VisionSpring

VisionSpring (formerly the Scojo Foundation) was founded in 2001 by Jordan Kassalow and his business partner Scott Berrie, who together also created "Scojo New York, a high-end reading glasses company serving the US market. 5% of the pre-tax profits from Scojo New York were designated for Scojo Foundation. In 2008, after the sale of Scojo New York, Scojo Foundation changed its name to VisionSpring, launching a new identity reflecting its mission to reduce poverty and generate opportunity in the developing world through vision.

"The Open Society Institute provided seed capital to launch the first pilot in India. Today, VisionSpring serves tens of thousands of poor customers across the developing world with affordable eyeglasses. Together with our partners, including some of the world's largest NGOs and the most innovative Base-of-the-Pyramid organizations, VisionSpring is providing sustainable jobs and access to vision care in the world's poorest, most remote communities."

Major Funders
Accessed September 2008:

$100,000+)


 * Acumen Fund*
 * Canary Charitable Foundation
 * Debevoise & Plimpton LLP**
 * Draper Richards Foundation
 * Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
 * Lavelle Fund for the Blind
 * David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation
 * Mulago Foundation
 * Open Society Institute
 * Todd Park and Amy Geng
 * Rockefeller Foundation
 * World Bank, Development Marketplace
 * USAID
 * ?What If!**

($10,000+)


 * Russell Berrie Foundation
 * William H. Donner Foundation
 * General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
 * Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
 * International Foundation
 * Oswald Family Foundation
 * Peery Foundation
 * Kenneth B. and Stephanie Schwartz Family Trust
 * Scojo New York
 * Laurance Rockefeller
 * Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation
 * Starr Foundation
 * Yale-Goldman Sachs Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures
 * West Foundation
 * Ian Wyatt

Directors
Accessed September 2008:


 * David Bornstein - Author
 * Anne Marie Burgoyne - Director, Draper Richards Foundation
 * J. David Chute - Founder and President, i2C Ventures, LLC
 * Maybeth Dee - Founder, Luko Ltd.
 * Reade Fahs - CEO and President, National Vision, Inc.
 * Charles de Gunzburg, Treasurer - Chairman, First Spring Corp.
 * Jordan Kassalow - Chairman, VisionSpring
 * Paul Lambert, Secretary - Partner, McLaughlin & Stern, LLP.
 * Jonathan R. Lance - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lance Partners LLC.
 * Jonathan M. Lewis - Managing Member, Folio Partners LLC
 * Graham Macmillan, Secretary, ex-officio - Senior Director, VisionSpring

Honorary Board Members
 * Madeline Albright
 * Leslie H. Gelb
 * William E. Mayer
 * George J. Mitchell

Advisory Board
Accessed September 2008:


 * Kim Alter - Founder and Principal, Virtue Ventures LLC.
 * Samantha Beinhacker - Co-Director, The Partnerhip on Nonprofit Ventures
 * L. Brooks Entwistle - CEO & Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co. India
 * Wayne Farmer - Vice Presient, Next Steps Research
 * David Green (US) - Executive Director, Project Impact
 * Ted London - Senior Research Fellow and Director: Base of hte Pyramid Initiative, William Davidson Institute (WDI), Faculty Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
 * Kenneth E. MacWilliams - President, Woodrow Wilson Associates
 * Frank Maglietta - President & CEO, Beyond Vision
 * G.N. Rao - Chairman and President, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness
 * Seth Rosen - Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP
 * Jason Shaplen - Senior Executive and Director, Next Step Program, Project Renewal
 * Rob Shepardson - Partner, SS+K
 * Ricky Surie - Vice President, GenPact
 * Lloyd Timberlake - Author

Contact

 * Web: http://www.visionspring.org