why donate?

dry eye patients are struggling.

Your donation will help us:

  • Fund our Dry Eye Helpline to aide individuals navigating ocular surface diseases and ocular surface pain

  • Maintain online support groups on Facebook, Zoom, and our DryEyeTalk forum

  • Continue to alert the public about important eye drop safety issues

  • Provide educational resources across our websites

  • Grow our non-profit, which has just entered its seventh year!

If we’ve helped you in the past, we hope you’ll consider donating so we can help patients like you!

    • Donate now!

      • Set up a Facebook Fundraiser for the Dry Eye Foundation

      • Make a contribution in honor of a loved one

      • Contact us to sponsor a matching gift campaign for 2023 or 2024

      • Plan a legacy gift

    • Become a member to support our work on an ongoing basis

    • Follow us on social media (links in our website footer) and spread the word

    • Join our mailing lists

    • Talk to your doctor about the Dry Eye Foundation—we’ll even send you patient brochures about our programs and business cards for our Eye Drop Safety website

    • Reach out to volunteer

  • Read our 2023 Annual Report (published September 2024)

    • Exhibits at three national eye care conferences: The American Optometric Association, The American Academy of Optometry, and The American Academy of Ophthalmology; and two Scleral Lens conferences: The Global Specialty Lens Symposium, and the International Congress of Scleral Contacts.

    • We launched My Big Fat Scleral Lens (mbfsl.org) an educational site for scleral lens users at all stages of their journey.

    • Industry sponsorship from Sight Sciences, Dalsey Adaptives, DMV Corp, Viatris (Oyster Point), Bausch & Lomb.

    • Rebecca spoke at the National Association of Eye and Vision Research’s (NAEVR) Dry Eye Disease Congressional Briefing for Dry Eye Awareness Month.

    • In addition, our board, staff, and volunteers, continue to accept new clients for our Dry Eye Helpline, moderate our Facebook and Zoom Support Groups, and develop educational content.

    • We launched a new Dry Eye Talk Community Forum

    • We continued our Eye Drop Safety and Biologic Eye Drops safety campaigns

    • We presented our first scientific poster at the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society’s International Meeting

    • Amanda Mott stepped down from the DEF board after serving five years; Vincent J. DeRisio D.O., F.C.A.P joined as Treasurer. Meet our board.

    • COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: Launch new print resources and grow community services capacity

    • NEW EVENTS: Host first patient symposium, co-host Advocacy Day, participate in Congressional Briefing in Washington DC July 2025

    • WEBSITES: Add new Dry Eye Zone content and continue blogs

    • EYE DROP SAFETY: Continue meeting and communicating with the FDA and spreading awareness with the public.

    • CONFERENCES: Present scientific posters and exhibit at national meetings

    • NEW PROGRAM LAUNCH: Develop Chronic Ocular Surface Pain advocacy program

  • “The dry eye foundation has been such a wonderful and life changing resource. Your team has literally changed my life for the better, given me hope and resources to live, to maintain and to gain ground in the fight against my dry eyes disease. Thank you for helping create a higher quality life!”
    -Brooke

    “You have helped me greatly with so many different issues through the years. Several of your zoom meetings have also really improved my dry eye doctor appointments. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great and much needed and appreciated work!!! You are by far the most thorough and knowledgeable resource for dry eyes.”
    -Anonymous

    "I read about your work (In Bloomberg) alerting people to the contaminated eye drops. Keep up the good work. And thank you."
    -Anonymous

    "I have extreme dry eye. Your website & newsletters are informative and I enjoy the energy and dedication I feel when I read them."
    -Mimi

    "I'm thrilled that there is now such a resource as the Dry Eye Foundation. Its alerts.eyedropsafety.org lookup tool is excellent. Rebecca's focus, energy and dedication are amazing, and I'm happy to send a donation to extend the reach of her work. Please apply it to wherever it's most needed. "
    -Anonymous

    Learn why over 350 individuals have donated to the Dry Eye Foundation: Our Donors

  • The Dry Eye Foundation is a small 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Poulsbo, Washington. We incorporated as a non-profit in 2018 and recently celebrated our 5th anniversary in October 2023!

