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2022-12-31-accounts

Annual report 2022 Sightsavers

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Sisters Asmau and Fatima
at their home in Nigeria.
Their mother Amina and
her husband are both blind
and provide for their family
through begging. We
provided five of Amina’s
children, including Asmau
and Fatima, with life-
changing cataract surgery.
© Sightsavers/KC Nwakalor
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451,024 people had sight-restoring eye operations

50.4% 40 of our staff across the globe are women

articles were published by Sightsavers in peer-reviewed journals

www.sightsavers.org | 3

Contents

4 Background and context

8 About Sightsavers

40 Our objectives for 2023

10 Our work

42 Structure and governance

14 Our performance in 2022

32 Risks and challenges

54 Financial statements

34 Internal

13,675

children with disabilities were supported to go to school

22.1 135 million million people saw treatments were our posts on distributed to social media prevent diseases

Background and context

1.1 billion people worldwide have an untreated or preventable visual impairment

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Worldwide,
43
million
people are blind
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Worldwide,
More than
neglected tropical
90% diseases (NTDs)
affect 1.5 billion
of people who
are blind live in people
low and middle
income countries
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510 million

people have near vision impairment that could be easily addressed with glasses

261 million people are blind or visually impaired because of refractive error or cataracts

Children with visual impairment in low and middle income countries are up to five times less likely to go to school than children without disabilities

Worldwide, more than

1.3 billion people have some form of disability

6 | Annual report 2022

I’m incredibly proud of what Sightsavers has achieved in 2022. By the end of the year, all of our programmes were back up and running following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Message from the chair

I’m proud of what Sightsavers has achieved in 2022. By the end of the year, all of our programmes were back up and running following the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a significant achievement, given the various other challenges of the year, and it allowed us to reach more individuals than ever before.

Over the course of the year, Sightsavers conducted 8.8 million eye examinations – a 36% increase from 2021. We performed more than half a million operations and delivered eye health solutions to more than 780,000 people.

We exceeded our treatment delivery targets for neglected tropical diseases, distributing more than 135 million treatments and reaching an estimated 87 million people. We witnessed an incredible achievement in Malawi: the elimination of trachoma. Sightsavers and its partners supported the government of Malawi to achieve this goal which was validated by the World Health Organization. We were fortunate to host the Countess of Wessex (now the Duchess

of Edinburgh) to witness this milestone, which was made possible through funding from The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust – a fitting tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, coming not long after she died.

2022 wasn’t without challenges. The tragic events in Ukraine had major impacts – inflation went up dramatically across the world, increasing our costs. The cost of living crisis has made fundraising much more difficult, both in terms of giving from the public and continuing cutbacks in development spend from government.

Despite this, the cash income of the organisation in 2022 remained almost the same as in 2021, with a generous donation made on behalf of Mackenzie Scott

www.sightsavers.org | 7

We increased our eye examinations by 36% from 2021

2021 2022

(through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) offsetting reductions in funding from the UK government.

Total income increased substantially due to additional gifts in kind in the form of Mectizan tablets from Merck, used in our river blindness programme.

We’ve seen millions of lives changed, creating a ripple effect throughout the countries we work in. All of this is thanks to the generous support of donors and our partner organisations, and the tireless efforts of our staff worldwide.

We know the future will hold further challenges caused by fragility and conflict, as well as the global financial situation and the impact of climate change. But I’m confident that Sightsavers is in a strong position to meet them and to continue to transform lives around the world.

We increased the number of glasses we dispensed from 585,458 in 2021 to 782,029 in 2022

2021 2022

I’d like to personally thank our staff, trustees, partners and supporters, who have been so steadfast during a time of challenge. It is their work and support that has enabled Sightsavers to have such a successful year.

Sir Clive Jones Chair, Sightsavers

A tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Sightsavers will remember with affection the support we received from Queen Elizabeth II’s patronage. From endorsing our work by granting our royal status to visiting our UK headquarters and meeting our staff, she showed great commitment and gave tremendous validity to our cause. We are so very grateful and privileged to have had her patronage.

About Sightsavers

Strategy, aims and objects

Our vision

We want a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and where people with visual impairments and other disabilities participate equally in society.

Our mission

We are an international organisation working with partners in low and middle income countries to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

Our objects

To advance health, with particular emphasis on preventing and/or curing blindness.

To advance the education of people with disabilities, with particular emphasis on blind people.

To prevent or relieve poverty among people with disabilities, with particular emphasis on blind people.

Sightsavers’ programme and thematic strategies were finalised in 2021. The strategies drive a coherent programme of work. All strategies consider our operating environment, particularly relating to climate change and fragile environments.

Our current strategy is shown in our scorecard, known as the strategy implementation and monitoring (SIM) card (see page 9). Each objective has indicators and targets that are used to measure performance across all areas of work.

There are four ultimate aims at the top of the SIM card, linked to our objects on health, education and inclusion. These aims inform what we want to achieve for our programme participants. At present, we undertake demonstration programmes in eye health, education and social inclusion. We have a separate object to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is tied to our object on advancing health.

Each of the objects has ‘process’ and ‘outcome’ indicators, with data collected at least once a year, sometimes every six months. When reviewing our aims and objects, our trustees take into account the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, and continue to do so when planning future activities.

To view our strategies, visit www.sightsavers.org/strategies

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10 | Annual report 2022

Our work

Eye health

We believe affordable health care should be available to everyone. As defined in the World Health Organization (WHO) health systems handbook, we help to improve local health systems by:

We also promote the inclusion of universal eye health in national health policies. And our district eye care programmes continue to show how we can improve eye health coverage so that it is gender-equitable, disability-inclusive and sustainable.

Education

We believe good-quality education should be available to all children, irrespective of gender, disability, learning requirements, socio-economic background, geographical location, ethnicity and any other distinguishing characteristics. In each of the countries where we work, we aim to:

Who we work with

Ministries of health, WHO and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Who we work with

Ministries of education, other ministries, organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs), alliances and coalitions, universities and community groups.

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Social inclusion

Our social inclusion strategy is aligned to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We focus on economic empowerment, political participation, gender and advocacy, following three related paths:

Who we work with

OPDs, the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and several of its members, and NGOs.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

Our overriding goal is to eliminate NTDs while ensuring our NTD work helps to improve local health systems and encourages progress towards universal health coverage, in line with the new WHO road map on NTDs. In particular, we will:

Who we work with

Much of our NTD work is undertaken in consortia, funded by donor foundations and governments. We cooperate fully with other large NTD programmes and their donors to avoid duplication, share learning and ensure we can all consistently support the governments of endemic countries, who are the ultimate owners of these programmes.

12 | Annual report 2022

Where we work

Sightsavers works in more than 30 countries in Africa and Asia, where we partner with local, regional, national and international organisations and governments. We also have nine regional and support offices around the world.

Regional and support offices

www.sightsavers.org 13 loo, Liberia

Sightsavers supports projects that screen schoolchildren for health problems and provides spectacles and treatment where needed. This helps boost their educational prospects.

Our performance in 2022

Our overall performance in 2022 saw a considerable improvement on 2021, especially in eye health and our social inclusion training provision. Although some early programme closure has impacted our NTD numbers, as we move closer to elimination we will continue to see a decline in the number of treatments required. Our surveys show an increase in the number of people who no longer require interventions against NTDs.

16 | Annual report 2022

Eye health

We conducted 8.8 million eye examinations in 2022; a 36% increase from 2021. We exceeded our annual target by 21%, working in 15 countries and 48 projects. More than half of the examinations were at primary level and the rest at secondary/ tertiary level. We saw a steady growth in examinations throughout the year, unlike in 2021, when we faced challenges due to COVID-19. We maintained a balanced gender ratio among those examined.

In 2022, we performed more than half a million operations, 90% of which were for cataracts. We exceeded our annual target for cataract surgery by 5% and achieved a 22% increase from the previous year. We reached 15 countries through 39 projects, and India contributed to more than three-quarters of the global cataract surgery performance. We reached a higher number of women than men with our cataract operations.

We delivered eye health solutions to more than 780,000 people in 11 countries, exceeding our annual target by 27%. We distributed more spectacles than ever before, especially in India, where we reached 140% of our goal. We also ensured gender equity, with nearly half of our programme participants being female.

We carried out more than 8.8 million eye examinations in 2022.

Neglected tropical diseases

We have made significant progress in providing NTD surgeries for people affected by trichiasis and hydrocele in 13 countries. Trichiasis is a condition where eyelashes turn inward and scratch the eye, leading to blindness. Hydrocele is a swelling in the scrotum caused by lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic infection.

In 2022, we conducted 27,224 trichiasis surgeries and 2,633 hydrocele surgeries, reaching 66% and 100% of our targets respectively. This represents a 32% increase in trichiasis surgeries and a 43% decrease in hydrocele surgeries compared to 2021. The decrease in hydrocele surgeries was due to the early closure of our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Officefunded Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (Ascend) programme following cuts to the foreign aid budget. We also achieved 1,119 trichiasis surgeries against a target of 5,611, despite insecurity in Nigeria caused by a range of incidences, including banditry and kidnap for ransom.

We supported the delivery of preventive chemotherapy for five NTDs affecting millions of people in 15 countries. We exceeded our target by delivering more than 135 million treatments, reaching an estimated 87 million people. However, this was a decrease of 22% compared to 2021, due to the UK government exiting Ascend. Most of the treatments were for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. We also supported treatments for schistosomiasis. The number of treatments decreased by 70% compared to 2021, partly because of a shortage of drugs in Nigeria. We also supported 14.5 million treatments for trachoma, including in Yemen, where the security improved.

Note that outputs include all those supported by consortium partners.

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Reya, a university student in Bangladesh, is a supporter of Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign.

Social inclusion

There was an increase in the number of adults we trained in 2022 compared to the previous year. Among all trained, 8,270 people with disabilities received rights and entitlement training, 4,850 attended livelihood trainings, and 1,328 people with disabilities received basic training on orientation and mobility.

This was due to the COVID-19 restrictions that affected training events in Indian states, where this activity is concentrated. In 2022, we saw increased demand for trainings after the restrictions of last year. In addition, we continued to support jobseekers in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda as our economic empowerment programme continues to grow.

We delivered on some of our Disability Inclusive Development (DID) Inclusive Futures programme fundamental principles. These include scaling up small-scale projects to design and deliver six new programmes, widening the programme’s reach. By the end of the programme’s fourth year, we have already reached over 16 million people. We have also changed how we use our growing evidence base: increasingly disseminating our learning,

increasingly disseminating our learning with the global community and governments, starting with sharing important learning from COVID-19 programming. This will help inform responses to future crises, where people with disabilities are disproportionately affected.

Human resource development

In 2022, we made significant progress in developing human resources for our health and education programmes. We trained a large number of professionals on health and education/inclusion short courses, exceeding our annual target for the latter by 6%.

India was the main country where we delivered inclusive education training. We also qualified five health workers with professional degrees and trained 60 hydrocele surgeons and 27 ophthalmic personnel to support our work on NTDs and eye health. In addition, we trained 243,940 village level volunteers, mainly community drug distributors, who are essential for our community-based interventions.

Education

We supported thousands of children with disabilities in their education through various projects in different countries last year. In 2022, we provided educational support to 13,675 children with disabilities, including 11,364 in primary education and 2,311 in secondary education.

The largest numbers of children we supported were in Cameroon and India, where we surpassed our targets by a large margin. We also helped smaller numbers of children in Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria.

18 | Annual report 2022

Our work in numbers

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2019 2020 2021 2022
Eye health
People examined 11,542,420 6,309,510 6,444,117 8,793,679
Operations performed
(including cataracts,
473,430 286,724 413,747 502,298
glaucoma, diabetic
retinopathy and trichiasis)
Cataract operations
403,346 256,657 370,402 451,024
carried out
Spectacles dispensed 493,186 259,654 585,927 782,037
Neglected tropical
diseases
People treated
28,538,035 11,124,713 8,308,302 14,449,069
for trachoma
People treated for
42,744,697 8,841,252 52,402,304 44,915,247
river blindness
People treated for
50,085,660 2,016,150 74,465,405 53,670,105
lymphatic filariasis
People treated for soil-
5,890,582 4,378,966 11,407,199 14,430,770
transmitted helminths
People treated for
15,332,416 15,768,671 26,218,535 7,817,504
schistosomiasis
Total NTD treatments 192,783,929 42,129,752 172,801,745 135,282,695
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2019 2020 2021 2022
Education and inclusion
Children who are blind,
have low vision or
13,535 9,032 19,788 13,675
other disabilities being
supported in school
People who are blind,
have low vision or
20,916 16,921 4,413 24,366
other disabilities who
received training
Human resources
Health workers
trained to gain initial 12 12 5 5
professional qualification
Professionals supported
on eye health 102,482 51,670 125,086 59,719
short courses
Professionals supported
on education or inclusion 94,533 5,732 49,783 18,801
short courses
Volunteers
Total number of village-
436,127 137,361 458,188 243,940
level volunteers trained
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Notes: Statistics from previous years may have changed from prior reporting due to updated information.

