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← Orbis Charitable Trust

2024-12-31-accounts

Expanding access to eye care in a changing world

ORBIS CHARITABLE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2024

Chair and CEO welcome 4
Who we are and what we do 6
Our year in numbers 8
Comprehensive eye care 10
Childhood blindness 14
Specialist training 16
Trust, transparency and accountability 18
How we did in 2024 20
Looking ahead to 2025 24
Thank you 26
Board of trustees 27
Financial statements 32
Trustees and officers 62
Front Cover image: Five-year-old Buyandeleger from
Mongolia received a life-changing cataract surgery
onboard the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital in 2024.

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Binaya, 12, lives with his parents and two brothers in a village in Odisha, India. Their community produces sarees, a profession Binaya is likely to join when he’s older. However, when Binaya started to experience vision problems, his future was clouded by uncertainty. At an Orbis eye screening he was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts and referred to our partner hospital, Trilochan Netraya. Binaya underwent a successful cataract surgery in late 2024.

Orbis UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 ui cee 3 NEED? “see

Chair and CEO welcome

The warmest of welcomes to the 2024 Orbis UK Annual Report

Dear supporters,

2024 was a year of remarkable progress and renewed momentum across Orbis UK’s global programmes. Thanks to your unwavering support, and despite ongoing challenges in the wider economic and international development landscape, we exceeded ambitious targets, expanded access to eye care in some of the world’s most underserved communities, and laid the groundwork for even greater impact in the years ahead.

We’re proud to share that we enabled over 469,000 eye screenings and delivered more than 37,000 treatments — surpassing our targets by wide margins. In Ethiopia, we administered an extraordinary 2.5 million doses of antibiotics to combat trachoma — nearly a million more people treated than expected—and provided sight-saving eyelid surgery to over 5,000 individuals. These achievements bring us closer to the World Health Organization’s goal of eliminating trachoma by 2030.

Our commitment to training the next generation of eye care professionals remained strong, with 9,908 training sessions delivered — 23% above target. In Zambia, our integrated community eye health network screened 68,035 children — nearly double our target — while in Bangladesh, our women-led green vision centres continued to break down barriers to care. With 42,821 patients seen, over half of whom were women and girls, these centres are transforming access to eye care and empowering women as leaders in their communities.

Elsewhere in Bangladesh, we continued to support vulnerable communities in Cox’s Bazar, delivering vital services to the Rohingya population, and concluded a successful project with tea pickers in Sylhet, where access to glasses directly improved livelihoods. In Mongolia, we screened over 2,000 premature babies and trained hundreds of professionals, while in India, we opened two new green vision centres and distributed over 22,000 pairs of glasses.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital returned to Mongolia and Bangladesh in 2024, delivering training and surgery in partnership with local hospitals. In Mongolia alone, over 250 professionals received world-class training, and more than 50 patients received life-changing surgery. We also supported impactful projects in South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Peru, helping to expand access to eye care through training, research, and essential equipment.

Our digital innovation also continued to thrive. Cybersight, our e-learning and telemedicine platform, reached the milestone of 100,000 users worldwide. This global community is helping to raise the standard of eye care everywhere.

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In 2024, we continued to make significant progress towards growing and diversifying our income. Major donor contributions increased by 50% year-on-year, and income from companies, trusts and foundations, and the public all saw double-digit growth. This resulted in an additional £441k in donation income (excluding legacies and statutory sources) compared to the previous year.

Whilst we continue to grow the level of restricted donations last year, and in the face of fluctuating income from legacies and the volatility of global statutory funding, we also took the strategic decision to invest in our sustainable and controllable public giving income stream, which is a major source of unrestricted income for Orbis UK. This in-year investment enabled us to inspire a new generation of regular donors to the charity, providing reliable and resilient funding for our future programming over the coming years.

We were also honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh to our second annual Orbis Visionaries reception at Abbey Road Studios. In her role as Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Her Royal Highness reflected on her visit to Orbis projects in Ethiopia and reaffirmed the global call to end avoidable blindness.

Looking ahead to 2025, we will support 21 new and existing projects through Orbis International, with a continued focus on eliminating trachoma in Ethiopia, expanding rural eye care in Bangladesh and Zambia, and scaling services in Ghana. We’ll also launch new initiatives in Meghalaya, India, and South Western Ethiopia, while deepening our work in Mongolia to ensure every premature baby receives the care they need.

Together, we are building a world where no one is needlessly blind. Thank you for standing with us.

With best wishes,

Rebecca Cronin (Chief Executive)

Nick Fox (Chair)

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Who we are and what we do

Orbis and our supporters aim to create a world in which no one experiences avoidable vision loss, simply because of where they live.

Over 1.1 billion people live with sight loss globally, so ending avoidable blindness for all is a global challenge. 90% of vision loss is preventable or treatable - that’s why we work with supporters and partners to deliver a sustainable and scalable approach to:

Our vision

A world where everyone can access the eye care they need to thrive.

Our mission

To build strong and sustainable eye care systems globally that put treatment and prevention within reach for all.

Why we do it

1.1 billion people in the world live with some form of visual impairment. Of these:

How we fight avoidable blindness

We provide specialist training and equipment for doctors, nurses and local eye care teams. We carry out screening and treatment programmes, and support the distribution of antibiotics for controlling trachoma.

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Our global reach – Orbis International

Orbis UK is an affiliate of Orbis International (OI), which is headquartered in the USA. Orbis UK funds projects delivered by Orbis International country programme teams, and supports the development and implementation of selected projects within these countries.

The vast majority of people who are blind and visually impaired live in low- and middle-income countries. Older people, women and rural and disadvantaged communities are particularly affected. We focus on where the need is greatest: in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

‐ Eliminating avoidable blindness is one of the most cost effective ways of fighting poverty. Research shows that every $1 invested in tackling leading causes of blindness, such as cataract and refractive error, delivers a $36 return of benefits including education and employment outcomes. [1]

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10680113/?report=classic

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Our year in numbers

Orbis UK’s impact

Our partners and supporters helped us save the sight of people in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mongolia, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zambia across 18 projects in 2024.

Key successes in saving sight we delivered in partnership included:

Orbis UK’s income

Total income: £5,094k

Due to legacy income returning to normal levels in 2024 following an exceptional 2023, our total income for 2024 was -21% / -£1.4m year-on-year.

However, owing to the continuing generosity of our dedicated supporters, we saw significant year-on-year increases across fundraising streams in 2024. This growth helped us provide more access to sight saving eye care around the world.

Donations from major donors increased by 50% year-on-year, whilst income from companies, trusts & foundations and the general public all saw double-digit percentage increases. This resulted in £441k of increased donation income (excluding legacies and statutory sources) versus the previous year.

Following an extraordinary year in 2023, income from legacies returned to normal levels in 2024, resulting in a -46% / -£1.2m year-on-year legacies variance.

As percentages of total income:

Major donors, trusts and corporate partners 31% Individual donors 31% Legacies 27% Statutory donors 11%

With the unpredictable nature of legacy income each year, as well as the uncertain economic and political environment in which we are operating in, realising yearon-year growth across our diversified fundraising streams was more important than ever to ensure we sustainably fund our sight-saving work.

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In November 2024, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital visited Chattogram, Bangladesh, for a two-week ophthalmic training programme. Orbis clinical staff and volunteer medical experts provided hands-on surgical and patient care training to eye care professionals from across Bangladesh, in addition to simulation training and ophthalmic workshops. Among the volunteer experts were UK-based anaesthetists Dr Ghalib Mukadam and Dr Lawrence Azavedo, long-time Orbis volunteers who have helped share sight-saving skills around the world.

Comprehensive eye care

Working with partners to provide eye care everywhere, for everyone

We work in partnership across the health system, from community-based clinics to specialist hospitals, and at all stages of a patient’s journey, to deliver comprehensive eye care to people everywhere.

In 2024, our partners helped us to deliver 469,287 eye screenings, 37,378 treatments and provide 2,554,948 antibiotic doses in Ethiopia to people at risk from trachoma.

Ethiopia

This allowed us to treat nearly a million more people than expected in mass drug administration of antibiotics in Ethiopia. Over 5,000 people received sight-saving eyelid surgery for trachoma-trichiasis.

To ensure the efficacy of our work fighting trachoma, four projects in Ethiopia benefited from a new community-based feedback mechanism. 21 initial Orbis and partner staff were trained on the process, before they in turn trained 127 staff from 40 health facilities. Awareness of the scheme was raised through posters in facilities and radio broadcasts.

In 2024 we continued progress towards eliminating trachoma in Ethiopia. The leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, repeated trachoma infections deform eyelids and turn eyelashes inward. As a person’s eyelashes scrape the eye’s surface, each blink brings agonising pain. Without treatment, this can lead to permanent blindness. With over half of the world's at-risk population living in Ethiopia, our work there is critical to achieving the World Health Organization’s 2030 goal of global trachoma elimination.

