includes more than 330 square feet of ISO-certified processing rooms.

VisionGift operates a hybrid revenue model combining per-graft transaction fees for transplant and research tissue with charitable donations, monthly giving (the 20/20 Giving Club), corporate sponsorships, and grants such as the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust award. In 2025, the organization distributed more than 5,000 sterile corneal grafts supporting approximately 3,500 transplants, with 2,183 donors providing 8,882 tissues for sight restoration and 1,784 tissues for research. The organization holds EBAA accreditation and FDA registration for both facilities, state tissue licenses across seven U.S. states, and a Health Canada license, enabling national and international tissue distribution. The company is also developing machine learning models for predicting keratoconus transplant outcomes using its internal decade-long clinical outcome dataset.

Name

Lions VisionGift

Legal name

VisionGift

Website

https://visiongift.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lions VisionGift is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit eye bank founded in 1975 that recovers, processes, and distributes donated ocular tissue for corneal transplantation, biomedical research, and surgeon training across the U.S. and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Eye Banking Services

NAICS

Ophthalmic Goods Manufacturing (339115), Ophthalmic Goods Merchant Wholesalers (423460)

SIC

Ophthalmic Goods (3851), Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841)

akta.pro primary industry

Cornea & External Disease Surgical Devices (Keratoplasty Tools, Cross-Linking Systems, Amniotic Membrane Delivery) (HLAHAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cornea, External Disease & Refractive Surgery (LASIK/PRK) (HLAKAKAF), Ophthalmic Regeneration (cornea/retina) (HLAAAGAK)

Keywords

• Eye bank services
• Corneal transplantation
• Ocular tissue donation
• Sterile graft processing
• Biomedical research tissue

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Eye Tissue Transplantation Services: Recovery, screening, processing, and distribution of ocular tissue for corneal transplantation procedures to hospitals, clinics, and surgeons.
2. Sterile Graft Products: Distribution of processed sterile products like KeraNatural™ and halo® tissues for sight-restoring procedures.
3. Charitable Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals, corporate partners, and foundations supporting the mission of advancing sight restoration and research.
4. Research Tissue Provision: Providing ocular tissues to research institutions and scientists for biomedical research advancing eye care and transplantation practices.
5. Corporate Partnerships and Grants: Support from corporate sponsors, workplace giving programs, and charitable foundations like M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

VisionGift recovers, screens, processes, and distributes donated ocular tissue for corneal transplantation, research, and medical education. It produces proprietary sterile graft products including halo® Sterile Tissues, KeraNatural™, and Patient Ready DMEK® for surgeons and hospitals in the U.S. and internationally.

Product overview

VisionGift operates as an eye bank offering a portfolio of ocular tissue products and services. The core products include corneal transplant tissue (corneas), sterile processed allografts (halo® Sterile Tissues, KeraNatural™), and pre-prepared surgical tissues (Patient Ready DMEK®). Services encompass ocular tissue recovery, screening, and distribution for transplant; research tissue supply through the Ocular WeSearch Consortium; and eye bank training courses. The organization also conducts internal research and collaborates with medical institutions to advance eye banking and corneal transplantation practices.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• KeraNatural™: A sterile graft product made from donor eye tissue, used to treat keratoconus and can be utilized up to three years after donation.
• halo® Sterile Tissues
• Patient Ready DMEK®

Products and services

• halo® Sterile Tissues

Quantifiable outcome

• 2,183 donors and 8,882 tissues provided for sight-restoring transplants in 2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health and Sciences UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCasey Eye Institute has been performing cornea surgeries for more than 20 years and conducts numerous ongoing research studies investigating functions of the human eye, glaucoma, and ocular inflammation.
• Devers Eye Clinic at Legacy Good SamaritancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevers Eye Clinic has been providing first-rate eye care to Oregonians for more than 50 years and has assembled the largest endothelial keratoplasty (EK) recipient database in the world, enabling important scientific publications about EK procedures.
• Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns HopkinscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWilmer Eye Institute is a leader in state-of-the-art eye care, providing medical and surgical evaluation for corneal, cataract, and external disease problems including corneal transplantation.
• Donate Life NWcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit organization facilitating organ, eye, and tissue donation. VisionGift partners with Donate Life NW for donor referrals and advocacy.
• Ocular WeSearch Consortium Partner Eye BankscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork of partner eye banks whose mission is to help scientists obtain ocular tissue for biomedical research by reducing tissue procurement times and accelerating breakthroughs in ocular and vision research.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Georgia Eye Bank: Atlanta-based eye bank providing corneal tissue recovery and distribution across the Southeast, with EBAA accreditation — directly comparable non-profit eye-bank operations and tissue-product line.
• Eversight: One of the largest US eye banks (HQ Ann Arbor, MI), operating recovery, processing, and distribution of corneal tissue across multiple states with EBAA accreditation — directly comparable to VisionGift's core eye-bank model and multi-state licensure footprint.
• SightLife (now part of CorneaGen): Seattle-based eye bank historically focused on corneal recovery, processing, and global distribution, with significant surgeon-education and international outreach — directly comparable mission, geographic reach, and tissue-product focus.
• CorneaGen: For-profit corneal tissue processor and distributor providing sterile grafts and DMEK/DSAEK-ready tissue to US surgeons — overlapping product portfolio with Patient Ready DMEK® and halo® and competing for the same surgeon customers.
• Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research: Tampa, FL-based non-profit eye and tissue bank with multi-state donor recovery and distribution — same Lions-affiliated model, similar multi-state licensure, and comparable cornea-only focus.
• Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank: Colorado-based Lions-affiliated eye bank providing corneal recovery, processing, and distribution across multiple western US states — directly comparable Lions non-profit model and tissue-product scope.
• Eye Bank for Sight Restoration: Long-standing New York-area non-profit eye bank recovering and distributing corneal tissue under EBAA standards — same operational model, donor-recovery focus, and surgeon-customer base as VisionGift.
• San Diego Eye Bank: California-based non-profit eye bank specializing in corneal tissue recovery and distribution to local and regional surgeons — overlapping regulatory footprint (California tissue license) and tissue-product scope.
• Lions Gift of Sight (University of Minnesota): Minnesota-based Lions-affiliated eye bank with corneal recovery, processing, and research — same Lions non-profit branding, donor-recovery pipeline, and operating model as VisionGift.

Regional players

• Heart of America Lions Eye Bank: Kansas-based Lions eye bank recovering and distributing corneal tissue across the Midwest — same non-profit Lions operating model but primarily competing in a different geographic territory than VisionGift.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LionsVisionGift
• Facebookfacebook.com/SeeTheGift
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/visiongift

Compliance10 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lions VisionGift