What Does Your Gift Mean to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences?
For millions of children and adults, the world can be blurry, distorted or hardly visible at all, and the suffering this causes can be immense. The Eye Institute is working to alleviate some of this suffering and improve the outcomes for many whose diseases may at one time have been untreatable. Since we opened our doors more than 40 years ago, Eye Institute researchers have diligently worked to understand the causes of eye disease. Discoveries in the lab, made possible in part through private funding of research endeavors, have produced new knowledge resulting in an improved understanding and more effective methods of treating such disorders as color blindness, macular degeneration, viral infections of the eye, retinal disorders and glaucoma.
Support the Eye Institute
Because of your support, we remain among the preeminent eye research centers in the country and continue to generate vital information in the world wide effort to cure blinding eye disease. Your eye sight is a precious and fragile gift and improving, restoring and preserving it is the driving force behind the Eye Institute's programs. We appreciate the continued support. If you'd like to donate, please click the link to the right. In the Gift Designation field, select Other and enter the "MCW Eye Institute" in the Other Designation Detail field. You may add more information in the special instructions if you'd like to direct your gift to a specific individual or fund.
Funding Opportunities
Philanthropy plays a powerful part of progress at the Eye Institute. The foresight of visionary patients, alumni and friends has helped us launch projects and programs that were once only dreams, make discoveries that previously seemed impossible and provided seed funds for projects that were leveraged into subsequent NIH funding. Many areas of the Eye Institute accept philanthropic funds.
Support Ophthalmology Education
Funds donated for educational use provide valuable resources for teaching and training future clinicians and scientists via graduate education or residency education funds, used for research equipment or travel to presentations.
Support a Specific Research Program
There are many broad programs a given research project may fall under, thus a contribution to a program would provide support for all diseases being studied within a given field. Our programs include: Advanced Ocular Imaging Program (AOIP), Ocular Gene Therapy Laboratory, retinal research, and pediatric vision research.
Fund a Particular Researcher
This support may be used at the discretion of a given physician or scientist on one of their projects (i.e., Dr. Joseph Carroll, Dr. Daniel Lipinski, Dr. Ross Collery, Dr. Shyam Chaurasia, Dr. Joel Miesfeld, Dr. Elena Semina or Dr. Miranda Scalabrino).
Advance Research on a Specific Disease
Funds directed to a specific disease will be able to be used by faculty to make inroads in curtailing progression, understanding development, or improving treatment and prevention of a given disease. We currently have ongoing research projects such as AMD, glaucoma, inherited retinal diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, etc.
Ways to Give
Types of gifts:
Matching Gifts
Some employers offer a matching gift program to their employees. For every dollar you donate to the Eye Institute, your employer may match it. All you need is a Matching Gift Form from your employer’s Public Affairs Department. Complete the section designated for employees and mail the form to us. We will take care of all the other details and paperwork.
Gifts of Stocks and Bonds
Many donors to the Eye Institute make outright gifts and pledges in the form of appreciated securities rather than cash, in order to benefit from extra tax advantages. You may deduct the current fair-market value of the security as a charitable gift and you may avoid paying a tax on capital gains which you would owe if you sold the securities first and then made a gift to the Eye Institute. We advise you to consult with your tax advisor on all tax-related issues.
Planned Giving
The Eye Institute has been the recipient of bequests, both large and small, from many alumni, friends and grateful patients over the years. These donors felt they needed their capital during their lifetimes, but have found it possible to associate themselves forever with the Eye Institute. Call us to inquire about our life-income gift program, which offers several ways to help you make such a gift while retaining an income for your lifetime.
Honor Giving
You can pay tribute to your doctor by making a gift to the Eye Institute in their honor. You could also acknowledge a special occasion or honor a significant person in your life with a gift. All gifts made in honor of an individual will be listed in the Medical College of Wisconsin's annual report, and a letter informing the honoree will be sent.
Donor Recognition Wall
The Eye Institute's lobby displays a beautiful donor recognition wall that reflects cumulative giving of funds to the Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences. We are delighted to honor those who have contributed significantly to making us one of the premier vision research and care facilities in the country.
Donors to the Medical College of Wisconsin may be recognized in various ways depending on their gift, their preference for recognition and college policy.
If you would like to be acknowledged on our wall at this time, or in the future, you may do so through an outright gift, a pledge payable over 5 years, or by designating the Eye Institute as a beneficiary in your will.
Donors to the Medical College of Wisconsin may be recognized in various ways depending on their gift, their preference for recognition and college policy.
If you would like to be acknowledged on our wall at this time, or in the future, you may do so through an outright gift, a pledge payable over 5 years, or by designating the Eye Institute as a beneficiary in your will.
Contact Us
Sarah Walker
Associate Director of Development
(414) 955-3569
(414) 805-7790 (fax)
Questions?
If you have any questions about making a gift, contact the Office of Institutional Advancement.
(414) 955-4700