During 2024 our teams in Southern Ethiopia identified higher trachoma prevalence rates than anticipated. In response, Orbis worked closely with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health so they could allocate additional antibiotics to areas Orbis support in Southern Ethiopia.

In addition, we conducted research funded by Sightsavers, helping establish how and when eye swab and blood samples can be used in trachoma prevalence surveys. These tests will enable more efficient deployments of mass drug administrations, meaning medicine and resources can go further in the fight against trachoma.

Beyond trachoma, comprehensive eye care services for other conditions were extended to patients in a number of regions within Southern Ethiopia. Nearly 3,000 patients received cataract surgery, including support with travel costs for patients in some of the most remote areas of the country. Over 2,200 patients received glasses, including many children through eye screening in schools.

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Tesfanesh’s baby Hoyte was just five weeks old when she noticed he was struggling to open his eyes through a teary discharge. When she heard there was a trachoma screening in a nearby village, Tesfanesh walked 45 minutes with Hoyte on her back to have him screened. Aster, an Orbis trained health worker conducting the screening in the village, diagnosed Hoyte with trachoma and provided antibiotics that will clear up the infection and prevent damage to his eyes.

Bangladesh

In 2024, our women-led green vision centres continued to provide vital eye services and break down barriers. 42,821 patients were seen at the centres (split across Chandpur and Rangpur) with nearly 30,000 receiving treatment and over 4,000 prescribed glasses.

57% of patients were female, helping to address longstanding issues with access to eye care for women and girls not being prioritised. The vision centres, which receive funding from a number of generous supporters in the UK and Europe, are run by women and have baby-changing spaces to overcome barriers that prevent women and girls receiving eye care.

During civil unrest in the summer of 2024, one of the vision centres was damaged by fire in Chandpur, leading to disruption of services. But thanks to the efforts of the local team, much of the equipment was saved during the fire, with Orbis supporters generously helping replace damaged equipment in order to restore services within a matter of weeks.

In Cox’s Bazar, our work with local partners continued to provide vital eye services for the Rohingya community in the world’s largest refugee camp. 88,824 screenings were completed, 1,626 people underwent surgery and 2,536 people received glasses, all numbers above target.

After launching in 2023, our project supporting tea pickers in Sylhet funded by Guernsey Overseas Aid in Northern Bangladesh concluded in 2024 with around 31,000 screenings and over 2,000 pairs of glasses provided. The project established a direct link between provision of glasses and increased income for the tea pickers, due to the intricate nature of their work and payment based on the amount of tea leaves picked. Additional support was also provided to purchase essential eye care equipment at a partner hospital, helping ensure ongoing sustainability of services in the area.

South Africa

We supported a project in the Western Cape to raise awareness of diabetes and diabetes-related eye health issues.

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in South Africa. 1,126 people were screened for diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. 19 health workers were trained in awareness-raising and health promotion. Working with local partners we organised a World Diabetes Day event, with 378 attendees receiving diabetes education and screePobi, a tea picker i n ing, and guidance on Sylhet, preventBangl a desh, received a pative physical activit es. i r of glasses

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When twin boys Hasan and Hossain were born, their parents were overjoyed. As Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the family had faced violence and persecution and fled to Bangladesh. Yet their happiness was short-lived when they realised the boys had serious vision problems. Kholil, their father, observed “The boys would often fall and hurt themselves as they couldn’t see where they were going”.

After he was told of Orbis’s services within Cox’s Bazar, Kholil took the boys for a screening and cataracts were diagnosed. After successful surgeries, glasses for both boys were provided by Orbis. Kholil added “My sons can now see more clearly, which makes me very happy. They are walking and playing without help”. Their treatment means a brighter future as the family rebuild their lives.

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Childhood blindness

Giving children the eye care they need to realise their potential

If a child’s eye condition is not identified early enough, it can lead to irreversible blindness which in turn can rob them of their education and cause a lifetime of economic hardship.

We work with partners around the world to provide specialist paediatric ophthalmology skills and treatment. Together, we can screen and treat children to provide the essential solutions we access in the UK, like cataract surgery, medicine and glasses.

Mongolia

Since 2009 and the introduction of resuscitation for low birth-weight babies in Mongolia, premature babies have faced improved survival rates but also increased risk from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). ROP causes abnormal blood vessel growth in the eyes of some babies and is the leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide, making early screening essential for identifying at-risk infants.

In 2024, Orbis continued our work with Mongolia’s Ministry of Health to integrate sustainable infant eye care within the health system. This included policy discussions on the mandatory inclusion of ROP screening across Mongolia for all babies born before 32 weeks. Throughout 2024, 2,079 premature babies were screened for ROP and 363 eye professionals were trained to identify and treat eye conditions in newborns.

India

There are more blind children in India than any other country in the world. 9.3 million children are visually impaired and 270,000 are blind. Yet many children could have their sight restored, if treated early.

Orbis’s green vision centres in India are community based clinics that provide a range of primary eye care services including examinations, minor treatments, detection of eye conditions and referrals to specialists whilst also being financially and environmentally sustainable.

Two new vision centres in Deogarh and Padampur opened in 2024. Overall, 47,647 people (6,455 above target) were screened across five green vision centres, schools and during outreach activities. 22,297 glasses pairs were given out and 438 educators trained on eye health and how to check pupils are wearing glasses correctly.

To address gaps in paediatric eye care availability in Odisha state, Orbis supported the training of Dr Sindhu, a paediatric ophthalmologist. Through home visits, Dr Sindhu helped address concerns from parents about their children undergoing surgery in order to help children have eye conditions like cataract and glaucoma treated.

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Sierra Leone

Working with other non-governmental organisation partners, we supported a hearing and vision research programme carried out in Sierra Leone. This initiative aimed to integrate school-based vision and hearing screenings to identify efficient low-cost treatment options to improve access to eye and ear care.

Dr Sindhu is Chief Medical Officer at Trilochan Netralaya eye hospital, Odisha, India. In 2024, Orbis supported Dr Sindhu to specialise in paediatric ophthalmology. Dr Sindhu’s training was completed with Dr Suma, a doctor who herself had received training from Orbis over 20 years ago. Following her training, Dr Sindhu is already seeing around 140 child patients a week at the clinic including prescribing glasses and performing cataract surgery.

“I want to transfer the skills I’ve learned through the Orbis partnership, so that many other female ophthalmologists can get the opportunity to learn paediatric ophthalmology. I can be a trainer to budding ophthalmologists, then I can support our society and others can benefit from the training I’ve received” Dr Sindhu

710 children were screened with 122 children identified with hearing impairments and eight required hearing aids and 103 required medications. 162 children required glasses, and 23 children had dual sensory impairments.

One of the successes was the crosstraining of vision and hearing specialists, which has allowed screening services to continue beyond the study period. It also demonstrated that hearing and vision screenings could be effectively integrated into a community-based setting, demonstrating that this approach is both feasible and scalable for future programmes.

This is particularly impactful for lowresource settings where healthcare infrastructure and access to specialised services is so often stretched and unavailable to all.

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Specialist training

Sharing expert knowledge with eye care professionals around the world

To achieve our vision of eye care everywhere, we work with partners such as local hospitals, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and governments to share skills, knowledge and expertise with local eye care teams. By mentoring and training eye care workers, we pass on the tools they need to save the sight of people in their communities.

In 2024, we delivered 9,908 training sessions for health workers, which was 23% above our target. Training is integrated throughout many of our projects, allowing us to ensure sightsaving work can be delivered around the world, long into the future.

Zambia

972 children had surgery and 286 children received glasses through the project, with partner hospitals also providing glasses to 949 others through the National Health Insurance Scheme.

In the North Western Province, we supported strengthening eye health services in Maheba refugee settlement and surrounding district. 27 teachers from 15 schools in the settlement attended primary eye care training and then worked with eye care staff and community health volunteers to screen 3,136 school children. The screening resulted in 108 children receiving glasses to correct refractive error and 26 children who needed specialist care were referred to a dedicated facility for this care.

Peru

The training of 266 health workers, 253 teachers and 275 community volunteers by Orbis created an integrated community eye health network in the Copperbelt province. Alongside community film screenings and radio broadcasts, increased awareness of eye health led to a large increase in patients referred for screening and diagnosis.

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A total of 68,035 children were screened as part of the paediatric project funded by Qatar Fund for Development in communities and schools, against a target of 36,000.

In Northern Peru, we helped increase community access to eye care. At Julcan provincial hospital, we supported the purchase of essential equipment for the eye clinic and eye care training for 20 health workers from primary and secondary levels. Vision screening toolkits were provided to all trainees and 452 people were screened, with capacity and access to eye care now increased for the community going forward.

