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Sightsavers works to eliminate avoidable blindness and ensure people with disabilities can participate equally in society. Our vision is of a world where avoidable blindness is eliminated, and people with disabilities have the same rights as everyone else.

We do what we do because almost half of visual impairment can be treated or prevented. We also believe people with visual impairments and other disabilities deserve the same opportunities to learn, earn and be happy as everyone else.

Read more about our history and our mission.

We are registered with the Charity Commission as Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, but our working name is Sightsavers.

Our registered charity numbers are:
207544 in England and Wales
SC038110 in Scotland

Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 countries across Africa and Asia.

Read more about where we work and what we are achieving in these countries.

Downloadable PDF versions of all our organisational policies, including our privacy policy, child safeguarding policy and our statement on human trafficking, are available online on our Accountability pages.

For every £1 we receive (including donated supplies), 91p directly helps to prevent blindness, restore sight and support the irreversibly blind, and 9p grows awareness and funds.

If you choose to kindly donate to our work, your donation will go into our general funds and will be spent wherever the need is greatest. Examples of how your gift will help include:

Eye health
You’ll be supporting projects that will restore sight and prevent sight loss in some of the world’s poorest communities. Blindness can make coping with poverty so much harder, so these projects really do give children and adults a brighter future.

Preventing disease
You’ll also help us to eliminate trachoma and other debilitating diseases and ensure everyone can access good-quality health services.

Social inclusion
With your support, we ensure women, men and children with disabilities are able to go to school, see a doctor and get a job so they can support their family and take part fully in society.

We are committed to ensuring all our work is cost-effective and transparent.

Our Annual Report and financial statements provide detailed information about where your money goes, our global statistics and our objectives.

Visit our governance page for more information about how we’re run.

Thank you for wanting to support a particular area of work. Unfortunately, with smaller gifts, it would cost Sightsavers too much to administer thousands of different gifts to different areas, therefore your donation will go into our general funds and be used wherever the need is greatest.

It costs just 18p to treat the painful trachoma infection or £33 to perform cataract surgery on an adult, so you can be sure your money will help to save sight and change the lives of people in some of the poorest parts of the world.

If you’re thinking about donating £10,000 or more, it may be possible for us to allocate your donation to a particular area of our work. Click here to find out more about becoming a major donor. Alternatively, contact the Major Donor team to find out how we can work with you to help you achieve your philanthropy goals: email  [email protected] or call +44 (0)1444 227 430.

Thank you for wanting to donate to Sightsavers! There are lots of ways to make a one-off donation:

• Online via our donation page.
• Call us on +44 (0)800 089 2020 (our lines our open seven days a week, 8am-10pm)
• Send a cheque, made payable to Sightsavers, to Freepost SIGHTSAVERS.

Processing postal donations may take a couple of weeks, so thank you for your patience. If you’d like an update on the status of your donation, please telephone Supporter Care on +44 (0)1444 446 600.

Thank you for wanting to set up a direct debit with Sightsavers. There are lots of ways to do this:

• Online via our donation page.
• Call us on +44 (0)800 089 2020 (our lines are open seven days a week, 8am-10pm).
• We can send you a direct debit form: email [email protected] or call us on +44 (0)1444 446 600.

Did you know that even the smallest of donations can make a huge difference? Not only could you be giving someone the miracle of sight every month, but having your regular support will enable us to plan ahead and ensure our life-changing work can continue in future.

If you would like to amend your direct debit in any way, please see the FAQs below on direct debits. 

Payroll giving

Thank you for wanting to set up payroll giving with Sightsavers.  By signing up for the scheme, you’ll enjoy tax relief on your donations, helping your money go even further towards our life-changing work.

You can find out how to do this via our payroll giving page.

CAF donations 

Donations can be made by phone and online with a CAF card. The card expiry date must be provided.

Alternatively, you can donate via CAF card by completing a donation form and returning this to us in the post. We will be pleased to send the appropriate form: email [email protected] or call us on +44 (0)1444 446 600.

Yes, your donations are secure. The safety and security of your personal information and donations is extremely important to us.

We make every effort to ensure that the appropriate safeguards are in place, including many technical controls. This includes regular security audits of our networks and the use of encryption technology on our website. You will see the ‘https’ and padlock displayed in the address bar on our website and donation pages, which means your information is secure.

See our terms and conditions to read more about how Sightsavers uses and protects your data.

If your address has changed, call +44 (0)1444 446 600 and our Supporter Care team will amend your details safely and securely over the phone. Alternatively, you can email [email protected].

Please be aware that with our postal mailings, this change of address can take up to four weeks to come into effect.

If you would like us to stop sending you postal mail and/or emails, or would like to update your communication preferences in any other way,  please just let us know by calling +44 (0)1444 446 600 and our Supporter Care team will update our records safely and securely over the phone. Alternatively, you can email [email protected].