20 | Annual report 2022

Strategy, implementation and monitoring results

For more details, see our SIM card on page 9. For full performance notes for each indicator, see our online dashboard at dashboard-public.sightsavers.org

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Objective Indicator Target Result Status Trend
1. Demonstrate Outcome: % of
Not set
scalable countries where
due to
cost-effective Sightsavers supports
first-year
approaches eye health projects that 66.67
baseline
to eye health demonstrate improved
data
coverage of eye health
gathering
services in districts
Process: % of countries
Not set
where Sightsavers
due to
supports eye health
first-year
that demonstrate an 86.67
baseline
increased contribution
data
to eye health system
gathering
strengthening
Outcome: % of health Not set
projects with clearly due to
defined strategies that first-year
54.17
improve equitable baseline
access to services data
gathering
2. Strengthen Outcome: % of Not set
the capacity Sightsavers country due to
of education offices that have met first-year
71.43
systems the education transition baseline
to provide target for children with data
sustainable disabilities, girls and boys gathering
inclusive
education of Process: % of Sightsavers Not set
country offices that due to
good quality
are on track to achieve first-year
for children 100.00
their education system baseline
with
disabilities strengthening outcomes data
gathering
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Objective Indicator Target Result Status Trend
3. Demonstrate Outcome: % of social Not set
effective inclusion projects due to
approaches demonstrating progress first-year
40.00
that impact in delivering on the baseline
positively social inclusion strategy data
on the gathering
inclusion and
Process: % of countries Not set
empowerment
that can demonstrate due to
of people
effective inclusion of first-year
with disabilities 100.00
people with disabilities, baseline
particularly women and data
girls, within projects gathering
4. Deliver Outcome: % of
integrated countries where
NTD Sightsavers supports
Approaching
programmes NTD elimination that 90.00 86.96
target
in support are meeting national
of agreed milestones to eliminate
global targets or control specific NTDs
Process: % of projects in
Sightsavers supported
areas that meet or
exceed their mass drug Approaching
95.00 94.00
administration (MDA) target
targets for therapeutic
coverage (programme) or
epidemiologic coverage
Process: % of NTD
country projects where
Sightsavers is supporting
MDA or morbidity
management and
80.00 93.55 On target
disability prevention
(MMDP) with clearly
defined strategies to
improve access for
people with disabilities
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22 | Annual report 2022

Progress towards our objectives

Delivering for our programme participants

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What we planned to do What we did
1. Continue to invest We have continued to strengthen our thematic
unrestricted funding portfolios through unrestricted funding. This has
in new programming, provided opportunities to operationalise the thematic
aligned with the strategies into new programmes across our thematic
thematic strategies areas, especially in eye health, refractive error and
economic empowerment.
We have scaled up programmes in Tanzania and
Pakistan that are facilitating increased access to
high-quality eye care, refractive error and optical
services. The support to Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures
Spécialisées en Ophtalmologie (DESSO) contributed
to development of the eye health workforce for
Francophone West Africa. The investment has provided
opportunity to integrate climate-focused pilots in
Sierra Leone. Overall, we have eye health and refractive
error projects in 17 countries.
In economic empowerment, investment has enabled
us to start up or scale projects in 10 African countries,
with a focus on waged or self-employment, micro
enterprise, or agriculture informed by labour market
assessments. We have economic empowerment
projects across 14 countries.
2. Ensure successful start- We have continued to focus on ensuring that projects
up and inception of new are designed and delivered effectively. This process is
projects and new grants managed through our start-up and inception checklist,
which brings together all relevant support and delivery
teams to ensure that projects move quickly to delivery.
In 2022, there were a high number of projects that
went through this process, following successful
funding proposals, such as our large global livelihoods
programme in Kenya, funded by the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID). We also
allocated significant levels of unrestricted funding to new
programming. Examples include the District Inclusive Eye
Care Project in Bangladesh, the refractive error project
in Pakistan (Inspire), and the five-year phase of our eye
health project in Nampula, Mozambique.
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What we planned to do

3. Continue to deliver on our existing programme commitments, catching up on activities and outputs backlogs resulting from the pandemic, ensuring we work with partners and programme participants

4. Continue to embed and expand our safeguarding and complaint-handling frameworks

What we did

In 2022, we made significant strides in catching up on momentum lost throughout the COVID-19 pandemic period. Much of our programming returned to more normal delivery models and there was also a relaxation of some of the protocols that had been put in place to protect staff, partners and programme participants, especially in our eye health and NTD projects. Our education work picked up after the long closure of schools in some countries. There was a considerable increase in performance in the numbers of people examined, up 36% year-on-year, and significant growth in the numbers of cataract surgeries reported, up by 22% to 450,000.

The global safeguarding team, in conjunction with a specialist consultant, completed the design of a training package focused on effective investigation of safeguarding incidents. This training will be delivered to all safeguarding leads to increase the number of staff who can support such investigations. We have also continued engaging with our programme partners to support the development and strengthening of policies and incident-handling mechanisms at local level to enable more effective concern management.

We produced an animation for our website that explains the systems we have in place for effective handling of complaints. In addition, we updated the induction package for all new members of staff joining the organisation. Programme initiation meetings with partners and departmental awaydays were organised to provide information and training on effective handling of complaints made by programme participants.

24 | Annual report 2022

Increasing our capacities

What we planned to do

What we did

1. Continue to improve our With external technical support, we completed organisational data and the selection and implementation of a cost- system architectures, effective, secure and flexible data platform supporting more efficient solution to better support our data analysis ways of working, and and reporting needs for the years to come. ensuring we can meet The new data platform, implemented in 2022, reporting requirements automates the data uploads and transformation steps necessary for data analysts to produce key organisational reports and dashboards, freeing up time so they can focus on analysis and support to decision-making. We have been working on ingesting key operational data areas into this platform, aligning data models, automating data and transformation. This work will continue in 2023.

2. Continue to develop Partnerships are progressing well with the strategic partnerships with, International Disability Alliance, the WHO, in particular, the International Christian Blind Mission and members of the Disability Alliance, Christian Task Force for Global Health. This year was the Blind Mission, the World first in which the new strategy implementation Health Organization and the monitoring indicators were used to measure the Task Force for Global Health performance of the partnerships. This includes a survey by both Sightsavers and the partners and, in all cases, survey results were very positive, indicating that both partners see the value of the partnership. There are many examples of these partnerships in action which are demonstrated across other areas of the annual report.

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What we planned to do What we did
3. Influence key development Sightsavers has continued to deliver the
initiatives and resources organisation’s objectives through our strategic
being developed during 2022, policy engagement at national and international
including the Global Disability level and through our policy campaign, which
Summit, Commonwealth launched its first national campaign in Bangladesh.
Heads of Government
In February 2022, the government of Norway
Meeting, WHO report on
andthe International Disability Alliance hosted
disability, and the second
the second Global Disability Summit. We worked
World Disability Report
with OPDs and governments in 19 countries
to develop policy commitments and held
governments to account for previous promises.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting, held in July 2022, was a critical priority.
We inputted into the pre-summit process, which
led to the inclusion of eye care and eliminating
trachoma in the final communiqué.
In December 2022, the WHO published its
first ever global report on health equity for
people with disabilities. We provided policy
and communication inputs and convened
11 nationally-led consultations to provide
recommendations for the draft. We are engaged
at a senior level in early-stage World Disability
Report discussions.
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26 | Annual report 2022

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What we planned to do What we did
4. Continue to build our physical In 2022, we expanded the security team’s capacity
resilience capacity while through the creation of two additional resilience-
recognising the difficult focused roles in West Africa. This additional
security contexts in which regional resource has shown significant value
we operate in many of in managing serious incidents and complicated
our countries security contexts throughout the year.
With COVID-19 restrictions easing, we were able
to run our physical security training courses as
normal throughout 2022. We made significant
inroads into the backlog of training requirements
and expanded our regional training options to
improve support to staff in country offices. We have
also been able to restart defensive driving courses
and this will continue to be a key focus in 2023.
We conducted a full review of our crisis
management procedures and tested these in a
global simulation exercise. We have continued to
integrate International SOS support into our travel
insurance processes. We have also continued to
roll out new technical solutions, such as global
positioning system (GPS) trackers, to better
support country offices.
5. Remain focused on We have invested in both technological and
ensuring the highest level process enhancements to strengthen information
of information security security across the organisation. This included
across the organisation, a successful upgrade of Sightsavers’ end-point
update and deploy data protection software and the global upgrade of
protection and cyber- key networking equipment.
security training across
The information technology and systems change
the organisation, and
management processes underwent significant
achieve Cyber Essentials
enhancements, which were expanded to include
Plus accreditation
system owners from across the organisation.
To support these new processes, existing
information technology policies underwent
significant redevelopment and new policies
were approved and published. These changes
were recognised at the end of 2022, with
Sightsavers being awarded Cyber Essentials
Plus accreditation.
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What we planned to do What we did
6. Build our technical capacity To ensure effective operationalisation
across the thematic areas, and embedding of the thematic strategies,
with a particular focus we have strengthened the capacity within
on refractive error and the technical teams.
economic empowerment
We adopted a joint team approach by combining
eye health and refractive error with shared
resources. Two global technical leads have been
recruited – one to support refractive error and
the other eye health within Africa. Currently, the
team is working on developing new and updating
existing tools to build the capacity of country
offices to deliver on our strategies.
Within economic empowerment, we restructured
the directorate, setting economic empowerment
as a separate thematic unit within the programme
strategy and development directorate. We
recruited three technical advisors to support this
work across global and regional levels. In addition,
an ‘economic empowerment playbook’ has been
developed and disseminated to all countries with
economic empowerment programmes through
a series of induction sessions involving project
officers, programme managers, country directors
and lead OPD partners.
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Lymphatic filariasis patient Salifat at her shop in Nigeria – we help to treat and prevent neglected tropical diseases that affect more than a billion people.

28 | Annual report 2022

Learning and growth

What we planned to do What we did

1. Continue to strengthen organisational learning and knowledge management through aggregation and analysis of monitoring and evaluation data

There has been significant work on the development of our learning, accountability and monitoring progress (LAMP) framework, which is being designed so that we can better track our progress in meeting strategic objectives within each of our programme thematic areas.

LAMP is aiming to identify indicators that will enable us to build up our understanding of performance, from projects to overall thematic level. Indicators at the impact level of our strategy implementation and monitoring (SIM) card have already been collected for the first time in January 2023 for the whole of 2022. This work has been backed up by improved data analysis, driven through the adoption of analytical tools such as Power BI. We now have a considerable range of dashboards for key areas of programmatic data that are easily accessible and ensure those requiring information can understand and act on data that flows from our monitoring and evaluation activity.

2. Continue to invest in upgrading our business system applications, some of which are now operating on technology that is out of date

Work on upgrading our system architecture has continued at pace in 2022. The work and priorities are determined by our organisational systems roadmap. The roadmap focuses on the upgrade of systems operating on technology that is coming to the end of its useful life as well as adding system functionality to increase organisational effectiveness. The team uses organisational methodology that ensures key stakeholders are actively involved in the gathering, solution selection, design and implementation elements of the systems impacting on their areas.

Key projects started in 2022 include:

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Funding and resources

Sightsavers fundraises in the UK, and has subsidiaries in Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UAE and USA. Information about their registration, relationship with the UK charity and financial performance is contained in the financial accounts. Sightsavers India fundraises locally and receives grants from Sightsavers UK funds.

What we planned to do What we did

1. Explore opportunities to reflect our new thematic strategies and the breadth of our work within our fundraising activities

2. Enhance our supporter journeys, providing relevant, engaging and inspiring information through all stages of their relationship with us

In 2022, we refined our supporter emails to make sure we have more touchpoints and varied content. We introduced a project to make sure donors who may wish to give a higher value gift or have done in the past are looked after appropriately. We reintroduced telephone contact with some donors to ensure we are communicating with them in the best way, and sent a postcard to relevant donors at Christmas, thanking them for their support throughout the year.

3. Remain flexible and responsive to market trends and supporter expectations in continued turbulent conditions

2022 was a challenging year for fundraising, with the war in Ukraine and cost of living crisis causing significant disruption. We continued to think practically and flexibly about the timing and nature of our fundraising activities. For example, pausing some activity in the UK during the period of official mourning for our patron Queen Elizabeth II.

Trends towards online donations and one-off gifts have provided both challenges and opportunities. We increased collaboration with online channels and embraced the trend for donors to give higher value one-off gifts with a different ask in our TV adverts.

30 | Annual report 2022

What we planned to do

What we did

4. Investigate We launched TV ads promoting legacy fundraising in opportunities to Italy and the UK. We updated the information on our improve our legacy website, launched digital marketing activity to support fundraising across the campaign, and improved our free online will writing different markets offer. The gifts resulting from this activity are not expected for many years, but there are signs that it is encouraging people to consider leaving Sightsavers a gift in their will. We will continue to monitor all the legacy fundraising activity and explore opportunities to secure the significant future income it can bring.

5. Continue to build new partnerships with institutional and similar funders, improving the diversity of our restricted income base

Beyond the UK government, other government contributions to our programmes, including those from the US and German assistance agencies, are increasing. We have support from new donors, too, such as the United Nations Office for Project Services and a number of trust and corporate donors.

We have developed plans to help us achieve our objective of raising more money from the US government, US trusts, foundations and corporate donors.

6. Continue to ensure existing grants and contracts are delivered with good quality and meet donor requirements

7. Continue to undertake robust financial forecasting and monitoring to ensure dynamic understanding of organisational financial position and invest in scenario planning activities to maintain focus on long-term organisational financial health

We received positive feedback on our reports, and high scores where donors use a scoring system. We received encouraging feedback on our stewardship of donor-funded programmes. One key donor in 2022 said: “We know we can trust Sightsavers to deliver.”

