FAQ

Our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Program model creates access to quality eye health services to reach people in remote and underserved communities. Our programs are designed to provide quality eye health care to all, regardless of age, gender, race or ability to pay. We train local community health workers to conduct door-to-door surveys, screen patients for eye conditions and refer them for treatment. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we can provide patients with surgeries, prescription eyeglasses and other treatments free of charge or for a nominal fee.

We work with our network of more than 65 partner hospitals to strengthen their capacity to meet the needs of the surrounding communities. Capacity-strengthening may include providing the hospital with new or upgraded equipment, providing training for ophthalmic personnel, or establishing a vision centre or eye unit at the community level. Learn more about our programs in different countries.

Across our countries of work, costs vary but we can provide a patient with a pair of prescription eyeglasses for approximately $20, and a cataract surgery and its associated costs, such as travel, are approximately $75.

Costs for projects like boreholes and vision centres vary widely from country to country, so it’s difficult to give even a rough estimate. If you’re interested in sponsoring a specific project, we would be happy to have a conversation with you for purely informational purposes. You can reach our Donor Relations team at: philanthropy@operationeyesight.com

No, we stopped accepting used eyeglasses in 2003. Matching recycled eyeglasses with a patient’s prescription is a time-consuming and expensive process. In fact, one study found that shipping recycled eyeglasses to other countries cost nearly twice as much as supplying ready-made eyeglasses.

We do continue to provide patients with prescription eyeglasses free of charge or for a small fee. Many of those eyeglasses are supplied by partners like the OneSight Essilor-Luxottica Foundation, and by the generosity of our donors. If you would like to provide eyeglasses to someone in need, we encourage you to donate to our programs. Although the cost does vary from country to country, you can provide a pair of eyeglasses for approximately $20.

All our donor information is kept in our secure database. We do not sell, trade or share our mailing lists. In addition, we do not retain credit card numbers or sensitive information.

When you check the ‘cover transaction costs’ box at checkout, Operation Eyesight deducts a transaction fee from your donation to help cover the payment processing fees (Stripe) and platform fees (Fundraise Up). When you opt to cover the transaction costs, we ensure more of your money goes towards preventing blindness and restoring sight.

While the payment processing fees vary by the payment method used, we have set the calculation at 5.7% + 30 cents per transaction, which covers the cost of the average CAD transaction made with a Canadian Visa or Mastercard.

These fees include:

Covering the transaction fee is completely optional. Whether or not you choose to cover the transaction fee, please know that we appreciate your generous support!

For more information about our use of Fundraise Up, read our Privacy Policy.

At Operation Eyesight, we believe in measuring our success through the impact and effectiveness of our programs in the communities we serve. We invest in skilled team members, information technology and fundraising programs that help ensure we are planning for our future and sustainability. These investments are necessary to achieve greater efficiencies in our operations and programs, and to increase our capacity to generate more revenue so we can scale our programs and help more people.

While overhead costs will vary by not-for-profit organization, it is our practice to strive for our operating and administrative costs to be below 30 percent of total expenditures. That said, with the launch of our Global Strategy 2024-2028 and the upfront investments required in terms of infrastructure, staff and awareness activities, our fundraising and administrative costs may fluctuate above this target in the short term as we make strategic decisions throughout this period of organizational growth. To learn more about our Global Strategy and how we plan to be in 15 countries total by 2028, visit operationeyesight.com/global-strategy

To see our revenue and expenses for the last fiscal year, take a look at our most recent annual report. Consistently, Charity Intelligence Canada has named us one of the Top 10 Impact Charities for our demonstrated impact per dollar donated.

For detailed information, you can find our financial statements and annual report here.

If you’ve donated online, your tax receipt should arrive in your email inbox within 24 hours. If it doesn’t, please fill in our Tax Receipt Request Form or contact us. If you donated by mail or over the phone, please allow several weeks for your tax receipt to arrive. If you are a monthly donor, your consolidated tax receipt will arrive at the end of the tax year. Thank you for your generous donation!

We’re happy to help! You can get in touch by email or by filling out a form on our Contact Us page. Or give us a call toll-free at 1-800-585-8265. Our office hours are 8am – 4pm Mountain Time, Monday through Friday.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to create a more equitable world ensuring no one is left behind. In 2015, all member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. While all the goals are interconnected, we focus on seven goals that are core to our mission to prevent blindness and restore sight: no poverty (SDG1), good health and well-being (SDG3), quality education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), clean water and sanitation (SDG6), climate action (SGD13) and partnerships for the goals (SDG17).

To learn more about how we are working towards these goals, visit our Sustainable Development Goals page.

We are always evaluating opportunities to eliminate avoidable vision loss around the world. We follow a rigorous process for selecting regions in which to work, which includes a need to fit into existing health care systems. When we identify an opportunity, we partner with the local ministry of health, analyze the local needs, situation and gaps in health, and secure a major source of funding and other support. At this time, we are exploring opportunities in Bhutan, Myanmar, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Operation Eyesight delivers eye health programs in collaboration with hospitals, government partners and other organizations in our countries of work. While we work closely with physicians and medical experts around the world, we don’t have medical professionals on staff, nor can we provide any medical advice.

For those seeking eye care, we urge you to consult with a local eye doctor. If you live in one of our program areas, please use the Contact Us form so that so that we can tell you where the nearest vision centre or partner hospital is located.

Absolutely! When filling out the donation form online, you can check the box that reads, “dedicate this donation” and enter the individual’s name. After you have made your donation payment, you will be prompted to send an eCard to let the person know that you made a donation in their name. You can even add a customized message. Our eCards make a great gift for birthdays, Christmas and other holidays. Send an eCard today!

If you’d rather send a printed card by mail, we have those too! We offer several beautiful greeting cards for a variety of occasions. Please get in touch to learn more.

We appreciate your support! The most important thing you can do to help is to donate. Your generosity allows us to establish sustainable eye health care in the countries where we work. Please consider becoming a monthly donor, so you can help transform lives month after month. To learn about the many ways you can support Operation Eyesight financially, visit our How You Can Help page.

You can also help us by spreading the word about Operation Eyesight! Tell your friends and family about avoidable vision loss and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn, where you can share our posts to help raise awareness of our work.