Sightsavers is a supporter of the Fundraising Regulator, which ensures that organisations raising money from the public do so honestly and properly. All the details that Sightsavers has about you are confidential.

We do not sell or swap data with other companies, meaning your details won’t be passed on to any third parties.

Read more about our fundraising promises to our supporters.

Thank you for thinking of Sightsavers. Unfortunately we are unable to accept donated spectacles. We work with local suppliers to provide the correct spectacle prescriptions for those who need them, which we find is the most-cost effective solution.

We would recommend contacting your local opticians to see if they accept used spectacles.

We recommend calling us to update your bank details. You can call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710. The line is open every day from 8am to 10pm.

If you would prefer to be sent a direct debit amendment form to complete and return to us in the post, please just let us know by calling the above number, or sending an email to [email protected]

Please allow 15 working days for changes to come into effect.

We offer two direct debit payment dates, which are the 1st and the 15th of the month. To change the payment date, please call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710 (the line is open every day from 8am to 10pm) or send an email to [email protected]

Please allow five working days for this change to come into effect.

To change the payment amount of your direct debit, you can call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710 (the line is open every day from 8am to 10pm) or send an email to [email protected]

Please allow five working days for this change to come into effect.

We offer monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and annual direct debits. To change the frequency of your direct debit, you can call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710 (the line is open every day from 8am to 10pm) or send an email to [email protected]

Please allow five working days for this change to come into effect.

Sightsavers wants to be as flexible as possible for our supporters during difficult times, and a payment holiday is a great alternative to cancelling your direct debit.

You can delay your direct debit payments by up to six months. To arrange this, please call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710 (the line is open every day from 8am to 10pm) or send an email to [email protected]

Please allow five working days for this change to come into effect.

You can cancel your direct debit directly with your bank, or you can instruct Sightsavers to cancel it. To cancel your direct debit, please call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710 (the line is open every day from 8am to 10pm) or send an email to [email protected]

Please allow five working days for this change to come into effect.

Thank you for wanting to continue the direct debit. As we’re not able to change the name for a direct debit, you will need to cancel the existing direct debit and set it up again under the new name. The best way to do this is to call us on +44 (0)1444 446 710. The line is open every day from 8am to 10pm.

Gift Aid is very important to Sightsavers. If your donation is eligible for Gift Aid and you complete the Gift Aid declaration, Sightsavers is able to claim back 25 per cent of the value of any donations you make, at no extra cost to you, in the form of tax relief. This enables us to carry out more cataract operations, distribute more tablets to prevent river blindness and help more children with visual impairments go to school.

If you’re a UK taxpayer and you will pay more tax within a tax year than the value of the Gift Aid provided by the government, your donations will be eligible for Gift Aid.

If you would like register for Gift Aid or check if you are registered for Gift Aid with Sightsavers, call us on +44 (0)1444 446 600.

If you are already registered for Gift Aid with Sightsavers and any of your details have changed (such as your name or address), please let us know by calling +44 (0)1444 446 600 or emailing [email protected].

If you are already registered for Gift Aid with Sightsavers and you need to cancel it, please let us know by calling +44 (0)1444 446 600 or emailing [email protected].

Thank you for considering leaving a gift to Sightsavers in your will. By including Sightsavers in your will, you could change the future for generations of people in some of the world’s poorest countries.

To find out more, visit our leave a legacy page, call us on +44 (0)1444 446 600 or email [email protected].

Please accept our sincerest condolences for your loss and thank you so much for thinking of us at this time.

If you would like to donate to Sightsavers in memory of a loved one, please call +44 (0)1444 446 600 or email [email protected]. Our Supporter Care team will then advise you how you can donate.

An executor is legally responsible for carrying out the instructions of someone who has died, including distributing their estate in accordance with the terms of the will.

We understand that this can be a daunting and sensitive process. If you’re acting as executor for someone who has left a gift to Sightsavers in their will, we can help. Call 01444 446600 or email [email protected].

The information on our website is for guidance only. It’s not a substitute for professional advice.

Thank you for wanting to fundraise for Sightsavers! There are lots of fun and exciting ways to raise money, from running the London Marathon to hosting a coffee morning. Everyone has something they love doing that could help us raise funds.

For more information, visit our fundraising pages. If you’d like a fundraising pack, contact our events team at [email protected] or call +44 (0)1444 446 710.

Visit our jobs page to find out more about our current job opportunities around the world.

Please be aware that we do not accept applications through CV. When applying for a role, please fill out the necessary forms.

Thank you for wanting to volunteer your time and skills to help Sightsavers. Unfortunately we do not use the services of volunteers for our overseas work or in our offices. All our overseas staff and volunteers are recruited in the countries in which we work.

A key element in many of our programmes is training local health workers, including cataract surgeons, nurses, specialist teachers and health volunteers, so they can provide their own community with the eye care service it needs. We see this as crucial to the long-term sustainability of our programmes, and is the most cost-effective way to use the limited resources available to us.