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The Flying Eye Hospital

In 2024, Orbis UK supported the Flying Eye Hospital to visit Mongolia and Bangladesh. The converted cargo plane, donated to Orbis by FedEx, houses a state-of-the-art ophthalmic teaching hospital, enabling volunteer eye care experts to share their skills globally.

Both visits in 2024 involved treatments, and training for local eye care workers, delivered in partnership with local teaching hospitals. In Mongolia, over 250 eye care professionals received best-inclass training, and over 50 adults and children received sight-saving surgery.

In Bangladesh, a programme that delivered treatment in the training of glaucoma, strabismus and cataracts amongst other ophthalmic skills, was hosted in Chattogram. 44 patients received sight-saving surgery including 18 children. 113 eye care workers were trained in-person with over 100 more from 47 countries around the world participating online via Cybersight.

In both Mongolia and Bangladesh, the visits of the Flying Eye Hospital will leave a sight-saving legacy for patients who have regained their vision, and for the many eye care workers whose training will help deliver better patient outcomes for years to come.

At four years old, Nandin-Egshiglen lost interest in her favourite activities and began fearing nursery. When her parents noticed a clouding of her eyes, they became anxious about her sight.

Nandin-Egshiglen was soon diagnosed with bilateral cataracts. Surgery was unaffordable to her parents, but they were given hope by news of the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital arriving in Mongolia.

Onboard, Nandin was given a Seymour bear – a cuddly friend to comfort her and ease her fears. Orbis medical volunteers worked with local Mongolian doctors to perform the surgery. Now Nandin is looking forward to starting school. Many more patients in Mongolia will continue to benefit from knowledge learned on the Flying Eye Hospital visit to Mongolia.

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Trust, transparency and accountability

Fundraising statement

As we sought to meet the growing needs of people affected by sight loss around the world, our supporters continued to show their staunch commitment to Orbis UK and the fight against avoidable blindness.

Orbis UK is registered with the Fundraising Regulator, and we continue to adhere to the standards set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice: fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code

We operate a diverse range of income streams that raise money from individuals, organisations, statutory funders and ‐ legacies. We use third party suppliers to help us raise funds, especially when we do not have the relevant expertise in‐house. We ensure that safeguards are in place with our suppliers and require them to confirm, demonstrate and be continuously monitored by us to ensure that they comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

We act with the greatest care,

transparency and accountability in all our fundraising practices. We ensure the right policies and controls are in place so that we raise money in the most considerate and responsible way. We recognise our responsibility to act appropriately and compassionately when engaging with people in vulnerable or potentially vulnerable situations. All staff and volunteers involved with fundraising are trained and aware of our policies. The Safeguarding policy outlines our general approach with people in vulnerable situations.

The Ethical Funding policy, and the ‘Fundraising and Vulnerable Persons’ section in the staff handbook detail specific processes fundraisers implement and follow. Staff and volunteers are trained within inductions, and refresher training is carried out periodically.

We received 18 complaints in 2024, all of which were related to our face-to-face fundraising activity. All complaints were resolved by our in-house Supporter Care team.

The Orbis Supporter Promise

We value supporters’ contributions enormously, but above all, we value their trust and we make this promise:

We respect the privacy of their data. To find out more about our Supporter Promise and our policies on privacy and dealing with vulnerable supporters, please visit: gbr.orbis.org/en/ourpromise-1

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Safeguarding

Orbis UK is committed to protecting people from harm and providing safe and effective care for everyone we encounter. We ensure that we have appropriate safeguarding policies and that staff, volunteers and contractors follow a strict code of conduct. These policies align with the Charity Commission’s safeguarding guidance, the Charity Governance Code’s ‘Integrity Principle’, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s Enhanced Safeguarding Standards.

In 2024, we continued working with country programme partners to maintain safeguarding policies and processes for our programmes. We continued to work with Orbis International on the

development of a safeguarding reporting system for Orbis programmes in Ethiopia and India. This work will be progressed further in 2025.

The Safeguarding Management Group, led by the Designated Safeguarding Trustee, met three times in 2024 and reported to the programme committee and board. We continued our membership of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme which is designed to help prevent perpetrators of sexual misconduct moving between organisations undetected.

Orbis UK staff participated in an annual update on safeguarding. No safeguarding incidents were reported in 2024.

In 2025 we will continue to monitor, review and develop our policies and processes, particularly those in our country programmes.

Transparency and governance

The current Charity Governance Code, last revised in 2020, sets out good governance across seven principles: organisational purpose, leadership, ‐ integrity, decision making, board effectiveness, equality, diversity and inclusion, and openness and accountability.

The Orbis UK board remains committed to complying with the code and to a periodic review of its effectiveness against the principles set out in the code.

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How we did

in 2024

Goal 1: We will sustainably deliver our vision and mission

Our £3.1 million programme expenditure in 2024 was directed through Orbis International to support 18 new and existing projects. All projects were designed to deliver significant impacts for the communities they reached.

We continued progress on helping to eliminate trachoma in southern Ethiopia, supporting eye care in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, and developing our pioneering women led green vision centres in Bangladesh.

We funded five new projects in 2024 including research into combined ear and eye care in Sierra Leone, providing eye care in refugee communities in Zambia, tackling the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in South Africa, expanding access to eye care in Northern Peru, and additional trachoma elimination support in Ethiopia. Across 2024 our projects supported partners to:

A dedicated Orbis UK team worked with Orbis International and its country teams to optimise the performance of the projects, the value of the grants and compliance with donor requirements. The team also identified opportunities to secure significant extra funding for additional priority projects.

Goal 2: We will reach and engage the audiences most likely to support us

In 2024, we scaled up our fundraising to reach audiences receptive to our cause. Testing a range of marketing opportunities, we inspired nearly 4,000 new regular supporters across the UK, a significant increase on 2023 to make an ongoing commitment to Orbis and so help us plan our future income.

In addition we ran a Ramadan appeal, had activations for Diwali and Easter, and launched an integrated campaign around World Sight Day in October asking the public and celebrities to share their stories of eye care, which led on to another positive end of year fundraising campaign.

We reached over 4.8 million people on social media and gained nearly 1,200 followers. Our website had over 123,000 visits from a wide range of audiences, including those accessing our expertise on eye conditions.

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Goal 3: We will develop and strengthen our governance and organisational management

Governance compliance and best practice was a particular focus for 2024, as a range of improvements were made to the organisation’s practice. This manifested itself in an update to use of our reserves, conducting a review of internal controls using the Charity Commission’s CC8 checklist and consequentially updating the finance manual to reflect these findings. At the end of 2024, we conducted a tendering exercise to appoint auditors for the forthcoming three-year period, which resulted in the appointment of Price Bailey LLP as our new audit partner.

Business Support continued to provide the organisation with HR, IT and travel services, and effective office administration with a focus on upgrading the organisation’s IT security resilience, in light of the increased threat to the voluntary sector from malicious actors.

Goal 4: We will develop a culture that promotes staff wellbeing and encourages staff development

In 2024, we further strengthened our staff support offering by updating our Staff Handbook to reflect both legislative changes, as well as more practical solutions for challenges facing staff such as the inclusion of policies to support staff with menopause, carer’s leave and flexible working. In addition, we have worked closely with our partners at The College of Optometrists to accommodate a full set of staff on our core office days by upgrading facilities and creating more desk space. Orbis UK also initiated the creating of four working parties dedicated to staff wellbeing, under the umbrella of “I Love Orbis”. These groups focussed on feeling Inspired, Valued, Developed and having Fun at work, the feedback from which we aim to implement in future policies where practicable.

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Our second annual Orbis Visionaries reception, hosted at Abbey Road Studios in London, brought together supporters and eye care experts to shine a light on the vital work to end avoidable blindness in low- and middle-income countries.

We were honoured to once again be joined by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh, in her role as Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. In renewing the call to end avoidable blindness, Her Royal Highness reflected on her visit to Orbis’s work in Ethiopia to eliminate trachoma the previous year and the progress she had witnessed there.

The reception, sponsored by OMEGA, is the showcase event of our Orbis Visionaries programme, which helps connects supporters of ending avoidable blindness with opportunities to provide eye care at scale through Orbis’s work.

“Our family has been supporting Orbis for 31 years. Our commitment has been steadfast during this time because we know our donations are being maximised to save sight and transform lives. Our trust in Orbis means we had no hesitation in joining the Orbis Visionary programme, to commit our future support to ensure that more lives can be transformed.”

The Ruia family, Manchester UK Founding Orbis Visionary members

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh, joined us for our second annual Visionaries reception at the Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood, London in April 2024. The Duchess attended in her role as the Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and renewed the call to end avoidable blindness for all around the world.

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Looking ahead

to 2025

Goal 1: Invest in our programme priorities to meet our charitable objectives

In 2025 our programme expenditure will be directed through Orbis International to support 21 new and existing projects. All projects aim and are designed to significantly reduce eye health problems and increase access to eye care in the communities they reach.