We have continued to strengthen our financial planning and forecasting processes, with three levels of activity enabling us to manage and monitor the organisation’s financial position effectively. We operate a robust and rolling, multiyear financial planning process and have a rigorous monthly forecasting process in place to provide updated in-year financial positions. We undertake three-year financial scenario planning on a regular basis, updating our scenarios in line with changing performance and underlying assumptions so that management and the Global Board always have a clear view of our financial health. This has been exceptionally important in 2022, a year that has seen significant shifts in the economic environment as a result of the war in Ukraine and high global inflation. There have also been positive fundraising outcomes.

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What we planned to do

What we did

8. Update and refresh We updated our global reserves policy in 2022, our global reserves increasing our range for reserves to between £14m policy and incorporate and £21m. This reflects the increased complexity of the any changes into organisation and our programmes, as well as increased our financial and costs and less positive global economic indicators. oversight processes The revised policy was approved by the Global Board in July 2022 and is now operational.

Rose tends a community garden that is part of an inclusive early childhood development education programme in Malawi. The programme supports Rose’s daughter Margaret.

We work to promote inclusive, quality education in low and middle income countries. We want to make sure all children have the chance to go to school.

Risks and challenges

Sightsavers maintains a risk log at organisational level and for all major programmes, with the largest having their own bespoke governance processes. The log is reviewed by the management team, the audit committee and the Global Board. Trustees are satisfied that adequate systems are in place to monitor, manage and, where appropriate, mitigate Sightsavers’ exposure to the major risks.

34 | Annual report 2022

We continue to successfully recruit the best talent by taking a proactive, inclusive approach

Internal

Safeguarding of programme participants, supporters and external contacts

Sightsavers and others working in the international development setting continue to see evidence of increased risks of harm to children and adults with disabilities, compared to children and adults who do not have a disability.

We have invested a lot of resources on our education and social inclusion projects to strengthen awareness, training and incident management processes with our partners. We aim to identify these risks in our programme design, engage people and organisations with disabilities, and design accessible reporting channels.

To learn more about our disabilityinclusive safeguarding approach, visit www.sightsavers.org/safeguarding

Recruiting and retaining key employees and contractors

The recruitment market in some of our locations remains very competitive. However, we continue to successfully recruit the best talent by taking a proactive, inclusive approach to our candidate sourcing.

Our unmanaged staff turnover remains at a healthy eight per cent. This positive outcome can be attributed to:

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U nmanaged staff turnover remains at only 8%

Health, safety and security events, and other safeguarding issues concerning employees

We have maintained our comprehensive reporting approach, increased the number of staff in our resilience and safeguarding teams, and improved our remote working capabilities, initially aimed at supporting staff in countries where offices have to be closed because of conflict. Safeguarding training continues to be mandatory for all staff and trustees, and we have a safeguarding trustee (Barry Hoffman) to whom whistleblowing can be directed if staff do not want to go via management.

Our Wellbeing Taskforce, led by our CEO and made up of specialist staff and representatives from different areas of the organisation, has met regularly to review, refine and communicate the services and support available to staff. We have grown our mental health first aider team to 28 people. They offer initial support for colleagues experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress.

We’re training teachers and caregivers on how to include children with disabilities at pre-schools.

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Delivery of programmes

Strategic alignment of programmes

In 2022, we completed the development of our programme strategy monitoring framework and started to collect the first round of data. Working alongside organisational groups focused on each thematic strategy, the first round of data will help ensure programmes are delivering against strategy and that we understand where there are gaps in our portfolio and seek to address them.

Our project design process ensures programmes are robust, focused on strategy alignment and based on quality evidence. Programme investment options are considered by each thematic group and prioritised and approved by senior programme staff to ensure strategic fit and affordability.

The impact of security concerns on our operations

Security concerns had an impact on our operations in several environments in 2022. These were caused by:

Impact on our operations caused by the conflict in Ukraine was negligible.

Inability to manage consortia to deliver on contracts and secure new opportunities

We continued to secure replacement funding for Ascend activities from a range of donors following the cut in Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funding due to foreign aid budget cuts. This demonstrated the ongoing health of the consortium relationships. We managed the exit of Leonard Cheshire from the DID programme, following its decision to close its international programming.

We continue to work closely with the FCDO team responsible to ensure adequate resources and contract length are allocated to the programme, in addition to exploring funding opportunities for a range of collaborative activities with DID consortium members and others.

Poor implementation of programmes leading to failures in services to programme participants or delivering expected programme outputs and outcomes

We have continued to update and strengthen our project cycle management to ensure high-quality programme delivery. We’ve maintained our rigorous quarterly oversight reporting and quality assessment processes while strengthening our standardised project design and inception methodologies, along with enhanced supply chain management and partner due diligence mechanisms. We have also continued to develop our strategic monitoring framework (LAMP).

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Children are learning the alphabet with the aid of flash cards at pre-schools in Malawi.

Protecting against cyber attacks

Sightsavers gained Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation as part of a UK governmentbacked scheme, which will help to protect us against many of the most common forms of cyber attack. The number of attacks on the organisation via emails containing a malicious payload continues to grow. In addition to our technical response, we have migrated our regular staff phishing awareness campaigns onto a new training platform. This will provide greater control over internal campaigns.

With Irish Aid support, we made a significant impact on the lives of people with disabilities and other marginalised groups in Central and West Africa. Going beyond traditional consultation and advocacy, we supported organisations of people with disabilities to play an active role in the design, delivery, and monitoring of our programmes.

Data, evidence and learning, generated through the Irish Aid Programme Grant II (PGII), informed Sightsavers’ thematic strategies. The focus in 2022 was the delivery of effective programming, particularly on inclusion, where we tested and scaled up our work to promote equal opportunities for people with visual impairments and other disabilities.

We’re making classrooms more welcoming for children with disabilities.

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Financial

Inability to raise adequate voluntary income in mature and new markets

2022 was a challenging year. Several significant external events impacted charitable giving, including the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The challenge of gathering good stories for fundraising also continued. We remained agile and responsive, carefully monitoring data and trends, and refining our plans where appropriate. We saw high loyalty among our regular givers, but a drop in response levels for one-off gifts in some markets. Donation values remained strong across most areas.

Despite challenges experienced in some areas of fundraising, we did receive a onetime, unrestricted $20 million (US dollars) donation from US philanthropist Mackenzie Scott via the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, following the completion of a detailed due diligence process.

Inability to replace or grow institutional income

The overall donor environment remains mixed. Efforts to replace UK government funding for NTD programmes have borne fruit, although not to the levels originally contracted under the Ascend programme and some activities have ended early. We continue to engage with all relevant FCDO policy teams and at country level, where future funding possibilities are more likely.

existing contracts and grants are managed well. We are also developing relationships with new government donors, with some funding secured and other potential prospects developed for the future.

Financial loss or operational constraints as a result of treasury activities, including credit loss, foreign exchange movement, liquidity or inability to transfer funds internationally

Our cross-organisational liquidity group continues to focus on liquidity management. Real-time cash information across our accounts is available via the treasury management system, and we continue to develop our financial- and cash-related reporting capability. Forex risk management remains covered by our treasury policy, including a basic currency hedging mechanism related to net expenditures for income and expenditure currencies that are correlated. There continues to be significant volatility in global currencies due to a range of economic and geo-political factors, with protracted ongoing weakness of the British pound.

We continue to closely monitor our potential credit exposures arising from our cash holdings, and continuously aim to enhance our capability for international funds transfers with our relationship financial institutions, to mitigate against problems in cross-border payment systems.

We continue to actively engage with existing donors across the portfolio, ensuring relationships are positive and

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External

Media crisis in core markets

Safeguarding policy in NGO work continued to be a key theme for the media, so all communication related to incidents and policy has needed to be mindful of this.

The debate around UK aid cuts and how funding is allocated across the development sector continued to be an important theme to monitor, be mindful of, and comment on when necessary.

The death of our patron Queen Elizabeth II dominated global media in September, and we paused all communications during the mourning period. There was also a resurgence in the debate around colonialism, which we were mindful of, especially as we supported a highprofile royal visit to Malawi to mark its trachoma elimination.

The media continues to focus on diversity, decolonisation and how programme participants are depicted. Development organisations are increasingly being scrutinised, and there

is growing expectation that we are transparent about how these themes relate to our work. The establishment of our Racial Diversity Working Group (RDWG), alongside the existing Disability Inclusion Working Group (DIWG), is a key organisational process to mitigate this risk.

We continue to monitor security concerns in the countries where we work and incidents such as road traffic accidents involving Sightsavers staff and partners. We also continue to provide appropriate support for media queries as and when needed.

Governance and organisationallevel regulatory challenges

We continue to monitor the developing situation of the implementation of the amended Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in India and its impact on the sector.

We are seeing an increase in pressure on the civil society space in our countries of operation. This is being caused by a growing tendency of national governments, regulators and authorities to legislate and further increase the administrative burden and overhead, the impact of which is sector-wide. We have seen burgeoning legislation in areas such as data protection, governance and incorporation, safeguarding and financial reporting.

We improve people’s lives, such as Koli, a handicraft worker in Bangladesh, by promoting healthy eyes and good vision.

Our objectives for 2023

Delivering for our programme participants

Learning and growth

Increasing our capacities

Funding and resources

17 trustees

Structure and governance

Sightsavers is the working name of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind. Originally founded in 1950, it is now incorporated by Royal Charter dated 28 February 1990, as amended on 8 July 2009 (company number RC000706) and is a charity registered in England and Wales (207544) and Scotland (SC038110). It is regulated by the Charity Commission.

Board of trustees

4 committees

Our international global board of non-executive trustees maintains a high standard of corporate governance. There are currently 17 trustees, drawn from diverse backgrounds and bringing a broad range of experience and skills. The global board has three officers: chair, vice-chair and honorary treasurer, all of whom are appointed annually.

4 directorates

Trustees are elected to the global board by other trustees for up to two terms of four years, which may be extended in exceptional circumstances (such as where a particular skill cannot easily be replaced).

We work with local authorities, NGOs and OPDs to form effective partnerships to strengthen disability inclusion. One of the countries we work in is Tanzania, collaborating with people such as Moshi, an OPD member in Shinyanga, to enable people with disabilities to access quality education, health and work.

44 | Annual report 2022

Our trustees are drawn from diverse backgrounds and bring a range of experience and skills

Committees

The global board has appointed four standing committees:

Committees may include non-trustee specialist members who voluntarily offer their expertise to assist the committees. As well as the formal governance committees, a programme expert group typically meets twice a year to provide advice and insight on more detailed programme matters to the global board and senior management.

Matters such as policy and strategic plans are prepared by senior management for consideration and approval by the global board and its committees. The key leadership team is the management team, set up to facilitate decision-making at management level and made up of senior staff drawn from across the organisation. There is also a people team, which meets to discuss strategic human resources matters when required. A strategy refresh steering group and a series of working groups tackled the strategy review process.

We support disease control officers, such as Patience, from Ghana, so that everyone can access health care.

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CEO

Directorates

The organisation is structured with four main directorates, whose leaders report to the chief executive officer (CEO). These are:

The CEO of India reports into the Chair of India, with strong working links with the global CEO. The CEO of Ireland reports to the chair of Ireland and the Irish board, with a link to the global CEO. The director of the Uniting to Combat NTDs secretariat, which Sightsavers hosts, also reports into the CEO.

As of 31 December 2022, there were seven subsidiary undertakings consolidated within the group: Sightsavers (Trading) Limited; Sightsavers Ireland; Sightsavers International (Italia); Sightsavers International Inc (USA); Sightsavers Inc (USA); Insamlingsstiftelsen Sightsavers International Sverige (based in Sweden); and Stiftelsen Sightsavers International Norge (based in Norway). Our presence in the UAE is consolidated under our licensed branch located in Dubai.

Sightsavers is a charity registered in Scotland with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, registration number SC038110. In 2022, Sightsavers raised £5.2 million (2021: £5.4 million) from donors based in Scotland (donations coming from a Scottish address).

46 | Annual report 2022

Accountability

Sightsavers is a member of Accountable Now, an international organisation dedicated to helping international NGOs demonstrate and improve their accountability.

We submit a full report to the charter company independent review panel every t wo years. In 2022, we submitted our full biennial report covering the period 2021. This report has been reviewed by the independent panel, returned with feedback and improvement actions, and signed off by the CEO and Accountable Now.

The latest report can be read online at www.accountablenow.org/members/sightsavers

Governance code

Sightsavers is under continuous external review of its governance and board effectiveness against the principles of the Charity Governance Code. The review states that the board delivers a high standard of governance, based on sound structures and procedures and the high calibre and commitment of trustees, the management team and supporting executives. Sightsavers undertakes an annual internal review to track the progress of strengthening activities.

Modern slavery

We maintain a zero-tolerance stance to modern slavery and human trafficking, and we are committed to ensuring we have practices in place to combat this. We further developed our controls throughout 2022, setting new key performance indicators and strengthening our training provisions and supplier and partner management.

In accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, our slavery and human trafficking statement for 2022 can be read at www.sightsavers.org/slavery-statement

To view our global anti-slavery policy, visit www.sightsavers.org/policies

Safeguarding

In response to recommendations from an internal review that was conducted in 2022, we trained more designated safeguarding leads, which brings the number of fully trained safeguarding leads to more than 40. They lead on safeguarding training, risk management and incident response in the countries they represent.

Sightsavers subscribes to and is an active member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, which aims to facilitate the sharing of misconduct data between participating organisations, to reduce the risk of unsafe individuals entering organisations including ours.

To view our safeguarding policy, visit www.sightsavers.org/policies

We provide children with sight-saving surgery and promote inclusive education.

