General FAQs
Q. What is Optometry Giving Sight?
Q. What is the need?
Q. When and where did Optometry Giving Sight start?
Q. Why Optometry Giving Sight?
Q. Who else is involved?
Q. How does Optometry Giving Sight raise funds?
Q. How much of my donation goes directly to programs that help give sight?
Q. What projects does Optometry Giving Sight fund?
Q. Isn’t it more efficient to give directly to the NGOs conducting the programs?
Q. Can we really make a difference?
Q. I’m an optometrist, how can I get involved?
Q. Can I volunteer to visit a project with you?
Q. Do you accept donations of recycled glasses?
Q. Do you accept donations of vision care equipment?
Q. What is VISION 2020: The Right to Sight?
Q. What is Optometry Giving Sight?
Optometry Giving Sight is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to refractive error.
Working with an alliance of optometrists and organizations that coordinate vision care projects around the world, Optometry Giving Sight funds the development of sustainable infrastructure via routine eye examinations, distribution of spectacles, eye clinics, training programs and clinical equipment.
Optometry Giving Sight supports of the goals of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). VISION 2020 aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, in order to give all people in the world the right to sight.
Q. What is the need?
300 million people around the world are blind or visually impaired simply because they do not have access to an eye examination and a pair of glasses. Why not? Because in a number of countries there are not enough trained eye care personnel and there is no infrastructure to support these desperately needed eye care services.
Optometry Giving Sight funds the solution by supporting programs that offer not only eye exams and glasses in countries with little or no access to them, but that establish the infrastructure and human resources required for sustainable, quality vision care.
Q. When and where did Optometry Giving Sight start?
In 2003, the World Council of Optometry (WCO), the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) signed an agreement to create Optometry Giving Sight. Optometry Giving Sight was first launched in the UK in 2003, followed by Australia and the Netherlands in 2004, and in United States and Canada in 2005. In 2006, Italy became the sixth country to introduce Optometry Giving Sight to the optometric industry.
Q. Why Optometry Giving Sight?
Optometry Giving Sight is unique in three ways:
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It is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to refractive error.
- The campaign is directed at every optometrist and optical professional, every optometry and optical outlet, their staffs and most importantly their patients and clients, as well as the industry that serves optometry and the optical outlets.
- This collaboration brings together all the people who are familiar with the value of eye examinations and the correction of sight defects and who have the knowledge and determination to deliver a solution. Optometry Giving Sight is an unprecedented opportunity for optometry to make a coordinated and significant impact in the prevention of blindness. Optometry Giving Sight is a global solution to a global problem.
Q. Who else is involved?
Optometry Giving Sight is a joint initiative of the World Optometry Foundation (WOF), the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). Its aim is to galvanize support from optometrists, their patients, associations, industry partners and corporations, to raise funds for projects directed toward the elimination of uncorrected refractive error – simply the need for an eye examination and a pair of glasses.
Q. How does Optometry Giving Sight raise funds?
Optometry Giving Sight raises funds from all those who are familiar with the value of eye examinations and the correction of sight defects and who have the knowledge and determination to deliver a solution. Funds are raised in the following ways:
- By inviting optometrists and practice staff to make regular monthly or annual donations
- By inviting Optometry practices to participate in the Optometry Giving Sight Practice Giving Program whereby patients add as little as a dollar to their bills for Optometry Giving Sight and the practice matches these donations;
- By inviting optometrists to "Tick/Check Yes to Optometry Giving Sight" on their annual dues invoice (where implemented);
- Through corporate sponsorship;
- Through general donations.
Q. How much of my donation goes directly to programs that help give sight?
85% of every dollar raised from optometrists and their patients will go directly to support programs that help give sight to those most in need. Up to 15% of the funds raised shall be used toward the cost of administration, marketing, community education, and fundraising. For more information click here.
Q. What projects does Optometry Giving Sight fund?
Optometry Giving Sight raises funds that go directly to projects around the world that ensure sustainable, lasting results in three ways:
- Eye care service delivery - exams, low-cost eye glasses and low-vision devices;
- Human Resources - training of optometrists, eye care personnel and their teachers;
- Infrastructure development – establishment and support of vision centers, eye clinics and schools of optometry.
Optometry Giving Sight is currently funding three global priority programs:
Africa
Giving Sight to Blind Children in Africa
Giving Sight to South Africa
Asia
Q. Isn’t it more efficient to give directly to the NGOs conducting the programs?
Optometry Giving Sight raises the funds to allow those implementing programs around the world to do what they do best – give sight to those in need. There are several agencies and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are doing work in refractive error programs around the world. These groups often do not have the resources or network to do fundraising on a large scale. That’s where Optometry Giving Sight and Optometry come in. It is a large enough industry to tackle this global problem and to make a real impact. And no one understands the need for basic, quality vision care services better than an Optometrist.
Q. Can we really make a difference?
Yes. Avoidable blindness is different from many of the world’s other health-related problems in that we have the knowledge and the skills to eliminate it. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that blindness prevention and vision correction ranks with immunizations among the most cost effective and efficient of all health interventions.
The solution to blindness and impaired vision due to refractive error is simple – provide quality, primary eye care. And there is no one better prepared to take on this challenge than the global Optometric community.
Q. I’m an optometrist, how can I get involved?
Optometrists can get involved by committing their practice to support Optometry Giving Sight through a regular practice donation, making a regular personal donation, and by encouraging their patients to help give sight by making a contribution to Optometry Giving Sight through our Practice Giving Program. They can also help Optometry Giving Sight by increasing awareness by talking to their colleagues and patients about the initiative. For more information about how you can get involved, contact the Optometry Giving Sight Manager in your country.
Q. Can I volunteer to visit a project with you?
Our philosophy is to support sustainable programs that provide employment for local people and ensure that services will be affordable and accessible over the long term.
As a result, Optometry Giving Sight does not fund mission trips per se. However limited opportunities for donors to participate in “Volunteer Site Visits” are available. These are conducted in conjunction with the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE), a Non Government Development Organisation (NGDO), which is the beneficiary of funds provided by Optometry Giving Sight.
Q. Do you accept donations of recycled glasses?
Sadly, we are not in a position to accept donations of recycled glasses. This is because Optometry Giving Sight is a fundraising organization, which provides funds to organizations that deliver services and build local capacity and infrastructure in countries where these do not currently exist. Part of this commitment to developing local skills and infrastructure is to ensure that low-cost, affordable spectacles are available for immediate access within these countries. Our partners therefore source spectacles from local resource centres that have been established for this purpose.
Q. Do you accept donations of vision care equipment?
Sadly, we are not in a position to accept such donations. This is because Optometry Giving Sight is a fundraising organization, which provides funds to organizations that deliver services and build local capacity and infrastructure in countries where these do not currently exist.
Experience has taught us that often the transportation and storage of equipment can be complicated and expensive; and that equipment can quickly become obsolete if there is no maintenance support or training provided.
Please contact the following organizations directly to see if they can make use of the equipment that you would like to donate:
In the United States:
International Medical Equipment Collaborative
VOSH International
In Canada:
Third World Eye Care Society (TWECS)
Optometristes San Frontieres (OSF)
Canadian Vision Care (CVC)
In the United Kingdom:
In Australia:
International Centre for Eyecare Education
Provision Eyecare Teams
Q. What is VISION 2020: The Right to Sight?
VISION 2020: The Right to Sight is a global joint initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), with an international coalition of professional bodies, eye care institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and corporations.
VISION 2020 aims to eliminate avoidable blindness worldwide by the year 2020, in order to give everyone in the world, and particularly those who are needlessly blind, the Right to Sight.