Eliminating trachoma in southern Ethiopia will continue to be a major focus, alongside supporting eye care in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and through improving rural eye care services in Bangladesh and Zambia. We will also continue focusing on screening newborn babies for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in Mongolia, and supporting a significant scaling up of eye care services across Ghana.

Goal 2: Sustainably grow our income to deliver our vision and mission

Having successfully inspired 4,607 new donors in 2024 (a 62% increase from 2023), we will continue to invest in recruiting new monthly donors in 2025 to ensure long-term sustainable income for our sight-saving work.

We will also continue to focus on securing higher-value multi-year restricted donors for our transformational projects in Africa and South Asia.

Most importantly, we will ensure that our supporters feel the difference that they are making in the world, feel appreciated and thanked for their generosity, and are inspired to continue changing lives by saving sight.

We will also fund a new project strengthening paediatric eye care services in Meghalaya, India and increasing access to specialist eye care clinics in South Western Ethiopia.

A dedicated team will work with Orbis International and its country teams to optimise the performance of the projects, the value of the grants, and compliance with donor requirements.

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Goal 3: Reach and engage the audiences most likely to support Orbis

We will continue to identify and engage audiences with the highest propensity and capacity to give. Central to this is engaging with audiences in the spaces and moments when our work aligns with their interests, and highlighting how our projects serve a diverse range of communities around the world.

As we seek to grow Orbis’s brand in the UK further, we will work with influencers and offer a variety of ways to engage with our work, so that a range of audiences are more likely to start supporting Orbis.

Goal 4: We will develop and strengthen our governance and organisational management

Working closely with the board, we will continue to maintain a high standard of corporate governance ensuring adherence with relevant codes and legislation, aided by the appointment of new auditors for 2024 to help bolster accountability.

We will continue to review our internal financial controls and processes to ensure they remain fit for purpose and mitigate against the evolving risk profile that the organisation is faced with. This will be shaped by updates to policies, risk management strategies and through conducting internal audits through the year.

The Finance team will seek to improve its resilience across key support functions by working collaboratively across the team, ensuring contingency arrangements are in place and sector wide updates, such as changes to the Charities SORP, are incorporated into ongoing practice. The Business Support Team will have a focus on Staff Wellbeing by reviewing our employee benefit offering through benchmarking with peer organisations in an attempt to ensure that Orbis remains an employer of choice for those working in the sector.

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Thank you

Our sight-saving work wouldn’t be possible without our remarkable supporters, partners and volunteers

Generous individuals, charitable trusts and foundations

A Nelson and Co Limited Bliss Family Charity Charities Aid Foundation - Donor Advised Funds David & Helen Watson Eddie Dinshaw Foundation Gary Lee-Richards Johnnie E Johnson Mr and Mrs (Dr) Mehta Pro Victimis Foundation Qatar Charity The Ruia family, Manchester UK Ulverscroft Foundation The Zochonis Charitable Trust

Special thanks

British Embassy Addis Ababa British Embassy Doha Emad Turkman MBE Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh

UK and Europe medical volunteers

Dr Lawrence Azavedo Irma Casale Angeline Chaipa Dr Michelle Le Cheminant Dr Simon Courtman Dr Ghalib Mukadam Dr Manish Raval

Statutory and institutional funders

Qatar Fund for Development Sightsavers States of Guernsey Overseas Aid & Development Commission

Corporate partners

Heidelberg Engineering Hoya Lens UK OMEGA

Co-opted sub-committee members

Chris Bentley Donal Brosnahan Tony Cowles

Office volunteers

Polly Holt

UK ambassadors

Ann-Marie Ablett Polly Braden Tim Bucher Tom Davies Ian Fleming Mary Killen Brian Little Air Commodore Rick Peacock-Edwards CBE AFC FRAeS FCIM RAF (Ret’d) Sunil Ruia

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Board of trustees

Nick Fox, Chair, UK

Nick Fox has over thirty years of national and international experience in creative communications, based out of London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Nick sat on the worldwide board for DDB, an Omnicom agency network based in New York. His experience encompasses all sectors from fast‐moving consumer goods, finance, publishing, charity and the automotive industry. Nick has managed teams, budgets and international agency networks to increase consumer demand to drive brand value for some of the world’s biggest brands. In 2013, Nick started his own independent agency with four partners, Atomic London, of which he is now chair.

Trustees

Sir Dominic Asquith, Nominations Committee Chair, UK

After a number of years as a political analyst, teacher, journalist and traveller in the Middle East, Sir Dominic joined the British diplomatic service in 1983. He served in the Americas, South Asia and returned frequently to the Middle East. He was Ambassador successively in Iraq, Egypt and Libya between 2006 and 2012.

After retiring in 2013, he was recalled to government service as High Commissioner in India from 2016 to 2020.

Nick joined the board of Orbis UK in January 2020 and was appointed Chair in March 2022.

He is currently a Partner in Macro Advisory Partners, which provides ‐ independent, long term strategic counsel to decision‐makers in business and government.

Sir Dominic joined the Orbis UK board in October 2020.

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Siân Block MBE

Siân trained as a nurse and has over 30 years’ experience in many areas of healthcare, both nationally and internationally. These include the independent sector, the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care, voluntary sector organisations, charities and Resuscitation Councils (UK and European).

Siân joined the Orbis UK board in June 2020 and is also a member of the board of Orbis International.

Sheraz Daya MD FACP FACS FRCS(Ed) FRCOphth

Sheraz Daya is an ophthalmic surgeon in practice for more than 30 years. Brought up in Tanzania, he has in the pursuit of education spent time in several countries. He trained in the United States initially under the tutelage of David Paton, the founder of Orbis. He was in practice in New York City, and later was recruited to direct and modernise the Corneoplastic Unit and Eye Bank, Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, UK.

Sheraz practices at Centre for Sight an organisation he founded which has three branches. Interested in medical innovation and artificial intelligence, he co-founded a start-up company Infinite Medical Ventures in 2020.

He serves on a number of industry and society advisory boards and is the next president of AECOS-Europe (American European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery).

Sheraz joined the Orbis UK board in July 2023

Yvette Dunne MA FCA, Audit Committee Chair, UK

Yvette Dunne trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

After 15 years in financial management roles in the banking and recruitment industries, Yvette spent ten years as a CFO in the not‐for‐ profit sector.

Yvette joined the Orbis UK board in December 2017.

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John Ferris, MB, ChB, FRCOphth, Programme Committee Chair, UK

John has been a consultant ophthalmologist at Cheltenham General Hospital since 1999. He has a special interest in cataract surgery, squint surgery and paediatric ophthalmology. John has an international reputation in the fields of simulation and surgical training. He was the Head of the School of Ophthalmology in the Severn Deanery for 10 years and succeeded Larry Benjamin as the Royal College of Ophthalmologists surgical skills faculty lead in 2019, a post he held until 2023.

Fiona Hobbs

Fiona trained and qualified as a solicitor with Linklaters and has over 30 years’ experience (25 years as a partner) of developing major infrastructure and energy projects both in the UK and in emerging markets. She has held a number of senior management and governance roles within the firm and has spent six years as its global head of diversity and inclusion. She is a lay member of the Lord Chancellor‘s advisory committee.

Fiona joined the Orbis UK board in December 2021.

Nicola Floyd

Nicola worked in investment banking in London, Hong Kong, Bangkok and New York for more than 10 years. She worked as a consultant to Operation Fistula for two years, is the former CEO of Water Harvest and also sits on the board of the Edenbeg Charitable Trust. She has a degree in economic history from Edinburgh University, is a CFA charterholder and holds other financial and regulatory qualifications.

Nicola stepped down from the Orbis UK board in July 2024 after nearly seven years of service.

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Mona Khan, MD, Designated Trustee for Safeguarding, UK

Mona Khan, MD has over 25 years of clinical and surgical experience as an ophthalmologist. Her private practice was located in downtown Chicago and she was on the staff of Mercy Hospital for over 20 years. At Mercy, she was the principal comprehensive ophthalmologist at the Mercy Family Health Clinic, a federally funded clinic whose mission was to treat the most vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged residents from Chicago’s South Side.

She retired from clinical ophthalmology to move to London in 2020 with her husband and daughter.

Patricia Moller

‐ Following an awarded 25 year career with the U.S. Department of State, Patricia ended her active government service to return to the private sector. Through her consultancy, Moller Global Advisory, she has advised governments, international financial institutions and businesses from Fortune 500 juggernauts to greenfield startups. She chairs the boards of directors of West Africa LNG, Africa Project Advisors, and the Baara Hospital and Agriculture Projects. In addition, she sits on a number of other boards of directors, and joined Orbis UK as a Trustee in November 2017.

Patricia has been a member of the board of Orbis International since 2013.