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Safeguarding concerns and incidents

In 2022, there were no concerns raised concerning Sightsavers employees. However, 18 concerns were escalated to the global safeguarding team about partners and other sources:

The 18 concerns reported to Sightsavers in 2022

Sightsavers has produced awarenessraising materials on safeguarding for its staff, partners and project participants. These include a YouTube video and posters. We continue to deliver safeguarding training for our partners and will roll out new training tools with project participants.

Gulnaz, from Pakistan, was supported by Sightsavers to find emergency accommodation when her rehabilitation facility closed during COVID-19.

Complaints and whistleblowing

In 2022, we promoted our Speak Up platform for reporting misconduct by:

The system enhances our existing whistleblowing channels and our safeguarding and fraud reporting mechanisms.

To learn more about Speak Up, visit www.sightsavers.org/speakup

48 | Annual report 2022

Environment

Sightsavers has continued to demonstrate its commitment to including environmental considerations within its programmes.

UK Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

The increase in both electricity usage and carbon emissions in the 2022 report was expected, as the organisation returned to more usual levels of activity in 2022 following the impact of COVID-19 in 2021.

Electricity usage increased primarily because of longer office opening hours and greater use of the office space by staff members. The rise in carbon emissions was driven by an increase in international travel, following two years of limited movement.

We are committed to improving resource efficiency, managing waste effectively and applying robust environmental policies

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----- Start of picture text -----
Energy consumption (kWh) 2022 2021
Electricity 157,393 79,181
Business travel in rental cars or employee-owned vehicles 4,609 3,200
Total energy consumption 162,002 82,381
Emissions (tCO2e) 2022 2021
Scope 1
Gas consumption 0 0
Combustion of fuel for transport purposes 0 0
Scope 2
Purchased electricity (location-based) 36.20 18.30
Total scope 1 and 2 emissions 36.20 18.30
Scope 3
Business travel in rental cars or employee-owned vehicles 1.14 0.78
Total emissions 37.34 19.08
Office area (m2) 1,332.32 1,332.32
Intensity ratio (tCO2e/m2) 0.03 0.01
----- End of picture text -----*

*Now including transmission and distribution (restated for 2021)

Methodology

We have followed the 2019 HM Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines, including SECR requirements. We have used the GHG Reporting Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and have the 2022 UK government conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.

Intensity measurement

The chosen intensity measurement ratio is total gross emissions in metric tonnes of CO2e per m2. This has been chosen in ~~preference to per person, as the office is~~ not able to accommodate all staff based in the UK on a full-time basis.

Energy efficiency measures

The office is now open three days a week and staff continue to attend meetings via video conferencing. During the reporting period, the air conditioning in the meeting rooms was adjusted to manual so that it is not operating when they are not in use. The number of printers were reduced and replaced by more energy efficient versions.

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Equity, diversity and inclusion

The Disability Inclusion Working Group (DIWG), founded in 2016, launched an accessibility campaign called Think Accessibility. Regular training sessions take place each month to encourage members of staff to adopt accessible practices in their work. The campaign has reached more than one-third of our staff, with nine sessions taking place between July and December 2022. In addition, membership of the Disabled Employee Network (DEN) has expanded by more than 30 per cent since the launch of the campaign.

Racial diversity and inclusion survey

In early 2022, the Racial Diversity Working Group (RDWG) developed a comprehensive action plan, building on the results of the diversity survey carried out in 2021. The action plan featured recommendations to Sightsavers’ management team and Board on four main themes (human resources, incident reporting, communication and policy framework), aiming to improve racial diversity and inclusion within the organisation. Specific actions were identified under each theme and progress monitored over the course of the year by the RDWG and reported on periodically to the management team.

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----- Start of picture text -----
© Sightsavers/Homeline Media
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146 staff members have attended disability awareness training since the beginning of 2022

Enock, who lives in Malawi and is a wheelchair user, is a participant in our inclusive early childhood development education programme. The programme has supported his parents Chikumbutso and Esther to farm goats to boost their income.

Disability awareness training

In 2022, the DIWG began the process of expanding disability awareness training so that members of staff based in Sightsavers programme offices could participate alongside UK staff members. 146 staff members have attended the training since the beginning of 2022. In 2023, two more members of staff will join the pool of trainers, making it seven in total.

The number of disability awareness trainers in 2022. Two more will join in 2023

5

The Disabled Employee Network has expanded by more than 30%

52 | Annual report 2022

Fundraising

The relationships we have with our supporters, and the donations they give, are vital to the work we do. We aim to be transparent, ethical and efficient with our budgets.

With efficiency in mind, we regularly update our return-on-investment analysis to enable us to see which fundraising channels are performing best. This helps us to be flexible with our investment and make quick decisions so that we can maximise the return on our spend. This, in turn, enables us to raise more money and deliver more support for our programme participants.

While most work is done in-house, there are occasions where it is cheaper and more effective to work alongside professional fundraisers and commercial organisations. All contracts and partnerships are subject to due diligence and close management. Any third-party fundraising organisations are required to adhere to our supplier code of conduct.

Sightsavers is a member of the Fundraising Regulator and the Direct Marketing Association and abides by the direct marketing code of practice and the fundraising code of practice. For our international offices, Sightsavers is registered with the fundraising regulators in their respective countries, where there is one.

In 2022, Sightsavers received 43 fundraising complaints from members of the public and 17 complaints on related issues, such as administration. This represents a decrease on the figures from 2021, when a total of 85 complaints were received. Two complaints were highlighted to us by the Fundraising Regulator, but these were deemed ‘not yet ready’ for the regulator to consider and have been resolved by us. We continue to take all feedback seriously and aim to respond to questions and complaints promptly. In 2022, we responded to most complaints received via email or telephone within 24 hours, and those received by letter within a week.

We also take our responsibility to protect vulnerable people seriously. We follow guidance issued by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and we make sure all agency partners are fully aware of this. We also have a safeguarding policy (including our code of conduct) and a supporter promise, both of which set out our approach to protecting our programme participants and supporters.

The safeguarding policy and supporter promise are available at www.sightsavers.org/policies

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Remuneration

Sightsavers’ policy on remuneration is to ensure that the reward package offered to staff is competitive with other organisations in the areas where we work, both in terms of geography and type of role, to ensure we can recruit and retain staff.

We have a remuneration committee of trustees, including one with extensive human resources experience. The policy is based around benchmarks at the median level, with flexibility as required, particularly for roles that are difficult to benchmark.

The salaries of all individuals who report to the CEO, and that of the CEO herself, are individually approved by the remuneration committee, as is the overall policy. In recognition of the commitment of our staff to delivering on our key thematic goals and programmes against a challenging global economic backdrop, we took the strategic decision to invest in our workforce by aligning pay with local inflation rates wherever possible.

We took the strategic decision to invest in our workforce by aligning pay with local inflation rates wherever possible

In 2022, Sightsavers became an accredited Living Wage employer

To ease staff cost of living concerns, the next inflation indexing of staff salaries was brought forward from April 2023 to October 2022, across the staff base in all countries except India. There is no bonus scheme or car allowance for any members of staff. All UK staff are paid at least the real living wage, including interns. In 2022, Sightsavers became an accredited Living Wage employer and has a commitment to pay a living wage to all UK employees.

In December 2022, Sightsavers’ mean and median gender pay gaps in the UK were calculated to be 3.17% and 3.27% in favour of men. This compares well with other organisations, both within and outside the sector.

We work with thousands of local volunteers to distribute medication to ensure that people who have a neglected tropical disease infection are treated.

Review of financial outcome 2022

Detailed financial information is reviewed by the Global Board in each of its meetings during the year. The financial outcome for 2022 is set out in the consolidated statement of financial activities.

Sightsavers’ financial operating model continued to be highly resilient during 2022, which saw significant continuing impacts from the challenging economic and geopolitical environments.

56 | Annual report 2022

Income not including gifts in kind

2021 2022 £124,082,000 £122,978,000

Income from trusts

2021 2022 £12,026,000 £29,387,000

Income

The total income in 2022 rose to £313,352,000, an increase of 32% on the £236,775,000 received in 2021. This was due to an increased value of donated pharmaceutical gifts in kind, due to a ramp back up in shipments to meet programme requirements: total gift in kind income was £190,374,000 in 2022 compared with £112,693,000 in 2021.

Income not including gifts in kind totalled £122,978,000 – a decrease of 1% on the £124,082,000 received in 2021.

Donations and legacies saw a considerable increase again in 2022, benefiting from a significant and very generous unrestricted $20 million donation from Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Legacies decreased to a still significant £11,829,000, with the forward pipeline of estate gifts remaining strong. Government, NGO and institutional donors also fell by £5,340,000 to £8,775,000, a 38% decrease on £14,115,000 in 2021.

Income from trusts however rose significantly, from £12,026,000 to £29,387,000, a 144% increase of £17,361,000. This includes continued support from GiveWell Recommended

Funds. Its overall donations of £7,057,000 in 2022 were an increase of £418,000 on its donations of £6,283,000 in 2021.

Income from charitable activities decreased from £42,123,000 in 2021 to £31,114,000 in 2022, largely due to the FCDO Ascend contract early termination during the previous year and accounting closure, partially offset by an increase in funding from the Accelerate partners.

Sightsavers continues to recognise pharmaceutical income for donations shipped to and received by us under the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP). The aggregate quantity and value of shipments in 2022 returned to close to pre-COVID levels.

In contrast, 2021 was not a representative year, with shipments received the lowest and onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis treatments the highest in recent years, as treatment activities restarted in earnest following suspensions in 2020, using pre-existing stocks of tablets.

Over time, there is a general correlation between shipments donated to Sightsavers and treatments performed and reported

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Total expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
2021 2022
£213,623,000 £309,174,000
----- End of picture text -----

under our funded programmes. But, due to collaborative distribution practices under the overall MDP and the timescales of planning and logistics, that correlation is not perfect.

Also, over time, as programmes successfully conclude and objectives of elimination are met, the volume and value of donated Mectizan is expected to decline. Notes 2 and 4 provide more details.

Expenditure

Total expenditure rose 45% year on year, from £213,623,000 in 2021 to £309,174,000 in 2022. This was related to the addtional pharmaceutical gifts in kind. Expenditure excluding gifts in kind rose to £119,313,000 in 2022, an increase of £17,949,000 from £101,365,000 in 2021, primarily due to continuing growth in activities being carried out in our programme countries.

The split of charitable expenditures across our thematic areas is shown on the consolidated statement of financial activities, and further by region and country within the notes.

We received a very generous unrestricted $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott via the Silicon Valley Community Foundation

In terms of underlying costs, staff costs rose to £32,774,000 in 2022 from £27,919,000 in 2021. Average global staff numbers increased from 745 in 2021 to 790 in 2022, principally to continue to support growth in programme-related staffing capacity in the international programmes and policy and programme strategies functions. High inflation levels also impacted on staff costs.

Grant-making policy

Sightsavers works in partnership with numerous implementing organisations. Grants payable are made in line with strategic objectives, and we monitor all grants to partner organisations in accordance with the relevant partnership agreement. There is an annual process to review the project and partner budgets for the following year and to determine what funds will be paid.

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Financial position and reserves

The financial results for 2022 showed an overall surplus net income of £3.2 million against a plan which assumed an overall net deficit of £21.4 million, based on a much greater net spend down of restricted reserves.

After transfers between funds, which includes the benefit of indirect cost recovery on restricted grants and contracts, and the transfer of any final balance on closed projects, the result restricted funds net deficit was £1 million, with a surplus of £4.2 million for unrestricted funds.

As at 31 December 2022, total fund balances were £68.7 million, comprising £48.0 million of total unrestricted funds, £0.2 million of endowment funds and £20.5 million of restricted funds. The component items of the restricted funds balance are shown in note 23: Statement of Funds (see page 104).

The majority of the £6.5 million funds designated by trustees in 2021 from unrestricted funds for NTD activities was expended during 2022. In recognition of this continuing area of focus, a further significant designation was made in the year, with funds of £13 million carried forward, to be applied mostly in 2023 against NTD commitments made at the 2022 Kigali summit on malaria and NTDs.

During 2022, the liquidity reserve, which was previously held as a separate designated reserve, was combined within general reserves, as part of a periodic review of the reserves policy.

Reflecting these elements, as at 31 December 2022, unrestricted funds comprised general reserves of £33 million and £14.9 million of designated funds. Of the designated funds, cash held overseas of £1.4 million is available for use.

Reserves policy is decided by the Global Board, taking into consideration relevant Charity Commission guidance. The policy seeks to balance the objective of promptly spending income with the need to maintain a level of reserves. This is to ensure uninterrupted operations and to provide time to adjust to a change in financial circumstances and the financial impact of risk events.

A scheduled periodic review of reserves policy was performed during 2022. The review included an updated assessment of the potential financial impact from the suite of financial risk factors identified, inclusive of a new inflation risk factor, and also decided to include operating liquidity requirements within general reserves.

A prudent case re-estimate of the aggregate financial impact of risk events on reserves and the requirement for working capital liquidity was assessed as £14 million, which is adopted as the minimum revised level of reserves.

Given the highly uncertain economic and geopolitical environment, retaining financial flexibility is important when setting reserves levels. Specifically, the volatility of income and timing of expenditures makes it prudent to introduce a targeted reserves range and set an upper level for core reserves.

To help inform the appropriate range, the review assessed sources of income and the impact of future plans and expenditure commitments. It also considered metrics against levels of cash income and rates of unrestricted expenditures.