    Our history dates back to 2005 with the formation of Dry Eye Zone by Founder Rebecca Petris, who began engaging in education and advocacy for people suffering from dry eye disease after an unfortunate outcome from LASIK eye surgery in 2001.

    We strive to listen to and collect the needs of our community and develop programs and platforms that make a difference. We have a national and international reach through robust virtual community support programs and educational content.

    Our Milestones

    2022 Annual Report

  • Community Services

    Our community service programs include a Dry Eye Helpline peer counseling service, Zoom support groups, moderated Facebook groups, a forum, and dryeyestories.com.

    • Since 2018, we’ve made conducted over 1,000 Helpline sessions with over 365 individuals.

    • We’ve held over 250 Zoom support groups since 2020

    • Our Facebook groups have nearly 15,000 members, combined

    Education, Advocacy & Research

    Eye Drop Safety has become our most important education program due to escalating safety issues in the global supply of over-the-counter eye drops.

    Highlights of other DEF programs include:

“It all started with conversations and lots of listening, then seeing some patterns, then watching those patterns repeat themselves and watching a lot of people get hurt in unexpected and devastating ways, and then deciding we need to change this pattern.

We're here to provide support no matter where you are or why. We know it gets better and we are here to provide understanding and encouragement. 

If you've ever been in a hard place because of dry eye or an ocular surface disease of any kind I want to encourage you to consider donating to support our work.”

Rebecca Petris, President

from us

“In 2019, Our first project as a nonprofit was to survey the community's experience to establish a direction for the Foundation. Later in 2020, we started hosting webinars and support groups on Zoom, which helped break the isolation of the pandemic and the disease burden of dry eye.

Through the years, I've found a passion for supporting individuals who, at the most basic level, need to speak to someone who will listen and understand their situation. People typically seek out the Foundation at a time when their symptoms are taking over their lives; when they need community and support; or when they have questions no one else seems to be able to answer. We are working hard every day to support each person who reaches out, and to create programs to address the needs of our community.”

Aidan Moore, Executive Director

“Over the years I watched Rebecca work tirelessly to make sure that no one suffered from dry eye alone. DEF is growing in so many important and exciting ways and we need your help more than ever. Please consider donating now so we can continue our mission to provide support and education and ensure the safety of people affected by dry eye.”

Monique Fox, Secretary

Cindy Edwards, Vice-President

“My eyes have always influenced the many decisions I have made throughout my life in terms of leisure activities, career choices and even where I can sit when going to a restaurant to avoid moving air and facing away from a sunny window because of light sensitivities. I was the teenager in the early '70s who always wore sunglasses when sunglasses weren't very cool yet!”

“For the last 21 years of my life (since I was 19 - I am now 40), my strength, drive and willpower has been significantly depleted through use towards something else than my career aspirations: finding a way to make each day comfortable and relatively pain free…The former Dry Eye Zone blog was a lifesaver to me during this time of deep depression (thanks Rebecca!). It allowed me to realize that others are facing similar trials and tribulations and it allowed me to learn about techniques other people were trying to treat their dry eyes that my doctor may not have made me aware were available.”

Amanda Mott, former Board Member

“Please donate! The Dry Eye Foundation needs your financial help to attend national meetings where eye care providers and industry representatives come together in one place.  The networking opportunities are terrific. The Dry Eye Foundation is taking the lead on over-the-counter eye drop safety issues. National meetings are a great way to make our presence known to both Big Pharma and Up-and-Coming Pharma.  Meetings also provide an opportunity for one-on-one interaction with eye care providers.”

Sandra Brown MD, Medical Advisor

DEF through the years