Impact of your donation

Sight loss affects my family in a big way. I have been part of the Fighting Blindness team before and after I became visually impaired. For me, Fighting Blindness is a light in a dark place, the friendly voice at the end of a phone and the reassurance that there is a support network that understands what I am going through. – Christine Weafer

Since 1983, Fighting Blindness has been a constant support and resource for people living with sight loss. As an organisation, we:

• Offer the opportunity and space for people to meet others in similar situations.
• Provide an invaluable counselling service for people affected and their families.
• Give hope for the future, committing significantly to research into treatments and cures for blindness.

How we raise our funds

As a small charity, we rely heavily on the generosity of the Irish public and corporate partners. Our funding is broken down into two primary sources of income:

• 10% public funding – from the HSE and the Health Research Board (HRB)
• 90% fundraising –raised through a mix of regular giving donations, community fundraisers, corporate support, events and challenges

Where your donation goes

Cure

We invested €694,840 in vital vision research in Ireland in 2018, including gene and cell therapies, compound therapies and population studies.

Support

We invested €265,364 in counselling services for people affected by sight loss and their families in 2018. This service is currently available in Leinster and Munster, and available nationally through our telephone counselling line.

Empower

We invested €128,821 in empowering our members and communities through education and providing information in 2018. We continuously strive to bridge the gap between patients and organisations involved in potential therapies.

If you’d like more information, you can download a copy of our Annual Report 2018.