The updated policy provides for a range of 50 per cent above the planned minimum level of reserves, giving an upper end for reserves range of £21 million, equivalent to around eight months of statutory unrestricted expenditure.

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Sightsavers has, therefore, adopted a target reserves range of £14-21 million.

Our unrestricted general reserves of £33 million, as at 31 December 2022, remain above the top end of the target range.

Trustees are mindful that we continue to operate in very uncertain conditions, including major adverse structural changes in FCDO funding and exceptionally high and persistent levels of inflation, with attendant risks. Against such a backdrop, current reserves now cover approximately 11 months of normal unrestricted expenditures. In determining a plan to align general reserves within the new target range, there remain significant uncertainties and pressures, with high potential impact, which mean that we will continue to be cautious.

Given the highly uncertain economic and geopolitical environment, retaining financial flexibility is important when setting reserves levels, to mitigate and manage heightened risks

We have a financial plan for the period 2023 to 2025, which contains a spend down of general reserves, to achieve alignment within the new reserves policy range by the end of that period.

The trustees believe the current level of reserves is acceptable and prudent.

We support children with disabilities in their early years so that they can learn, play and develop alongside their peers.

60 | Annual report 2022

Investments

Our investment activities are supported by UBS Wealth Management. The investment committee meets regularly with UBS to assess investment strategy and performance.

The value of assets held with our fund manager at 31 December 2022 was £6.7 million. The investment objectives are to maximise investment returns from a long-term, diversified, discretionary portfolio, through both income and capital growth at acceptable levels of risk, while maintaining good liquidity and in line with ethical standards consistent with our objects and values.

Pensions

Sightsavers operates a defined contribution pension scheme, which was established in 2002, with membership made available to all UK contracted employees.

Sightsavers also operates a defined benefit pension scheme for UK contracted employees. This scheme was closed to new entrants in 2002 and closed to future accruals for existing employees in August 2010. As set out in note 13 to the financial statements, under FRS102 there was an accounting surplus in the scheme of £0.8 million at the end of 2022, although that surplus has not been recognised.

The investment committee provides oversight on the management of this UK-defined benefit scheme as a standing agenda item in meetings. Sightsavers’ finance director attends and participates in scheme trustee board meetings, receiving all meeting materials. Sightsavers also engages its own professional advice in relation to the scheme.

Financial outlook

Financial planning and forecasting activity takes place within the context of the overall strategic plan and objectives. Programme effectiveness is continually assessed, and the portfolio mix of projects is expected to continue to evolve.

The 2023 base financial plan, not including gifts in kind, comprises total income of £110 million, lower than 2022, and total expenditures of £118 million. These net expenditures are funded by and to be applied against a combination of our NTD designated funds, which are expected to be substantially spent down in the year, and our restricted funds. General reserves are planned to remain at their 2022 level.

Overall fundraising levels are planned to increase modestly in 2023, as a part of the continuing strategy to strengthen the base of committed and ongoing givers across all fundraising markets. We retain the ability to suspend, defer or cancel discretionary and variable fundraising expenditures if we so wish, as a decision-making tool to help ensure a robust financial position.

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Going concern

There is a reasonable expectation that Sightsavers has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Taking into account the strength of our financial modelling, we believe any adverse impacts are manageable.

Taking account of the level of reserves held, current and projected, the trustees believe that there are no material uncertainties that call into doubt the charity’s ability to continue. The financial statements have, therefore, been prepared on the basis that the charity is a going concern, as described in note 2 (see page 76).

Under our core scenario for the planning period 2023 to 2025, general reserves are back within the reserves target range by the end of the period.

We have modelled forward-looking financial scenarios to test our resilience to the possibility of serious and long-lasting potential financial stress, which include assumptions regarding reduced income. Our financial position remains robust. Under downside conditions, we would end 2023 still exceeding the top end of the general reserves target range, with commensurate holdings of unrestricted cash.

There are ongoing funding awards and further potential funding opportunities that are not included fully in the 2023 base plan figures. Our ongoing reforecasts aim to capture and use the best available forward-looking financial information, which we expect will lead to changes in the rolling financial forecast for 2023 and in following years.

A pupil at a school in Iselamagazi, Tanzania, one of many where we help promote inclusive education.

62 | Annual report 2022

Key people and suppliers

Patron

Queen Elizabeth II

Members of the Global Board (trustees)

Abia Akram

President

Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra The Hon. Lady Ogilvy GCVO

Vice-presidents

Lady Wilson OBE Lord Nigel Crisp KCB Martin Dinham CBE Dr Uche Amazigo

Honorary officers

Sir Clive Jones GCMG CBE, Chairman Christopher Kinder, Vice-chairman Bill Kendall, Treasurer

Joan Burton TD (appointed January 2022)

Maryanne Diamond Prof Margaret Gyapong Barry Hoffman

Ms Joy Hutcheon Sir Clive Jones GCMG CBE Bill Kendall

Christopher Kinder Elaine Lee

Dr Henry Nkumbe (appointed January 2023 )

Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi

Dr Manoj Parulekar Prof Tuwani Rasengane Garimella Subramaniam (appointed May 2023 )

David Louis Taylor Prof Sir Chris Whitty

The committees

Audit committee

Christopher Kinder, Chair Bill Kendall Prof Tuwani Rasengane David Louis Taylor

Richard Ufland (Co-opted member)

Governance committee

Sir Clive Jones, Chair Christopher Kinder, Vice-chair Barry Hoffman Bill Kendall

Investment committee

Bill Kendall, Chair Sir Clive Jones Christopher Kinder

Remuneration committee

Sir Clive Jones, Chair Barry Hoffman Bill Kendall Christopher Kinder

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Strategy Refresh Steering Group

Dr Caroline Harper CBE, Chair Chief Executive Officer

Dominic Haslam OBE Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Kenneth Moon Chief Operating Officer

Simon Bush Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases

Imran Khan

Director of Programme Strategy and Development

Ella Pierce

Director of Fundraising and Marketing

Gareth Roberts Planning, Monitoring and Reporting Director

Alicia Cummins Deputy Director Policy and Programme Strategy

Management Leadership Team

Kenneth Moon, Chair Chief Operating Officer

Anna Becker Director of Institutional Funding

Andy Boetius Director of Finance

Alicia Cummins Director of Policy and Programme Strategy and Planning

Fatoumata Diouf Regional Director, West Africa

Dr Caroline Harper CBE Chief Executive Officer

Dominic Haslam OBE Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Natasha Kennedy Director of Campaigns and Communications

Imran Khan Director of Programme Strategy and Development

Thomas Millar Neglected Tropical Diseases Operations Director

RN Mohanty Chief Executive, India

John Muriuki Regional Director, East Central and Southern Africa

Feargal O’Connell Chief Executive, Ireland

Ella Pierce Director of Fundraising and Marketing

Mark Ramsden Director of Governance, Legal and Assurance

Gareth Roberts Director of Planning, Monitoring and Reporting

Elena Schmidt Director of Evidence, Research and Innovations

Juilet Milgate Director of Policy and Global Advocacy

64 | Annual report 2022

Country leadership

RN Mohanty

Chief Executive Officer, India

Fatoumata Diouf

Regional Director, West Africa

John Muriuki

Regional Director, East Central and Southern Africa

Archana Bhambal

Area Director, North India

Sudipta Mohanty Area Director, North East India

Vacant

Country Director, Liberia

Amirta Rejina Rozario Country Director, Bangladesh

Anthony Warni

Country Director, South Sudan, the Republic of Sudan and Uganda interim

Balla Musa Joof

Country Director, Guinea Bissau, Interim Guinea Conakry

Boubacar Dicko

Country Director, Mali, Benin and Togo

Glenda Mulenga Country Director, Zambia

Godwin Kabalika

Country Director, Tanzania

Izidine Hassane

Country Director, Mozambique

Cheikh Ibrahima Seck

Interim Country Director, Senegal

Marguerite Belibi

Country Director, Cameroon

Moses Chege Country Director, Kenya

Munazza Gillani Country Director, Pakistan

Nancy Smart Country Director, Sierra Leone

Peter Bare Country Director, Zimbabwe

Sunday Isiyaku Country Director, Nigeria and Ghana

Astou Sarr

Acting Country Director, Cote D’Ivoire

Bright Chiwaula Country Director, Malawi

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Principal addresses

Registered address

35 Perrymount Road Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 3BW

Correspondence address

Bumpers Way Bumpers Farm Chippenham SN14 6NG

Principal bankers

HSBC Bank plc Sussex and Surrey Corporate Centre First Point, Buckingham Gate London Gatwick Airport West Sussex RH6 0NT

Standard Chartered Bank 1 Basinghall Avenue London EC2V 5DD

Investment managers

UBS AG 5 Broadgate London EC2M 2QS

Independent auditors

Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

Allied Irish Bank 7/12 Dame Street Dublin 2 D02 KX20

Solicitors

Bates, Wells & Braithwaite Cheapside House 138 Cheapside London EC2V 6BB

Independent auditors

A resolution that Crowe U.K. LLP be appointed as the independent auditor to Sightsavers will be proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting. Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf on:

Sir Clive Jones Chair

Date: 11 July 2023

66 | Annual report 2022

Independent auditor’s report to the trustees of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (‘the charity’) and its subsidiaries (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 December 2022 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated 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:

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’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the Financial Reporting Council’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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee’s 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 charity’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 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.

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Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon.

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 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.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

We have nothing to report in this regard.

68 | Annual report 2022

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees 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 group and the parent charity’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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011, and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website. This description forms part of our auditor’s report. www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities

Adou, a cattle farmer in Benin, had an eye operation for trichiasis (the advanced stage of trachoma) as part of a Sightsavers-supported programme. The operation enabled him to see clearly again without pain.

70 | Annual report 2022

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members, including significant component audit teams. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charity and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charity’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charity and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation,

taxation legislation and employment legislation. We also considered compliance with local legislation for the group’s overseas operating segments.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of grant and contract income and major donations, end use of funds including funds granted to partner organisations and the override of controls by management.

Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit and the audit committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, testing of a sample of grant, contract and major donation income against the terms of the funding agreements and the requirement of the Charities SORP (FRS102), sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance

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Use of our report

with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Signature:

Date: 31 July 2023

For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity under regulation 10(2) of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations by virtue of its eligibility under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Sonbobia, from Benin, received vital eye treatment from a Sightsavers-supported programme and now encourages others in her community to do the same.

72 | Annual report 2022

Consolidated statement of financial activities year ended 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds 2022 funds 2022 2022 funds 2021 funds 2021 2021
Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies 3 53,497 37,723 91,220 40,166 41,294 81,460
Gifts in kind - total 4 513 189,861 190,374 435 112,258 112,693
Charitable activities 5 - 31,114 31,114 - 42,123 42,123
Investments 6 368 - 368 189 - 189
Other trading 7 218 - 218 263 - 263
Other 8 52 6 58 16 31 47
Total income and endowments 54,648 258,704 313,352 41,069 195,706 236,775
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 4,10 20,885 1,408 22,293 16,991 1,585 18,576
Charitable activities
Health: eye care 9,10 6,697 13,830 20,527 3,181 12,196 15,377
Neglected tropical diseases 9,10 13,737 37,289 51,026 3,935 46,129 50,064
- -
Gifts in kind - drug donations 4,9,10 189,861 189,861 112,258 112,258
Education 9,10 3,231 2,580 5,811 1,302 2,088 3,390
Social inclusion 9,10 6,151 11,318 17,469 2,165 7,698 9,863
Policy and research 9,10 4,437 216 4,653 3,562 172 3,734
Total charitable activities 9,10 34,253 255,094 289,347 14,145 180,541 194,686
Other 10 (2,466) - (2,466) 360 - 360
Total expenditure 52,672 256,502 309,174 31,496 182,126 213,622
(Losses) / Gains on investments 17 (463) - (463) 550 - 550
Net income 1,513 2,202 3,715 10,123 13,580 23,703
Transfer between funds 23 3,126 (3,126) - 7,083 (7,083) -
Actuarial gains / (losses) on
defined benefit pension scheme 13 (434) - (434) 977 - 977
Net movement in funds 4,205 (924) 3,281 18,183 6,497 24,680
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 43,748 21,669 65,417 25,565 15,172 40,737
Total funds carried forward 23 47,953 20,745 68,698 43,748 21,669 65,417
----- End of picture text -----

Restricted funds include endowment funds, which had a balance as at 31 December 2022 of £214,000 (2021: £214,000). See note 23 on page 104 for further information. All incoming and outgoing resources arise from continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included above.