In September of 2021, Mona became a trustee of Advanced Research Clusters Management Ltd (ARC). ARC owns some of Europe’s leading science and innovation clusters. Its portfolio includes Harwell, a leading science and innovation campus based in Oxfordshire.

Mona joined the Orbis UK board in December of 2021.

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Sophia Pathai MBBS MSc PhD MRCOphth

Sophia Pathai is an ophthalmologist by training. She worked in the NHS and subsequently as a clinician scientist undertaking research at the International Centre for Eye Health, based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Her passion for global health was ignited during her tenure as a staff ophthalmologist on the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital in 2009.

Sophia has been appointed to global medical leadership roles at companies such as Roche, AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson. She is currently Vice President of Medical Initiatives at Hevolution Foundation. She gained her BSc and medical degree from University College London, and her MSc and PhD were awarded by LSHTM.

Darsh Shah

Darsh Shah is an Audit, Assurance & Advisory partner at Blick Rothenberg. He has over 20 years of experience in professional practice and specialises in auditing and financial reporting to clients ‐ ranging from start ups to large international groups in the hospitality, care, recruitment and retail sector.

Prior to joining Blick Rothenberg, Darsh was a partner at an independent London practice, having spent a number of years at Deloitte LLP before that.

He is an FCA (Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants) and has a BSc in Management Sciences from The University of Manchester.

Darsh joined the Orbis UK board in December 2022.

Sophia joined the Orbis UK board in December 2021.

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Financial statements

As a tea picker paid by the weight of the tea she picks in northern Bangladesh, fading vision posed a threat to Minoti’s livelihood, and her ability to feed her children. Access to eye care locally is limited, leaving Minoti in fear of what the future held. But an Orbis funded project supporting tea pickers in the area provided eye screening and then a pair of glasses to restore Minoti’s sight and livelihood. . “ ' Fg =. om, als "4 Orbis UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 32 | . , “ ay iF \ ,

2024 Financial summary

Income 2024

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7%
Programme area spend 2024
4yyea =a ComprehensiveChildhood Blindness EyeCare
é y = Specialist Training
30% | 63%
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The cost of fundraising in 2024 was 49.7% of our income.

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Reference and administrative details

Orbis Charitable Trust is a registered charity (No 1061352) and a company limited by guarantee (No 3303689). The Memorandum and Articles of Association provide that the liability of each member is limited to £1 in the event of the company being wound up. Orbis UK's address, the names of trustees, the name of the Chief Executive and other senior management and information on advisers are detailed on the last page of the financial statements.

Orbis UK (Orbis Charitable Trust) is an affiliate of Orbis International (Project Orbis ‐ International), a non profit global development organisation established under the laws of the State of New York. The two organisations work collaboratively, sharing a common vision of a world where everyone can access the eye care they need to thrive, and they share a common mission to build strong and sustainable eye care systems globally that put treatment and prevention within reach for all.

Orbis UK engages in fundraising, branding, communications, grant management, donor stewardship and relationship management. Orbis International is responsible for all programme activities worldwide. It designs and manages programmes and determines the global medical and programme strategy. This relationship is described in further detail in Note 18 (Related parties).

Objectives and principal activities of the charity

Orbis UK's Memorandum of Association states that the objects for the public benefit for which it is established are:

a. The relief of persons suffering from blindness, sight deficiencies or other medical conditions and the prevention and cure of blindness, sight deficiencies or other medical conditions by the provision of training, education and counselling.

b. The relief of sickness of persons suffering from blindness, sight deficiencies or other medical conditions by, but not limited to, the provision of healthcare services and medical treatment.

c. The conduct of research into the causes and cure of blindness, sight deficiencies and other medical conditions and the publication of the useful results of that research.

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The trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit when considering Orbis UK's objectives and activities. Orbis UK provides funds to Orbis International to enable project implementation by grants funding to partners, who include ‐ ‐ government, local non governmental and community based organisations. When selecting the geographical project area, we consider the level of government commitment to eye care to ensure that our work is integrated sustainably in the national or provincial health system. More information on what Orbis UK does, our work, how we performed in 2024, and our four key goals for 2025, can be found in the front section of this report.

Financial review and results for the year

Income in 2024 was £1,385k (-23%) lower compared to 2023, primarily due to a levelling-off of legacy income, which dropped by £1,205k (-46%). This was a return to pre-2023 levels of legacy income, whereas in 2023 the charity benefited from the post-pandemic easing of probate delays that meant higher than budgeted income that year.

Grant income was £630k (-52%) lower than 2023, as a result of two key programmes funded by restricted donors ending in 2023. This was partly offset by year-on-year increases from our fundraising streams of £441k (+17%), which was part of our multi-year income generation strategy to grow our sustainable funding.

Overall expenditure was £492k (-8%) lower compared to 2023 and expenditure on charitable activities was £1,115k (-27%) lower. Spending on Childhood Blindness increased by £193k (+26%) from 2023 due to the increase in our programme work in Zambia. Comprehensive Eye Care was £1,263k (-39%) lower than 2023 due to the planned ending of funding for programmes in Ethiopia from restricted donors. Expenditure on Specialist Training was -£85k (-28%) compared to 2023 due to a reduction in restricted funding for our Cybersight and Flying Eye Hospital programmes.

A priority for the trustees and senior management team is to balance the funding requirements for our projects both now and in the future, with the ratio of our charitable activities spend versus the cost of raising funds an indicator of this. We carefully consider this from both an annual perspective and with a view to increase funding for our programmes in future years. In 2024, our ratio was 49.7%. This reflected the significant year-on-year decrease in legacy income, which is out of our control, and the decrease in grants within a volatile government funding environment.

To bolster our future income generation in a controllable and predictable manner, we took the strategic decision to invest in our successful unrestricted public giving income stream in 2024. The timing of this investment in 2024 was two-fold: 1. invest early to realise the returns sooner in the coming years, and 2. with the knowledge of a significant restricted donation that would remit in early 2025. By balancing all of these factors, we are able to increase the certainty of greater multi-year funding for our charitable activities over the coming years to save more sight and transform more lives.

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Due to the reduction in legacy income compared to 2023 and the decision to invest in our fundraising campaign, this resulted in unrestricted funds at the end of December 2024 reducing, but still being £861k higher than the trustees' reserves target of £1,541k. The trustees have set a budget for 2025 that aims to further utilise this excess into increasing our spend on charitable activities and, given the success achieved in 2024, plans further investment in our Public Giving campaigns aimed at generating even greater returns over the next five years.

Structure, governance and management

Orbis UK is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association adopted on 29 September 1997, 22 December 2005 and 17 April 2020. The board of trustees is responsible for the overall governance of the charity. It makes decisions on the strategic direction and policies of Orbis UK and delegates day‐to‐day management and implementation of these decisions to the chief executive.

Orbis UK adheres to Orbis International's global policies relating to project selection and approval; all other policies are approved by the trustees to comply with UK legal requirements and good business practice. In addition, Orbis UK and Orbis International collaborate on the content of global policies, e.g. safeguarding policies. The board of trustees is authorised to appoint new trustees as additions to the existing board or to fill vacancies arising through resignation or death. The trustees are members and directors for Companies Act purposes. The following trustees retired at the 2023 AGM: Nicola Floyd. The trustees have adopted the Charity Governance Code recommendation that the maximum term of office for a trustee should be nine years.

Two members of the board also served as directors of Orbis International during the year: Patricia Moller and Siân Block.

On appointment to the board, trustees receive a trustee handbook that includes the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Charity Commission and good governance information, trustee job descriptions, terms of reference for subcommittees, and programme information. They receive inductions from the chief executive and the senior management team. At board meetings, presentations are made on relevant topics to keep trustees up to date with developments within Orbis and the charity sector generally.

Normally, the board meets four times a year and delegates the exercise of certain powers in connection with the management and administration of the charity, as set out below. Three subcommittees report to the board, each with specific terms of reference and functions delegated by the board.

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Charity Governance Code

The Charity Governance Code, which is designed as a tool to support improvement in the governance of charity boards and recognised as a standard against which performance can be evaluated, was updated in 2020. The Orbis UK board is mindful of the Code's guidance and is committed to periodic reviews of our relevant practices. The last board evaluation was conducted in 2021, and the Nominations Committee guides these improvements.

A designated safeguarding trustee ensures that safeguarding is prominent in the charity's ‐ agenda, and a staff led Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion group established in 2020 has a remit to collect, discuss and disseminate best practice, including board and staff recruitment, to ensure Orbis UK reflects the diversity of UK society.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee comprises trustees who are responsible for reviewing the management accounts throughout the year, monitoring Orbis UK's internal controls, recommending the appointment of auditors, reviewing the management letter submitted by the auditors, risk assessment and financial management of the charity.

