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How Sightsavers is run

Everything we do is geared towards a world where avoidable blindness is eliminated, and everyone has equal opportunities to learn, earn and be happy.

Arif (left), with his mother and sister, took part in Sightsavers' Seeing is Believing project in Bangladesh. © Sightsavers/Reza Shahriar Rahman

Our chief executive is fond of saying that Sightsavers’ ultimate goal is for us all to be out of a job.

That means we want to achieve our aims so spectacularly that the organisation is no longer needed.

We can only get there thanks to the continued generosity of our loyal staff, partners and supporters. In return, we aim to be as transparent and accountable as possible so you can be sure your money is being used wisely.

To help Sightsavers achieve its aims, we have published thematic strategies covering the areas in which we work, explaining our approach and how we plan to achieve our goals. Read our strategy documents

Our charity numbers

We are registered with the Charity Commission, and our charity numbers are:
207544 in England and Wales
SC038110 in Scotland
Visit Charity Commission website

Charity Commission logo.

We’re committed to keeping people safe

Our approach to safeguarding

How we spend your money

Safia has her eyes examined by a health worker to check for signs of trachoma.

For every £1 we receive, including donated supplies, 91% goes on our vital charity work.

The remainder helps us grow awareness and our funding.

Our financial reports

Every gift you give is vital in achieving Sightsavers’ goals of eliminating avoidable blindness and promoting equality for all.

Your donations have enabled us, during our history, to distribute 667 million treatments to protect against river blindness, provide 9.2 million sight-restoring cataract operations, and support more than 342,000 people with disabilities to live independently.

We do our best to spend wisely, and that means finding the best solutions, which aren’t always the cheapest. We ensure we have good financial management, we make sure the changes we secure are long term, and we don’t cut corners.

We make sure our funds go as far as possible: we’re required to show we’ve met quality standards for all operational spending. Each year we publish a full annual report and financial statement, which provides more detailed information about where your money goes.

We think it’s money well spent, and we hope you do too.

We promise to put our beneficiaries first

Our fundraising promise

Global management

Sightsavers is governed by boards in nine countries.

Each of the boards is responsible for maintaining a high standard of corporate governance, overseeing everything we do and making sure the organisation stays on track, spends money wisely and achieves its goals.

Find out more about our global board and those in the US, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden and Zambia.

We also have a global management team that consists of 15 people drawn from across the organisation, including regional directors and senior staff.

This management team oversees many of Sightsavers’ day-to-day operational matters, to make sure we’re working as efficiently as possible.

Meet our CEO

Dr Caroline Harper joined Sightsavers as CEO in 2005.

About our CEO

Members of the management and strategy teams

Anna Becker
Director of Institutional Funding

Simon Bush
Director of NTDs

Alicia Cummins
Head of Policy and Programme Strategy Operations and Planning

Dominic Haslam
Director of Policy and Programme Strategy

Imran Khan
Director, Programme Strategy & Development

Tom Millar
Director of NTD Operations

RN Mohanty
CEO, Sightsavers India

Ken Moon
Chief Operating Officer

John Muriuki
Regional Director, East, Central and Southern Africa

Ella Pierce
Director of Fundraising and Marketing

Mark Ramsden
Director of Governance, Legal and Assurance

Gareth Roberts
Director of Planning, Monitoring and Reporting

Elena Schmidt
Director of Strategic Programme Innovations, and Development, Evidence and Research

We’re committed to inclusion in the workplace

Sightsavers and inclusion

Accountability and transparency

To achieve our goals, we depend on our supporters and donors, who provide us with funding, and our partners, with whom we design and implement our programmes.

Through building strong relationships with these stakeholders, we are able to change people’s lives in the countries in which we work. We believe we need to be accountable to our stakeholders if we are to maintain their trust and support: to achieve this, we openly share information about our performance, our organisation and our policies.

Sightsavers has been a member of Accountable Now (formerly the INGO Accountability Charter) since 2011.

We continue to support the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact Communication on Engagement, covering human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Read our statement

Dr Msukwa smiles while standing next to a young patient and his family.

Our performance

We aim to be as transparent as possible about how we operate.

Learn how we do this

How we set salaries

In 2023, our CEO was paid £167,671 (gross, excluding pension). She has no bonus scheme or car allowance, and has the same pension rights as all UK staff.
About our CEO

A close-up of two people shaking hands.

In the UK, the ratio of our highest-paid staff member to the lowest is 7:1. We aim to ensure our staff packages are competitive with other similar organisations.
About male and female salaries

A close-up of a woman's hand holding a pen as she signs a document.

We have a remuneration committee featuring several of Sightsavers’ trustees. Our chief executive’s salary, and the salaries of all staff who report to her, are approved by this committee.

Want to know more about how we’re run?

Contact us