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Consolidated and Charity balance sheet 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 16 538 656 527 656
Investments 17 6,763 7,237 6,763 7,237
Total fixed assets 7,301 7,893 7,290 7,893
Current assets
Debtors 18 6,986 4,484 6,616 4,892
Cash at bank and in hand – operating funds 19 60,762 58,932 59,077 57,174
Cash at bank representing deferred income 19,20 18,671 15,933 16,290 13,440
Total current assets 86,419 79,349 81,983 75,506
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 20 23,771 20,903 21,000 18,542
Net current assets 62,648 58,446 60,983 56,964
Total assets less current liabilities 69,949 66,339 68,273 64,857
Provision for other liabilities 21 1,251 922 1,242 914
Net assets excluding pension (liability) 68,698 65,417 67,031 63,943
Defined benefit pension scheme (liability) 13 - - - -
Total net assets 68,698 65,417 67,031 63,943
The funds of the charity:
Unrestricted funds
Free reserve 23,24 33,026 32,185 32,828 30,810
Pension reserve 13,23,24 - - - -
General 23,24 33,026 32,185 32,828 30,810
Designated 23,24 14,927 11,563 14,927 11,563
Total unrestricted funds 47,953 43,748 47,755 42,373
Restricted funds 23,24 20,531 21,455 19,062 21,356
Endowment funds 23,24 214 214 214 214
Total funds 68,698 65,417 67,031 63,943
----- End of picture text -----

The net movement in funds for the financial year dealt with in the financial statements of the parent charity was £3,091,000 (2021: £23,857,000). The trustees have prepared group accounts in accordance with section 138 of the Charities Act 2011. The notes on pages 76 to 112 form part of these financial statements. These financial statements were approved by the Global Board on 11 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Chair

Hon. Treasurer

74 | Annual report 2022

Consolidated statement of cash flows Year ended 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
Note £’000 £’000
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities) 3,281 23,302
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges 16 350 195
Losses / gains on investments 17 388 (445)
Investment income 6 (368) (189)
Exchange rate (gain) 10 2,466 (409)
Loss on sale of fixed assets 8 58 46
Increase in provisions 21 329 45
(Increase) in debtors 18 (2,502) (597)
Increase in creditors 20 2,868 1,938
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 6,870 23,886
Cash flows from investing activities:
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets 16 (232) (778)
Payments to acquire investments 17 (1,742) (1,952)
Receipts from sale of fixed assets 8 (58) (46)
Receipts from sale of investments 17 1,511 2,179
(Increase) / decrease in cash held for investment 17 317 (301)
Investment income 6 368 189
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 164 (709)
Cash flows from financing activities:
- -
Repayment of borrowing
- -
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents 7,034 23,177
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 74,865 51,279
Exchange gains / (losses) on cash equivalents (2,466) 409
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 79,433 74,865
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash in hand 79,433 74,865
- -
Notice deposits (less than 3 months)
- -
Overdraft facility repayable on demand
Total cash and cash equivalents 79,433 74,865
----- End of picture text -----

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Analysis of changes in net cash / (debt)

At start of year Cashflows Foreign exchange At end of year
£’000 £’000 movements £’000
£’000
Cash 74,865 7,034 (2,466) 79,433
Cash equivalents - - - -
Overdraft facility repayable on demand - - - -
Total 74,865 7,034 (2,466) 79,433

Jonathan, who lives in Malawi with his grandmother Rose, has a visual impairment and has been supported to attend school through Sightsavers’ inclusive early childhood development education programme.

76 | Annual report 2022

Notes to the financial statements Year ended 31 December 2022

1 Charity information

The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, trading as Sightsavers, is a registered charity (No. 207544 and SCO38110) which is incorporated and domiciled in the UK. The address of the registered office is 35 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3BW, UK.

2 Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified by the inclusion of investments at market value, and in accordance with applicable United Kingdom accounting standards.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) effective 1 January 2019 and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the current and previous year.

The trustees report includes a review of financial performance and the Charity’s reserves position (page 58). Sightsavers has adequate financial resources and is well placed to manage the business risks. The planning process, including financial projections, has taken into consideration the current economic climate and its potential impact on the various sources of income and planned expenditure. There is a reasonable expectation that Sightsavers has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The trustees believe that there are no material uncertainties that call into doubt the Charity’s ability to continue. The financial statements have, therefore, been prepared on the basis that the Charity is a going concern.

Sightsavers meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

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Basis of consolidation

The financial statements consolidate the results of the Charity and its subsidiary undertakings on a line-by-line basis. A separate Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) has not been presented for the Charity alone, which is consistent with previous years. The net result for the Charity (which includes all its branches) is a surplus of £3,091,000, which comprises income of £80,562,000, expenditure of £77,008,000 and a loss on investment of £463,000 (2021 gain of £550,000). Sightsavers has the following subsidiary undertakings for which group accounts have been prepared. These all undertake fundraising activity in their local jurisdictions.

Sightsavers (Trading) Limited is a UK registered company (No: 2464229). Control is established by virtue of the Charity owning 100 per cent of the issued share capital of the organisation.

Sightsavers International Inc. is registered in the USA, incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware (federal ID: 311740776). The Charity has the right to appoint all directors of the organisation.

Sightsavers Inc. is registered in the USA, incorporated under the laws of the State of Missouri (federal ID: 47-4657747). There is a collaboration agreement between the organisations.

Sightsavers (Ireland) is registered in Ireland (company number: 377692, charity number: CHY15437). The Charity appoints two directors to the Board of the organisation and there is a management contract in place between the organisations.

Insamlingsstiftelsen Sightsavers

International (Sverige) is registered in Sweden (company number: 802477-8188, charity number: 90 03 63-3). The Charity, as founder, has the right to appoint the Board in the governing document.

Stiftelsen Sightsavers International

Norge is registered in Norway (No: 912 388 573). The Charity, as founder, has the right to appoint the Board in the governing document.

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further the general objectives of Sightsavers that have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The use of each designated fund is set out in note 23.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Charity for particular purposes. Details of restricted funds are set out in note 23.

Endowment funds comprise monies that must be held indefinitely as capital. Related income is credited to general funds and applied for general purposes unless under the terms of the endowment such income must be used for specific purposes in which case it is credited to restricted funds.

Sightsavers International Italia (Onlus No: 97653640017) is registered in Italy as an Onlus non-profit, non-stock corporation. The majority of the Board of the entity are trustees or senior management of the Charity. The Charity and subsidiary are managed on a unified basis.

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Income

Income is recognised when Sightsavers is entitled to the income. Where performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Charitable activities performance-related conditions: some funding agreements specify the services to be performed by Sightsavers for receiving the funds. Where this is the case, Sightsavers becomes entitled to the funds as it earns the right to consideration by its performance. When cash is received in advance of entitlement, income is deferred and included in creditors. Where entitlement occurs before cash being received, the income is accrued.

The following specific policies apply to categories of income:

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party; it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT where applicable. Expenditure is classified into the following categories:

Amounts payable to partners for overseas projects are charged when an obligation exists and are described as grants payable in note 9. These payments are made under standard partner agreements, which include an agreed project budget, in response to payment requests made by the partner.

These requests are reviewed and approved on an individual basis and the obligation to pay exists and is generally recognised as a partner payable, as opposed to an accrual, once the payment request has been approved.

Employee benefits include all costs incurred by the Charity in exchange for the services of its employees. Expenditure is recognised for all employee benefits resulting from their service to Sightsavers during the reporting period. A liability is recognised for the cost of all benefits to which employees are entitled at the reporting date that have yet to be paid.

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Redundancy costs (termination benefits) are recognised as an immediate cost and charged to the SOFA on a demonstrable commitment to termination, with provision for future redundancy costs measured at a best estimate of the expenditure that would be required to settle the obligation at the reporting date.

Expenditure includes gifts in kind, which are valued and recognised on the same basis as the equivalent income.

Allocation of support costs

Support costs include the central and regional office functions such as general management, payroll administration, budgeting, forecasting and accounting, information technology, human resources and facilities management. These are allocated across the categories of expenditure outlined above. The basis of the cost allocation is explained in note 10.

Tangible fixed assets

Individual tangible fixed assets costing £5,000 or more are capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, excluding freehold land, at rates calculated to write off the cost or valuation of each asset on a straight-line basis over their expected useful economic lives as set out below:

----- Start of picture text -----
Tangible fixed asset Depreciation
Freehold buildings 2% to 4%
Computer equipment 33%
Motor vehicles 100%
held overseas
Fittings and office 25%
equipment
Leasehold To the date of
improvements the next lease
break point
----- End of picture text -----

Operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the SOFA on a straight-line basis over the most likely term of the lease.

Finance leases

Leases are accounted for as finance leases when substantially all the risk and rewards relating to the leased property transfer to Sightsavers. The asset is recognised as a tangible fixed asset. Rentals payable are apportioned between:

Investments

Investments are initially measured at cost and subsequently at market value at the balance sheet date. The SOFA includes the net gains and losses arising from disposals and revaluations throughout the year.

Debtors

Debtors are measured in the accounts at their recoverable amount.

Creditors

Creditors are measured in the accounts at their settlement amount.

Fixed assets recognised under finance leases are accounted for using the policies applied generally to tangible fixed assets.

80 | Annual report 2022

Forward exchange contracts

Sightsavers has entered into forward exchange contracts during the year to hedge forward currency exposure on near-term future programme expenditure. Forward currency exchanges made under these contracts are recorded at the specified rate at the time of the transaction.

At the end of each reporting period, each contract is revalued, based on the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. An asset or liability is recorded and the gain or loss is reported in the SOFA.

Financial instruments

Sightsavers also has financial assets and liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Investments held as part of an investment portfolio are held at fair value at the balance sheet date, with gains and losses being recognised in the SOFA. Investments in subsidiary undertakings are held at cost less impairment.

and to future accruals in August 2010. The pension costs and the pension provision for the defined benefit scheme are calculated on the basis of actuarial advice and are charged to the SOFA in accordance with the requirements of FRS 102.

Sightsavers also operates a defined contribution scheme for eligible UK contracted employees. Pension costs for the defined contribution scheme are charged to the accounts as they are accrued.

A pensions reserve has been created within unrestricted funds in compliance with paragraph 10.93 of the Charities SORP (FRS 102). Details of the pension schemes are disclosed in note 13.

For staff based overseas, Sightsavers contributes to locally managed provident fund schemes and a centrally managed end-of-service benefit scheme based on the number of years’ service completed, in line with local employment laws. Any benefit accrued but not paid at the year-end is recorded as a liability.

All pension costs are allocated between activities and between restricted and unrestricted funds on the basis of the time spent.

Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the Charity has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of past events; it is probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation and the amount can be estimated reliably.

Provisions are measured at the present value of the expenditure expected to be required to settle the obligation. The increase in the provision due to passage of time is recognised as a finance cost.

Pension

Sightsavers operates a defined benefit pension scheme for its eligible UK contracted employees. This scheme was closed to new members in September 2002

Foreign exchange

Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies have been translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Exchange differences are recognised within net income / expenditure.

Income and expenditure transactions incurred in a foreign currency have been translated during the course of the year at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction and are disclosed in the SOFA.

Functional / presentation currency

The functional currency of the Charity and its subsidiaries is considered to be pound sterling because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which

www.sightsavers.org | 81

Sightsavers operates. The consolidated financial statements are also presented in pound sterling and rounded to the nearest thousand.

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the Charity’s accounting policies, trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying value 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 or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.

Estimation uncertainly is where asset and liability values could change in the future as a consequence. The principal judgements that the Charity makes which do not carry estimation uncertainty are:

Grant and contract income recognition – we judge that total expenditure incurred to deliver any performance conditions at the end of each reporting period is an appropriate basis for determining entitlement and for recognition

Pharmaeutical gifts in kind – as described earlier in this note 1 and in note 4 we make judgements on the basis of the recognition for income and expenditure related to the receipt of pharmaeutical gifts in kind and on the valuation of those donations

The judgements with accompanying key sources of estimation uncertainty which could have an effect on the amounts

recognised in the financial statements are described in the accounting policies and are summarised below:

Pension liabilities – the Charity recognises its liability to its defined benefit pension scheme, which involves a number of estimates, as disclosed in note 13

Provisions for liabilities – the Charity has provided for its possible liabilities in relation to its leasehold property and employees, which have been estimated, as disclosed in note 21

Legacies – the Charity has estimated the legacy pipeline on a basis that is consistent with experience over the last 12 years. The amount at the year end is disclosed in note 3

Going concern

To mitigate risks faced, Sightsavers has undertaken a range of activities and measures to maximise its resilience, including in the following areas: risk monitoring and management; business continuity planning; programme monitoring; institutional and major donor engagement; liquidity management; and scenario planning and financial forecasting.

The trustees of Sightsavers receive forecasts and financial projections, which detail variations in the level and timing of future income and funding, and have considered the short- and longer-term financial projections and other risks that may affect Sightsavers.

They have considered the key risks that could negatively impact the going concern of Sightsavers and have considered budgets and forecasts, cashflow projections and contingency, and recovery plans.

After considering these factors, the trustees have concluded that Sightsavers has a reasonable expectation that there are adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and have continued to prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis.

82 | Annual report 2022

3 Donations and legacies

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Individuals
UK 21,628 23,563
Ireland 3,832 4,027
Italy 5,693 4,757
India 2,452 2,154
Other 1,125 1,159
Total from individuals 34,730 35,660
Legacies 11,829 14,051
Government, NGO and institutional donors 8,775 14,115
Companies 6,347 5,470
Trusts 29,387 12,026
Community service and other organisations 152 138
Total 91,220 81,460
Donations, excluding legacies, above £100,000 included within the above:
Government, NGO and institutional donors:
ELMA Foundation - 4,575
FCDO UK Aid Connect Inclusion Works 833 2,399
FCDO UK Aid Match 1,439 2,259
FCDO IDP 1,457 1,020
FCDO DAI PLANE 104 -
Irish Aid 1,690 1,577
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 2,033 655
Crown Prince Court - 539
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - 418
Task Force for Global Health - 116
UNICEF 302 -
GIZ 167 -
Companies:
People’s Postcode Lottery 2,500 2,500
Standard Chartered Seeing is Believing 1,210 528
Dubai Cares 123 425
Cholamandalam Business Services 387 225
Options Consulting 263 219
Baxter International 30 139
Azimpremji Philanthropic 115 138
Dubai Duty Free 123 111
L’Occitaine Foundation 171 83
HCL Technologies40 99 49
Oracle 116 -
Arvedi 217 -
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www.sightsavers.org | 83

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Trusts:
-
Silicon Valley Community fund 15,152
Givewell recommended funds 7,057 6,639
An Anonymous Foundation 3,314 2,872
Rausing EH 737 724
KS Thorne - 250
Latter Day Saints 354 244
DAK Foundation 241 231
Global Institute for Disease Education 1,642 149
Pears Foundation 100 100
Zochonis Trust - 100
Childrens Investment Fund Foundation 165 -
IZUMI Foundation 172 -
----- End of picture text -----

As at 31 December 2022, in addition to legacy income that has been included in the accounts, Sightsavers is expected to benefit from a number of legacies from estates for which the administration has yet to be finalised or Sightsavers has been notified that a payment will be made. Sightsavers’ future income from these legacies is estimated at £18,575,000 (2021: estimated at £15,880,000). In addition, Sightsavers is the future beneficiary of legacy assets transferred to and held in trust, with an estimated value of £1,797,000 (2021: £2,121,000).