Programme Committee

‐ The Programme Committee comprises trustees and co opted members who are responsible for ensuring that Orbis UK maintains a high standard in project selection, development, implementation and monitoring.

Nominations Committee

The Nominations Committee comprises trustees who are responsible for assessing and reviewing applications to recruit and select appointees to the board. The committee decisions are subject to the board’s consideration and approval.

Chief executive and senior management team

The chief executive is responsible for the management of Orbis UK's affairs and for implementing policies agreed by the trustees. The chief executive is supported by the senior management team. The senior management team comprises key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing, controlling and operating Orbis UK on a day‐to‐day basis.

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Remuneration of personnel

The pay of staff, including the senior management team, is reviewed annually by an external HR consultant, the Director of Finance and Operations, and the Chief Executive Officer. Staff pay is approved by the trustees of the Audit Committee. The review includes a benchmarking exercise which is carried out annually against comparable roles within the public and not‐for‐ profit sector, to set market pay levels and to ensure that salaries remain competitive. All staff are paid at least the London Living Wage as calculated by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission.

All staff who have passed probation at the beginning of the year and whose salaries are not adjusted as part of the benchmarking exercise will receive cost of living increases based on the Consumer Price Index where possible. Staff who are on probation at the beginning of the year will receive the cost of living payrise when they pass probation, where possible.

Risk management

The trustees are committed to maintaining a robust risk management framework to manage risk appropriately. The Audit Committee considers Orbis UK's strategic and operational risks and the mitigations for risks at each meeting. The board formally reviews the risk policy, the risk register and approach to risk management annually and this was updated in 2024 to reflect updated methodology as outlined in CC26: Charities and Risk Management. This resulted in a change to our scoring method and a re-evaluation of our gross risks and the impact of mitigating controls put in place to manage these risks.

This change identified four key gross risks (pre-mitigation) to the organisation:

Each of these risks have been mitigated to the point of being assessed as medium risks, but as these are the ones that are most likely to have a material impact on the running of the charity, we review these quarterly with the Audit Committee to ensure that confidence remains around the controls we have put in place to mitigate against these.

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Reserves policy

The trustees have examined Orbis UK's requirements for free reserves in light of the main risks to the organisation. The risks that have been identified are: having insufficient working capital to meet outstanding commitments; that unbudgeted costs may arise; and that there may be an unexpected shortfall in income. Having taken these risks into account, the trustees ‐ have identified a reserves target of £1,541k +/ 10% as an appropriate level of general reserves for Orbis UK to hold. At 31 December 2024, the balance on total unrestricted reserves was £2,429k, which was £888k above the maximum reserves target set by the trustees; this was due to an improvement in our Q4 forecast, particularly with increased legacy receipts and an improvement in unrestricted expenditure that significantly increased our unrestricted reserves at the end of 2024. The trustees have revised their budget for 2025 to allow for additional investment in programmes and fundraising development which will bring the general reserves closer to the target range.

In addition to the general reserve, at 31 December 2024, designated funds stood at £27k. Designated funds are funds allocated by the trustees for particular purposes. Further details are shown in Note 15.

Grant making policy

The board of trustees approves the decision to fund specific projects following a recommendation by the Programme Committee, financial approval by the Audit Committee, and selection criteria that include:

The size and/or priority of the targeted eye health problem

The need to maintain a balanced portfolio of programme activity.

All projects should fall within the Orbis International approved project portfolio. Funds are transferred to Orbis International on the basis of actual or forecast expenditure on the projects.

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Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of Orbis UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law, the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to: select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP/FRS 102; make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity's transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the provisions of the charity's constitution. The trustees have applied the exemption available to small companies from preparing a strategic report. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as each of the trustees of Orbis UK at the date of approval of this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which Orbis UK's auditor is unaware. Each trustee has taken all of the steps that they should have taken as a trustee in order to make themself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that Orbis UK's auditor is aware of that information.

This report has been prepared under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to small companies.

Approval

This report was approved by the Trustees on July 1st 2025 and signed on their behalf.

Trustee Nick Fox

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Orbis Charitable Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Orbis Charitable Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Summary Income and Expenditure Account, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

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Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

TThe other information comprises the information included in the trustees' annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• the information given in the trustees' annual report, which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors’ report included within the trustees' annual report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

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Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report included within the trustees' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, set out on page 40, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the charitable company and the sector in which it operates, and considered the risk of the charitable company not complying with the applicable laws and regulations including fraud in particular those regulations directly related to the financial statements, including financial reporting, and tax legislation. In relation to the operations of the charitable company this included compliance with the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011 and SORP 2019.

The risks were discussed with the audit team and we remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. We carried out specific procedures to address the risks identified. These included the following:

Reviewing minutes of Board meetings, reviewing any correspondence with the Charity Commission, agreeing the financial statement disclosure to underlying supporting documentation, and made enquiries of management and officers of the charitable company. We enquired about procedures in place for the reporting of any incidents to the Trustee Board including serious incident reporting of these matters as necessary with the Charity Commission and a review of legal fees during the period.

Management override: to address the risk of management override of controls, we carried out testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness. We also assessmed management bias in relation to the accounting policies adopted and in determining significant accounting estimates.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the FRC's website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance/auditor-s-responsibilities-for-the-audit-ofthe-fi/description-of-the-auditor%E2%80%99s-responsibilities-forThis description forms part of our auditor’s report.

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Use of our Report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Signed

Michael Cooper-Davis FCCA ACA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Price Bailey LLP, Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors

Date: 21 July 2025

24 Old Bond Street London W1S 4AP

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Statement of financial activities

(Incorporating an income and expenditure account) Year ended 31 December 2024

Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Note funds 2024 funds 2024 2024 funds 2023 funds 2023 2023
(£) (£) (£) (£) (£) (£)
INCOME FROM:
Donations and legacies
Investments		 5 3,644,365
34,587		 1,415,188
-		 5,059,553
34,587		 4,957,198
25,294		 1,496,609
-		 6,453,807
25,294
TOTAL INCOME 3,678,952 1,415,188 5,094,140 4,982,492 1,496,609 6,479,101
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
Charitable activities:
• Comprehensive Eye Care
• Childhood Blindness
• Specialist Training
Total expenditure on charitable
activities		 2,530,331
1,066,647
416,787
126,693
1,610,127		 -
874,608
521,137
95,453
1,491,198		 2,530,331
1,941,255
937,924
222,146
3,101,325		 1,867,807
1,655,187
558,992
221,179
2,435,359		 -
1,548,720
186,402
85,656
1,820,778		 1,867,807
3,203,907
745,394
306,835
4,256,137
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 9 4,140,458 1,491,198 5,631,656 4,303,165 1,820,778 6,123,943
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
Transfers between funds
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS:		 15
 (461,506)
-
(461,506)		 (76,010)
-
(76,010)		 (537,516)
-
(537,516)		 679,326
-
679,326		 (324,169)
-
(324,169)		 355,157
-
355,157
Total funds brought forward 2,890,266 219,935 3,110,201 2,210,940 544,104 2,755,044
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED
FORWARD		 2,428,760 143,925 2,572,685 2,890,266 219,935 3,110,201

All operations of Orbis UK continued throughout both years. There were no gains or losses other than the gain for the year.

Orbis UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

46

Balance sheet Year ended 31 December 2024

2024(£) 2023(£)
Note 2024 (£) 2023 (£)
FIXED ASSETS:
Tangible assets		 12 26,714 38,456
TOTAL FIXED ASSETS 26,714 38,456
CURRENT ASSETS:
Debtors
Short term deposits
Cash at bank and in hand		 13 483,134
1,791,044
1,087,076		 410,658
2,883,768
1,129,196
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 3,361,254 4,423,622
LIABILITIES:
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year
NET CURRENT ASSETS		 14 (815,282)
2,545,972		 (1,351,877)
3,071,745
TOTAL NET ASSETS 2,572,686 3,110,201
FUNDS OF THE CHARITY:
Restricted funds 143,926 219,935
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
General reserve 2,402,046 2,851,810
Designated funds 26,714 38,456
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 2,428,760 2,890,266
TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 15 2,572,686 3,110,201

These financial statements for Orbis Charitable Trust( company number 3303689) have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on July 1st 2025.