Mohamed has his eyes examined for signs of trachoma infection by screening officer Mohamed Katuni in Tanzania.

84 | Annual report 2022

4 Gifts in kind

In 2022, Sightsavers International Inc. secured gift-in-kind donations valued at £189,861,000 (2021: £112,258,000) from Merck Inc., in the form of Mectizan® tablets, which have been shipped to Benin, Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria and Togo. 2022 shipment quantities are greater than both 2020 and 2021, which saw COVID-related delays and suspensions.

Sightsavers is responsible for the coordination of Mectizan® tablet distribution, principally to those people at risk of developing river blindness. The gift-in-kind donations received reflects the approximate value of tablets distributed through the Sightsavers coordination work. Sightsavers works in collaboration with a small number of other agencies to ensure the responsibilities for coordination are most effectively undertaken.

Over time, there is a general correlation between shipments donated to Sightsavers and treatments performed and reported under our funded programmes. But, due to collaborative distribution practices under the overall MDP and the timescales of planning and logistics, that correlation is not perfect. Depending on the funding arrangements for distribution programmes, some of our shipments may be on-gifted for distribution to nonSightsavers funded programmes and, conversely, some of our partners may deploy their own Mectizan donations to Sightsavers-funded programmes.

2021 is not a standard comparative year. In 2021, shipments received were the lowest and onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis treatments the highest in recent years, as treatment activities restarted following suspensions in 2020, using pre-existing stocks of tablets. 2022 aggregate shipment volumes and values

returned to nearer to pre-COVID levels. Sightsavers values Mectizan in US dollars, with exchange rate effects arising on conversion to our reporting currency.

Google Grants is a unique gift-inkind donation programme that awards free AdWords advertising to selected charitable organisations. It supports organisations that share Google’s philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy and the arts. During the year, Sightsavers secured donations valued at £493,000 (2021: £435,000).

A one-off donation of computer equipment, totalling £20,000, was donated to Sightsavers Italy in 2022. Of this, £17,000 related to monitors and a printer and has been capitalised and £3,000 was in the form of computer supplies.

In 2022, Sightsavers benefited from the contribution of unpaid volunteers. The activities carried out by these volunteers, predominantly interactions with schools and community groups, have not been included in the accounts in accordance with the SORP, due to the absence of any reliable measurement basis.

----- Start of picture text -----
Gifts in kind 2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Mectizan [®] 189,861 112,258
Drug donation 189,861 112,258
sub-total
-
Computer 20
equipment
Google AdWords 493 435
Total gifts 190,374 112,693
in kind
----- End of picture text -----

www.sightsavers.org | 85

5 Income from charitable activities

5Income from charitable activities
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Accelerate Partners 19,857 14,103
FCDO DID
FCDO Ascend
European Commission
The Gates Foundation
USAID
Helen Keller International
RTI International
Total		 7,587
-
318
2,214
931
208
(1)
31,114		 3,714
22,231
157
1,565
97
249
7
42,123

Further information on each of these income sources is provided in note 23.

6 Investment income

6Investment income
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Dividends from investments 200 137
Bank deposit interest 168 52
Total 368 189

7 Other trading income

7Other trading income
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Sightsavers raffle ticket sales 218 263
Total 218 263

8 Other income

8Other income
2022 2022
£’000 £’000
Profit on disposal of fixed assets 58 47
Total 58 47

86 | Annual report 2022

9 Charitable activities

----- Start of picture text -----
Neglected Gift-
Health tropical in-kind Social Policy and
eye care diseases drugs Education inclusion research 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Benin - 306 - - - - 306 637
Burkina Faso 64 318 - - - - 382 407
Cameroon - 2,205 - 204 208 - 2,617 1,902
Cote D’Ivoire - 702 - - 9 - 711 354
Ghana - 634 - - 261 - 895 577
Guinea 51 1,272 - - - - 1,323 1,200
Guinea Bissau - 722 - - - - 722 538
Kenya - 999 - 145 1,678 - 2,822 2,047
Liberia 665 1,236 - 353 - - 2,254 1,289
Malawi 1,060 150 - 223 13 - 1,446 988
Mali 426 504 - 480 - - 1,410 1,020
Mozambique 888 207 - - - - 1,095 725
Nigeria 849 9,796 - 44 961 - 11,650 5,648
Senegal 458 1,494 - 233 261 - 2,446 1,519
Sierra Leone 660 368 - 217 - - 1,245 1,155
Sudan - 53 - - - - 53 67
South Sudan - 59 - - - - 59 81
Tanzania 875 552 - - 12 - 1,439 1,497
Togo - 152 - - - - 152 107
Uganda 467 1,089 - 192 132 - 1,880 1,193
Zambia 405 32 - 337 12 - 786 486
Zimbabwe 245 1,305 - - 10 - 1,560 1,001
East Central Southern Africa
(ECSA) Regional Office 178 22 - - - - 200 144
West Africa Regional Office 26 169 - 9 11 - 215 169
Africa Finance Office 118 347 - 36 26 - 527 485
Sub-total Africa 7,435 24,693 - 2,473 3,594 - 38,195 25,236
India 3,919 - - 575 494 - 4,988 3,361
India Regional Office 405 - - 39 96 22 562 496
Sub-total India 4,324 - - 614 590 22 5,550 3,857
Bangladesh 1,158 - - - 317 - 1,475 1,273
Pakistan 933 - - 27 141 - 1,101 1,116
Sub-total South Asia 2,091 - - 27 458 - 2,576 2,389
Global programmes 1 9,769 - - 7,400 - 17,170 27,875
Gifts in kind - - 189,861 - - - 189,861 112,258
Central support functions 2,047 2,715 - 1,009 1,559 977 8,307 5,554
Programme technical support 2,182 11,453 - 1,553 2,861 390 18,439 11,488
Advocacy and policy support 2,447 2,396 - 135 1,007 3,264 9,249 6,029
Direct charitable expenditure 20,527 51,026 189,861 5,811 17,469 4,653 289,347 194,686
----- End of picture text -----

www.sightsavers.org | 87

Our income from our charitable activities arises from activities across our programme portfolio, described on page 10. The principal programme categories and types of activities undertaken are as follows:

1. Eye health: we undertake eye health programmes to promote sustainable, good quality eye health services and systems that contribute to universal health coverage, and to strengthen global, national and sub-national policy and accountability frameworks that facilitate the integration of eye health into universal health coverage. Our work covers support to inclusive and quality service delivery, scale-up of effective coverage by influencing policy and financing systems for eye health, and support for equitable and inclusive refractive services.

2. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): our programmes are focused on achieving elimination of five NTDs – intestinal worms (soil-transmitted helminths), lymphatic filariasis, river blindness (onchocerciasis), schistosomiasis and trachoma. This is being achieved through support for large-scale treatment and monitoring activities, work with partners and governments to ensure NTD interventions are sustainable and integrated into health systems, and research and evidence generation to increase the effectiveness of elimination programmes.

3. Education: we work at all three levels of education systems (institutional, organisational and local) in order to achieve strengthened policy frameworks, education sector plans and donor commitments that promote disability-inclusive education, increased capacity of ministries of education and other agencies to support schools and communities to deliver disabilityinclusive education, and increased capacity of schools and communities to provide inclusive education for children with disabilities. The promotion of gender equitable education that meets the specific needs of girls and boys with disabilities is a key cross-cutting objective of our work.

4. Social inclusion: our social inclusion programmes work across four key areas: citizenship and political participation to ensure people with disabilities are included in key decision-making processes, economic empowerment focused on individuals and deeper systemic change, inclusive health to ensure people with disabilities have equitable access to health services, and the promotion of the rights of women and girls with disabilities to tackle the disproportionate discrimination and exclusion they face.

5. Policy and research: we strive to be an evidence-driven organisation investing in research activities that generate deeper understanding of the issues we are addressing in our work, and providing evidence that gives the design and implementation of successful programme activity.

88 | Annual report 2022

10 Total expenditure

Allocation
Grants
Direct		 Gifts of support Total Total
payable
costs		 in kind costs 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Raising funds - 19,298 499 2,496 22,293 18,576
Charitable activities
Health - eye care
Neglected tropical disease
Gift in kind drugs
Education
Social inclusion
Policy and research
Other - revaluations
Other – forward exchange contracts
Total resources expended 2022		 6,520
10,976
23,953
23,648
-
-
482
4,068
8,278
7,382
17
3,641
-
(2,466)
-
-
39,250
66,547		 -
-
189,861
-
-
-
-
-
190,360		 3,031
3,425
-
1,261
1,809
995
-
-
13,017		 20,527
51,026
189,861
5,811
17,469
4,653
(2,466)
-
309,174		 15,377
50,064
112,258
3,390
9,863
3,734
411
(51)
n/a
Total resources expended 2021 39,878
51,524		 112,693 9,527 n/a 213,622

During the year, Sightsavers made grants to partner organisations carrying out work in support of the mission. These are considered to be part of the costs of activities in furtherance of the aims of Sightsavers: much of the Charity’s programme activity is carried out through grants to local organisations that support long-term, sustainable benefits for people affected by blindness, visual impairment and disability. This includes capacitybuilding and partnership development. The work of these local organisations is closely monitored by Sightsavers.

A list of principal grants is available on our website: www.sightsavers.org/annual-reports

Staff costs included in direct costs is £26,745,000 (2021: £23,152,000).

Sahdat was an attendee at a Sightsavers-supported influencing meeting for organisations of people with disabilitites in Bangladesh. The event promoted inclusive, sustainable employment opportunities for young people with disabilities.

www.sightsavers.org | 89

Support costs allocation

Directorate

Programme support Planning, performance and reporting Human resources Information communication technology

2022 Governance

Financial management

The support costs and the basis of their allocation were as follows:

2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Directorate 434 273
Governance
Financial management
Information communication technology
Human resources
Planning, performance and reporting
Programme support
Total		 2,349
1,344
2,364
1,174
566
4,786
13,017		 1,436
848
2,163
865
410
3,532
9,527

Support costs are costs which cannot be directly identified with a single activity of the organisation, such as head office finance and facilities, and are primarily identified by cost centre. Costs associated with our’ overseas offices are included as direct costs, as these are directly related to the implementation of our programmes. Support costs have been subject to the same inflationary pressures as direct costs. The support costs were allocated across the expenditure categories based on an estimate of the time spent. This estimate is updated periodically, most recently for 2022 allocations, including best estimates for the proportion of time spent on governancerelated activities by support functions.

Governance includes assurance and risk management costs, which have increased substantially, reflecting the regulatory

and security complexity of the countries in which we operate. Cybersecurity costs have also increased and are included within governance as part of risk management. Finance management costs have increased this year, partly due to further investment in updating our core systems, including treasury, finance and payment processing.

Other costs include foreign exchange gains and losses. In 2022, there were no forward foreign currency contracts taken or positions held and, therefore, no gains or losses arising (2021: gain of £51,000). Foreign exchange gains or losses arise on the translation of foreign currency denominated monetary net assets. In 2022, Sightsavers benefitted from a revaluation gain of £2,466,000, principally through the effect of a weakened British pound when revaluing US dollar cash holdings.

90 | Annual report 2022

11 Net income/expenditure

2022 2022 2021 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Stated after charging:
Depreciation 350 195
Fees paid to Crowe:
UK charity audit
95
International audits
98
USAID audit
16
Tax advisory
6
Fees paid to other audit firms:
International audits
147
Pension scheme audit
7
Investment managers’ fees
Operating lease charges		 215
154
44
1,014		 81
83
2
10
119
7		 176
126
45
1,000

12 Staff costs

2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Wages and salaries 25,808 21,749
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension scheme
Operating costs of defined benefit pension scheme		 2,370
2,800
843		 1,960
2,854
601
Other employee benefits 953 755
Total 32,774 27,919

As part of recent global economic turmoil, global inflation has risen to extremely high levels. Sightsavers has remained faithful to full, local, inflation indexing of staff salaries under its remuneration policy. In addition to the annual benchmarking review (which includes cost of living increases) in April 2022, to ease staff cost of living concerns, a portion of the cost of living element of staff salaries was brought forward from April 2023 to October 2022, across the staff base in all countries except India. More generally, Sightsavers has continued to increase its charitable activities and expand its portfolio of programmes, with a commensurate increase in human resource costs. The average number of employees during the year was as follows:


of employees during the year was as follows:
2022 2021
No. No.
Directorate 8 8
Finance and performance
Global fundraising
NTDs
Policy and programme strategies
International programmes		 111
79
36
141
415		 105
82
39
132
379
Total 790 745

www.sightsavers.org | 91

We have seen a growth in average headcount from 2021 to 2022. The growth was spread across all parts of the organisation and has been the result of both general and team-specific factors, but concentrated on programme implementation and support activities.