Trustee: Nick Fox

Trustee: Yvette Dunne

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Cash flow statement

Year ended 31 December 2024

Year ended 31 December 2024
Note 2024 (£) 2023 (£)
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net cash used in operating activities
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:		 A (1,167,820) (419,596)
Interest and income from investments 34,587 25,294
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (1,612) (44,396)
NET CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES 32,975 (19,102)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period (1,134,844) (438,698)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year B 4,012,964 4,451,662
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE YEAR B 2,878,120 4,012,964

Notes to the cash flow statement:

A. Reconciliation of cash flows from operating activities

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Net income / (expenditure) for the year (537,516) 355,157
Depreciation charges 11,799 18,162
Interest from investments (34,587) (25,294)
Loss on the sale of fixed assets 2,769 901
(Increase) in debtors (72,476) (127,169)
(Decrease) in creditors (536,595) (641,353)
(1,166,606) (419,596)
B. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Short-term deposits 1,791,044 2,883,768
Cash at bank and in hand 1,087,076 1,129,196
TOTAL CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 2,878,120 4,012,964

C. Analysis of changes in net debts

At 1 January
2024		 Cashflows
£		 Foreign Exchange
Movements		 At 31 December
2024
£ £ £
Short-term investments 2,883,768 (1,092,723) - 1,791,044
Cash at bank and in hand 1,129,196 (42,121) - 1,087,076
TOTAL CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 4,012,964 (1,134,844) - 2,878,120

Orbis UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

48

Notes to the financial

statements

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

1. Company information

‐ Orbis Charitable Trust (Orbis UK) is a registered charity and, as such, is a non profit making organisation, limited by guarantee and therefore with no share capital. The number of members at 31 December 2024 is 11, and their liability on liquidation is limited to £1 each. Orbis UK is registered as a limited liability company in England and Wales under number 3303689, and its registered office is 41-42 Craven Street, London, WC2N 5NG. Orbis UK is a Public Benefit Entity registered with the Charity Commission under number 1061352.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Companies Act 2006, and the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2015. Orbis UK constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

Orbis UK's key activities are the relief of persons suffering from blindness, the prevention and cure of blindness by the provision of training, education and counselling, the conduct of research into the causes and cure of blindness and sight deficiencies, and the publication of useful results of that research for the public benefit.

2. Key judgments and assumptions

In applying the charity's accounting policies, which are described in note 4, trustees are required to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period. Should the revision affect current and future periods, revisions are recognised accordingly.

The key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are described in the accounting policies; they are summarised below:

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Residuary legacies – The charity recognises residuary legacies when Orbis UK has an entitlement to the money (which is usually upon grant of probate) when it is measurable and when there is a probability of receipt; this, therefore, requires an estimation of the amount receivable.

3. Presentation currency

The functional currency of Orbis UK is considered to be pounds sterling because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the charity operates. The financial statements are presented in pounds sterling.

4. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements, together with judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty, are as follows:

a. Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Companies Act 2006, and the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2015. Orbis UK constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

b. Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about Orbis UK's ability to continue as a going concern for 12 months from the date of signing these financial statements. Due consideration for the effects of the global economic situation and the impact of inflation on donors have been taken.

c. Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are expendable at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objects of Orbis UK. The fund comprises the accumulated surpluses and deficits of unrestricted income and expenditure.

The trustees have designated certain funds within unrestricted funds for specified purposes (Note 15, Designated funds). Restricted funds are funds subject to specific trusts, which may be declared by the donors or, with their authority, by the terms of an appeal, but still within the objects of Orbis UK.

d. Income

Legacies are recognised once the criteria for recognition has been met, i.e. once probate has been granted, the gift is measurable and the probability of receipt is certain.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

e. Gifts in kind and donated services

Services, and gifts in kind that are donated to the charity are recognised as both income and expenditure. The value of such gifts/services is pre-determined by the donor, typically based on market prices for the goods/services.

f. Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for when incurred.

The cost of raising funds comprises fundraising costs associated with generating voluntary income. Charitable activities comprise all expenditure on activities directly relating to the objects of Orbis UK, including the payments of grants, direct programme expenditure, and the costs of supporting charitable activities.

Support costs comprise staff involvement with Orbis UK programmes and central costs (including management, finance, IT, governance and other support costs). They are allocated to activities on the basis of staff time or another basis consistent with the use of resources. Governance costs are those expenses incurred in compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

g. Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost and include any incidental expenses of acquisition. Assets costing more than £750 are capitalised. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost over their expected useful economic lives as follows:

h. Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the transaction price. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid.

i. Investments

Listed investments are included in the balance sheet at market value. Donated investments are sold shortly after receipt and therefore included in current assets.

j. Cash at bank and in hand

Short term deposits and cash at bank are split based on a working capital requirement of three months expenditure.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

k. Short term deposits

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

l. Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and in such cases that the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Short‐term trade creditors are measured at the transaction price.

m. Pension costs

During the year, the charity contributed to a defined contribution group personal pension plan. The contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities when incurred.

n. Operating leases

Rentals under operating leases are charged on a straight‐line basis over the lease term.

o. Liabilities

Grants are recognised in the accounts once a legal or constructive obligation has been created.

p. Financial instruments

Orbis UK has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method. Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, together with trade and other debtors. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise bank loans and overdrafts, trade and other creditors.

q. Foreign exchange

Transactions in foreign currencies are recognised at the rate of exchange at the date of the transaction except for Orbis International programme expenditure which is recognised at ‐ either the monthly average exchange rate or an agreed rate for the whole year. All non pounds sterling current assets and liabilities are translated into pounds sterling at the exchange rate on the balance sheet date. All exchange differences are recognised through the statement of financial activities.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

5. Income from donations and legacies

Unrestricted Restricted Total funds Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds 2024 funds 2024 2024 funds 2023 funds 2023 2023
(£) (£) (£) (£) (£) (£)
Donations 2,254,445 839,639 3,094,084 2,362,326 290,997 2,653,323
Legacies 1,389,920 - 1,389,920 2,594,872 - 2,594,872
TOTAL 3,644,365 839,639 4,484,004 4,957,198 290,997 5,248,195

6. Income from grants

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Sightsavers Ethiopia 112,784 562,920
UK Government Nepal - 9,646
Guernsey Overseas Aid Bangladesh 30,243 24,750
Guernsey Overseas Aid Ethiopia 24,742 -
Qatar Charity Bangladesh 67,913 -
Qatar Fund for Development Qatar Creating Vision - Ethiopia - 261,699
Paediatric Eye Care = Zambia 339,867 316,072
Flying Eye Hospital - Doha - 30,526
TOTAL 575,549 1,205,613

All income from grants is restricted income.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

7. Gifts in kind and donated services

The following gifts in kind and donated services were received:

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Google grant advert 1,903 61,335
Flights 2,690 8,498
Watch for Auction 5,300 -
Media / PR Campaign - 7,534
Gift Voucher - 75
TOTAL 9,893 77,442

These amounts are included within our income (see note 5) and expenditure (note 9).

8. Net incoming resources is stated after charging:

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Payments under operating leases 73,147 63,653
Depreciation 11,797 18,160
Fees paid to the auditor:
Audit fees 33,315 20,510
Tax advisory services 1,260 1,400
TOTAL 119,519 103,723

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

9. Total resources expended

Activities
Undertaken
Directly
2024 (£)
COST OF RAISING FUNDS
Raising Funds
2,343,085
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES		 Activities
Undertaken
Directly
2024 (£)
COST OF RAISING FUNDS
Raising Funds
2,343,085
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES		 Grant
Funding
2024 (£)
-		 Support
Costs
2024 (£)
187,246		 Total
2024 (£)
2,530,331		 Activities
Undertaken
Directly
2023 (£)
1,591,637		 Grant
Funding
2023 (£)
-		 Support Costs
2023 (£)
276,170		 Total
2023 (£)
1,867,807
Comprehensive
Eye Care		 388,825 1,346,370 206,060 1,941,255 444,001 2,453,366 306,540 3,203,907
Childhood
Blindness 144,759 701,375 91,790 937,924 129,055 524,242 92,097 745,394
Specialist
Training		 72,380 111,953 37,812 222,146 85,649 163,304 57,882 306,836
Total 605,965 2,159,698 335,662 3,101,325 658,705 3,140,912 456,519 4,256,136
TOTAL 2,949,050 2,159,698 522,908 5,631,656 2,250,342 3,140,912 732,689 6,123,943

GRANTS PAYABLE

GRANTS PAYABLE Grants of £2,159,698 (2023: £3,140,912) were made during the year for projects managed by Orbis International. £1,491,197 (2023: £1,820,777) represents the expenditure of restricted donations received from donors for specific projects, details of these programmes are given in note 15 under Restricted Funds. The balance of £668,501 (2023: £1,320,135) was directed to programmes in Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, South Africa, Peru, Zambia and Sierra Leone on specific projects identified by the trustees. Total support costs allocated to grant making activities totalled £335,662 (2023: £456,519).

10. Analysis of support costs

Support Staff
Costs
2024 (£)		 Facilities
Deprec
2024 (£)		 Governance
2024 (£)		 Total
2024 (£)		 Support
Staff Costs
2023 (£)		 Facilities
Deprec
2023 (£)		 Governance
2023 (£)		 Total
2023 (£)
COST OF RAISING FUNDS
Raising Funds
-
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES		 162,058 25,188 187,246 - 261,016 15,154 276,170
Comprehensive
Eye Care		 132,269 64,455 9,336 206,060 154,206 144,915 7,419 306,540
Childhood
Blindness		 49,601 38,688 3,501 91,790 46,262 43,609 2,226 92,097
Specialist
Training		 24,800 11,262 1,750 37,812 30,841 25,557 1,484 57,882
Total 206,670 114,405 14,587 335,662 231,309 214,081 11,129 456,519
TOTAL 206,670 276,463 39,775 522,908 231,309 475,097 26,283 732,689

Support staff costs have been apportioned on the basis of staff time in each area of charitable activity. Facilities and depreciation costs have been allocated on the basis of staff time in each area across fundraising and charitable activities.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

11. Staff costs

11. Staff costs
2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Wages and salaries 1,661,053 1,451,159
Social security costs 196,048 171,761
Pension costs 97,208 88,140
Employment settlement agreement - 7,083
TOTAL 1,954,309 1,718,143

Number of full time equivalent employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000:

2024 2023
£60,000 - £70,000 3 1
£70,001 - £80,000 4 2
£80,001 - £90,000 - -
£90,001 - £100,000 - 2
£100,001 - £110,000 1 -
£110,001 - £120,000 1 1

Contributions in the year to pension schemes for these employees was £45,340 (2023: £34,523). Remuneration in respect of key management personnel in the year was £378,858 (2023: £358,595).

The average headcount number of employees and full-time equivalent (FTE), analysed by function, for the year was:

2024 2024 2023 2023
Headcount FTE Headcount FTE
Fundraising and communications 20 20 19 19
Finance and administration 6 6 5 5
Programme 5 5 4 4
TOTAL 31 31 28 28

Orbis UK provides life assurance cover at four times annual gross salary for qualifying staff, the cost is approximately £210 (2023: £233) per person per annum.

Expenses reimbursed to one trustees amounted to £423 (2023: two trustees totalling £3,318) in respect of travel, accommodation, and entertainment. Neither the trustees nor any person connected with them have received any remuneration.

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

12. Tangible Fixed Assets

12. Tangible Fixed Assets
Office Computer Leasehold
Equipment Equipment Improvements Total
(£) (£) (£) (£)
COST
At 1 January 2024
Additions
Disposals		 67,711
1,312
-		 91,219
-
(12,946)		 -
-
-		 158,930
1,312
(12,946)
At 31 December 2024 69,023 78,273 - 147,296
DEPRECIATION
At 1 January 2024 67,711 52,763 - 120,474
Charge for year - 11,797 - 11,797
Disposals - (11,689) - (11,689)
At 31 December 2024 67,711 52,871 - 120,582
NET BOOK VALUE AT 31 DECEMBER 2024 1,312 25,402 - 26,714
At 31 December 2023 - 38,456 - 38,456

13. Debtors

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Accrued income 218,870 325,650
Trade Debtors 141,859 -
Prepayments 47,399 40,537
Gift Aid 72,762 24,252
Other debtors 2,244 20,219
TOTAL 483,134 410,658

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Grants payable 647,324 1,094,690
Other creditors 19,263 22,431
Tax and social security 54,656 63,849
Trade creditors 53,252 81,785
Accruals 23,194 45,672
Pension scheme 17,593 43,450
TOTAL 815,282 1,351,877
Grant commitments accrued (£)
Grant commitments recognised as at 1 January 2024 1,094,690
New grant commitments charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in year 2,159,698
Grants paid during the year (2,607,064)
Amount of grant commitments recognised as at 31 December 2024 647,324

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

15. Statement of funds

Gains and Balance
Balance 1 Jan Income Expense Transfers Losses 31 Dec
2024 (£) 2024(£) 2024(£) 2024(£) 2024 (£) 2024 (£)
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
General Reserves
Fixed assets		 2,851,810
38,456		 3,678,952
-		 (4,140,458)
-		 11,742
(11,742)		 -
-		 2,402,046
26,714
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 2,890,266 3,678,952 (4,140,458) - - 2,428,760
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Grant funding:
Comprehensive eye care
Childhood blindness
Specialist training		 65,666
154,269
-		 952,868
366,867
95,453		 (874,608)
(521,136)
(95,453)		 -
-
-		 -
-
-		 143,926
-
-
TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS 219,935 1,415,188 (1,491,197) - - 143,926
TOTAL FUNDS 3,110,201 5,094,140 (5,631,655) - - 2,572,686
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
General Reserves
Fixed assets		 Balance 1
Jan 2023 (£)
2,197,817
13,123		 Income
2023(£)
4,982,492
-		 Expense
2023 (£)
(4,303,166)
-		 Transfers
2023(£)
(25,333)
25,333		 Gain/Loss
2023(£)
-
-		 Balance 31
Dec 2023 (£)
2,851,810
38,456
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 2,210,940 4,982,492 (4,303,166) - - 2,890,266
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Grant funding:
Comprehensive eye care 590,253 1,024,133 (1,548,720) - - 65,666
Childhood blindness (15,047) 355,718 (186,402) - - 154,269
Specialist training (31,102) 116,758 (85,656) - - -
TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS 544,104 1,496,609 (1,820,778) - - 219,935
TOTALFUNDS 2,755,044 6,479,101 (6,123,944) - - 3,110,201

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59

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

15. Statement of funds (continued)

UNRESTRICTED FUNDS

Designated funds are held for the following purpose:

Fixed assets – £26,714 – this fund is the value of assets held as fixed assets which are not readily accessible as free reserves.

RESTRICTED FUNDS

Restricted funds are held for the following purposes:

Comprehensive Eye Care — £143,926 — Orbis projects focussing on adult eye health or both adult & child eye health, including rural eye care and Trachoma elimination.

Child Blindness - £0 - Orbis projects focussing on child eye health.

Specialist Training — £0 — Orbis projects focussing on strengthening health systems.

16. Analysis of net assets between funds

Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds
2024 (£) 2024 (£) 2024 (£) 2023 (£) 2023 (£) 2023 (£)
Tangible fixed assets 26,714 - 26,714 38,456 - 38,456
Current assets 2,508,130 853,124 3,361,254 3,494,489 929,133 4,423,622
Grants payable 61,874 (709,198) (647,324) (385,492) (709,198) (1,094,690)
Other current liabilities (167,958) - (167,958) (257,187) - (257,187)
TOTAL NET ASSETS 2,428,760 143,926 2,572,686 2,890,266 219,935 3,110,201

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60

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Statements year ended 31 December 2024

17. Financial commitments

At 31 December Orbis UK had annual commitments under an operating lease for premises that we have occupied since June 2023:

2024 (£) 2023 (£)
Within one year 79,013 72,638
Between one to
five years		 97,722 182,897
TOTAL 176,735 255,535

In 2024 £73,147 (2023: £63,653) was paid under an operating leases. Orbis UK had no capital commitments at the end of the year (2023: none).

18. Related parties

a. Orbis UK is an affiliate of and has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Project Orbis International Inc, a not for profit organisation registered in New York. The MoU includes the use of the trademark and how the two organisations will work together. Patricia Moller and Sian Block served as Directors of Orbis International.

The expenditure incurred during 2024, with respect to Orbis International projects amounted to £2,159,698 (2023: £3,140,912) and covers grants payable for programmatic work in Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, South Africa, Peru, Zambia and Sierra Leone. The outstanding balance due to Orbis International at 31st December 2024 was £647,324 (2023: £1,094,690).

b. Donations were received from one Trustee amounting to £360 (2023: three Trustees totalling £6,565).

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Trustees and officers

Listed below are the current and past trustees who served during the year and to the date of signing of these accounts, together with the names of the chief executive, senior management team and external advisers.

Trustees

Nick Fox Sir Dominic Asquith Siân Block Sheraz Daya Yvette Dunne John Ferris Nicola Floyd Fiona Hobbs Mona Kahn Patricia Moller Sophia Pathai Darsh Shah

Chief Executive and Company Secretary

Rebecca Cronin

Senior Management Team

Karl Askew (until January 2024) Florence Branchu (until July 2024) Colman Cawe Nilesh Pandya (from January 2024) Katherine Gannon (from July 2024)

Registered office

41-42 Craven Street, London, WC2N 5NG

Auditors

Price Bailey LLP

Bankers

Barclays Bank PLC, Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8DN

Solicitors

Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE

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62

Irma Casale, NHS nurse and Orbis medical volunteer, providing hands-on training to local eye care teams during a 2024 strabismus-focused hospital training in Hawassa, Ethiopia – helping strengthen paediatric eye care services.

Orbis UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

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orbis.org +44 (0)20 7608 7260

Orbis UK 42 Craven Street, London, WC2N 5NG

Registered charity no. 1061352. Company number 3303689. All photos copyright Orbis, with special thanks to Genaye Eshetu, Geoff Oliver Bugbee and Sahos Mostafiz

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