Overall, we have seen a relaxation of many of the constraints of the COVID period, which has enabled us to move forward with work that had slowed down over the preceding couple of years, including filling vacant posts and bringing much-needed capacity into teams. Much of this new capacity has been driven by growth in our programme portfolio where we have seen new projects coming on stream, funded by both restricted funds and by our strong unrestricted reserves.

The total employee remuneration of the Chief Executive and direct reports was £1,116,520 (2021: £1,034,527), inclusive of employer pension and national insurance contributions.

For staff paid £60,000 or greater per annum, the number of employees with emoluments in the following ranges were:

----- Start of picture text -----
No. employees
Range 2022 2021
£60,000 - £69,999 18 17
£70,000 - £79,999 9 15
£80,000 - £89,999 15 3
£90,000 - £99,999 2 3
£100,000 - £109,999 2 3
-
£110,000 - £119,999 1
£120,000 - £129,999 1 2
-
£130,000 - £139,999 2
-
£140,000 - £149,999 2
-
£150,000 - £159,999 2
----- End of picture text -----

The cost of health insurance for two senior employees with places of work outside of the United Kingdom, with no available state health provision, are included both within their remuneration as direct reports to the Chief Executive and in their emoluments classification above £60,000 per annum.

The Chief Executive received the highest base salary in 2022. She was paid £154,464 in 2022 (on a gross basis excluding pension).

End-of-service benefit scheme liabilities / payments are deemed as employer’s contributions to an individual employee pension scheme and, as such, are not classed as employee emoluments.

Sightsavers operates a flexible holidays scheme where employees can increase or decrease their annual holiday entitlement by buying or selling up to five days of holiday. The value of flexible holiday transactions, which increase and decrease remuneration, have not been included in the calculations of emoluments in the above table so as to allow comparability around base salary plus other emoluments.

Redundancy and termination payments made and provided for during the year to employees for compensation for loss of employment totalled £109,178 (2021: £160,616).

92 | Annual report 2022

13 Pension costs

Sightsavers operates a defined contribution pension scheme for UK staff. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Charity in an independently administered fund.

Sightsavers contributes twice the level of an employee’s contribution, up to a maximum of 10 per cent of pensionable pay. Contributions payable by Sightsavers were £1,768,005 in 2022 (2021: £1,615,922), of which £161,959 was outstanding at the balance sheet date (2021: £280,173). The disclosure in note 12 also includes the costs of contributions to overseas pension schemes.

Sightsavers operates a defined benefit pension scheme in the UK. This is a separate trustee administered fund holding the pension scheme assets to meet longterm pension liabilities. The scheme was closed to new members on 30 September 2002 and closed to future accrual on 31 August 2010, although active members at that date continue to have their benefits linked to future salary increases. A full actuarial valuation is carried out every three years by a qualified actuary, independent of the scheme’s sponsoring employer, the latest at 31 December 2021. The major assumptions used by the actuary for financial reporting are shown on page 95.

As a result of a significant increase in gilt and bond yields during 2022, the value of the liabilities of the scheme has decreased significantly as at 31 December 2022. Alongside growth assets, the scheme holds

a level of matching assets, designed to match much of the movement in scheme liabilities, both upwards and downwards, in the form of Liability Driven Investments (LDI). As a result of the mix of assets held by the scheme, both the unrecognised surplus for financial reporting purposes has increased and the overall value of assets decreased, as at 31 December 2022.

On the FRS 102 basis, the scheme has a surplus as at 31 December 2022 of £793,000 (2021: surplus £507,000). In accordance with FRS 102, the surplus is not recognised, as future economic benefits are not deemed available to Sightsavers in the form of a reduction in future contributions or a cash refund.

Sightsavers is operating an indexed deficit recovery contribution plan agreed with the trustees of the pension scheme, paying funding contributions of £360,000 per annum in real terms to the scheme, from 2016, originally for a 10-year term. In 2022, this was indexed to £430,000. Contribution payments are subject to inflation indexation, set at three per cent per annum. Payments are made monthly.

Under the most recent actuarial valuation as at 31 December 2021, the actuarial technical funding shortfall is now expected to be eliminated much earlier, by the end of 2023, through Sightsavers’ existing planned contributions, to which Sightsavers has formally reaffirmed its commitment for this period, to meet the statutory funding objective.

www.sightsavers.org | 93

Present values of defined benefit obligation, fair value of assets and defined benefit asset (liability)

2022 2021 2020
£’000 £’000 £’000
Fair value of plan assets 11,900 17,665 16,427
Present value of defined benefit obligation
Surplus (deficit) in plan
Unrecognised surplus		 (11,107)
793
(793)		 (17,158)
507
(507)		 (17,805)
(1,378)
-
Defined benefit asset (liability) to be recognised - - (1,378)

Reconciliation of opening and closing balances of the defined benefit obligation

2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Defined benefit obligation at start of period 17,158 17,805
Expenses
Interest expense
Actuarial losses (gains)
Benefits paid and expenses
Losses (gains) due to benefit changes		 -
304
(5,829)
(526)
-		 -
246
(453)
(440)
-
Defined benefit obligation at
end of period 11,107 17,158

Reconciliation of opening and closing balances of the fair value of plan assets

2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Fair value of plan assets at start of period 17,665 16,427
Interest income
Actuarial gains (losses)
Contributions by the employer
Benefits paid and expenses
Fair value of plan assets at end of period		 317
(5,986)
430
(526)
11,900		 230
1,031
417
(440)
17,665

The actuarial return on the plan assets over the period ending 31 December 2022 was £(5,669,000) (2021: £1,261,000).

94 | Annual report 2022

Defined benefit costs recognised in net income / (expenditure)

2021 2020
£’000 £’000
Net interest cost (4) 16
Losses (gains) due to benefit changes - -
Defined benefit cost recognised in resources expended (4) 16

Defined benefit costs recognised in other recognised gains (losses)

Defined benefit costs recognised in other
recognised gains (losses)
2021 2020
£’000 £’000
Return on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest cost) –gain (5,986) 1,031
Gains (losses) arising on the plan liabilities
Effects of changes in the demographic and financial assumptions underlying the present
value of the plan liabilities – (loss)
Unrecognised surplus scheme assets		 (624)
6,453
(277)		 73
380
(507)
Total (434) 977

The assets of the scheme are held via an investment platform in funds managed by Columbia Threadneedle and Baillie Gifford (where assets previously managed by Bank of Montreal (BMO) are now managed by Columbia Threadneedle, following the acquisition of BMO’s asset management business). The managed funds are invested in a diversified portfolio of investments comprising 73.5% growth assets, 26.2% Liability Driven Investments (LDI) assets, and 0.3% cash.

The fair value of assets of the scheme at 31 December 2022, along with the expected percentage rates of return (Asset RoR) on the scheme assets, are as follows:

Asset
2022
Asset
2021		 Asset
2020
RoR% £’000 RoR% £’000 RoR% £’000
Growth assets 8,751 12,928 11,934
Gilts
Corporate bonds
Liability-driven investments (LDI)
Cash
Total assets
5.0%		 -
-
3,121
28
11,900		 1.80% -
-
4,647
90
17,665		 1.40% -
-
4,416
77
16,427

None of the fair values of the assets shown above includes any direct investments in the employer’s own financial instruments or any property occupied by, or other assets used by, the employer.

www.sightsavers.org | 95

As required for the preparation of statutory accounts, and in accordance with the requirements of FRS 102, the actuarial valuation was updated by Mercer Limited as at 31 December 2022. The major assumptions used for the purpose of calculating the deficiency were:


deficiency were:
2022 2021 2020
Discount rate 5.00% 1.80% 1.40%
Inflation (RPI)
Inflation (CPI)
Salary increases
Allowance for revaluation of deferred pensions of CPI or 5% p.a. if less
Allowance for pension in payment increases of RPI or 8.5% p.a. if less
Allowance for pension in payment increases of RPI or 5% p.a. if less
Allowance for pension in payment increases of CPI or 3% p.a. if less		 3.30%
2.80%
3.10%
2.80%
3.30%
3.10%
2.20%		 3.50%
3.00%
3.30%
3.00%
3.50%
3.30%
2.30%		 3.10%
2.60%
2.90%
2.60%
3.00%
3.00%
2.60%
75% of post 75% of post 75% of post
Allowance for commutation of pension for cash at retirement A day A day A day

The mortality assumptions adopted as at 31 December 2022 imply the following life expectancies at age 65:

2022 2021
Years Years
Member aged 65 (current life expectancy): male 22.1 21.8
Member aged
Member aged
Member aged		 45
65
45		 (life expectancy at 65): male
(current life expectancy): female
(life expectancy at 65): female		 23.4
23.9
25.3		 23.1
23.7
25.3

The best estimate of contributions to be paid by Sightsavers to the scheme for the period commencing 1 January 2023 is £443,000.

14 Trustees’ expenses

2022 2021
No. of trustees £’000 No. of trustees £’000
Reimbursed to trustees:
UK-related 13 46 5 1
Programme visits 2 7 - -

No emoluments or any other benefits have been received by the trustees (2021: £nil). Trustees can be reimbursed for their travel and subsistence expenses in attending meetings. Additionally, trustees may occasionally visit Sightsavers’ partners and programmes overseas, with costs of such trips being met by the Charity. Trustees are encouraged to visit at least one international programme in every four-year term served. Trustee travel activity was largely on hold during 2021.

96 | Annual report 2022

15 Related party transactions

Dr Caroline Harper, Chief Executive of Sightsavers, is a trustee of The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). IAPB was paid £107,253 in 2022 (2021: £121,674), in respect of Sightsavers’ membership fee to IAPB and contributions to support the UN Friends of Vision Group and a World Health Assembly event; a balance of £11,500 was outstanding at the end of the year (2021: £nil). Sightsavers received grant funding of £808,695 in 2022 (2021: £264,525) from Standard Chartered Bank’s ‘Seeing Is Believing’ programme, which is co-managed by the IAPB.

Dr Harper is also on the board of trustees of the International Civil Society Centre; the Centre was paid £37,342 in 2022 (2021: £33,937) for support payments and contributions to International Sign interpreting and a civil society organisation’s data collaboration initiative. A balance of £23,544 was outstanding at the end of the year (2021: £22,693).

Dominic Haslam, Deputy Chief Executive of Sightsavers, is on the board of trustees of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC). IDDC was paid £ 11,780 in 2022 (2021: £11,770) in respect of Sightsavers’ membership fee.

The related party transactions and intercompany balances of the Charity with subsidiary and related undertakings are:


and related undertakings are:
2022 2021
Grants from
Intercompany balances		 Grants from Intercompany balances
Sightsavers UK
at 31 December		 Sightsavers UK at 31 December
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Sightsavers Ireland
-
55
Sightsavers Italia
-
490
Sightsavers International Inc.
9
(107)
Sightsavers Inc.
-
(612)
Insamlingsstiftelsen Sightsavers
International (Sverige)
-
12
Stiftelsen Sightsavers
International Norge
101
38
Sightsavers (Trading)
-
7		 -
-
7
-
48
55
-		 419
453
(95)
(605)
75
25
13

www.sightsavers.org | 97

16 Tangible fixed assets

16Tangible fixed assets
Freehold Leasehold Computer Office fixtures Motor
property property equipment and fittings vehicles Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2022
59
Additions
-
Disposals
-
At 31 December 2022
59		 1,388
-
-
1,388		 27
14
-
41		 42
-
-
42		 1,670
218
-
1,888		 3,186
232
-
3,418
Depreciation
At 1 January 2022
59
Charge for the year
-
Revaluation
-
Disposals
-
At 31 December 2022
59		 769
111
-
-
880		 21
10
-
-
31		 11
11
-
-
22		 1,670
218
-
-
1,888		 2,530
350
-
-
2,880
Net book value
At 31 December 2022
-		 508 10 20 - 538
At 1 January 2022
-		 619 6 31 - 656

Sightsavers’ head office relocated in 2014 to 35 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, a leasehold property. The balance held in leasehold property above includes the capitalised finance lease cost associated with leasehold improvements and associated fixtures and fittings and a provision for future dilapidations costs to remove leasehold improvements at the end of the lease, in line with the conditions of the lease agreement.

17 Investments

17Investments
Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Market value at 1 January 6,827 6,620 6,827 6,620
Disposals at opening market value
Acquisitions at cost
Net unrealised (losses) / gains on revaluation at 31 December
Cash held in portfolio at 31 December
Market value at 31 December
Historical cost at 31 December*
Fund managed investments at market value
Non-fund managed investments at trustees valuation		 (1,511)
1,753
(388)
6,681
82
6,763
6,220
6,670
11
6,681		 (2,179)
1,952
445
6,838
399
7,237
6,382
6,827
11
6,838		 (1,511)
1,753
(388)
6,681
82
6,763
6,220
6,670
11
6,681		 (2,179)
1,952
445
6,838
399
7,237
6,382
6,827
11
6,838

98 | Annual report 2022

Of the UK amounts, the holdings with a market value greater than 5 per cent of the total portfolio value were:


portfolio value were:
2022 2021
% £’000 £’000
Key Multi Manager Hedge Fund Diversified 7.61 512 525
Key Multi Manager Hedge Fund Focused
Charity Property Fund
Focused SIVAC high grade long term bonds
Pimco		 7.78
6.60
5.69
6.12		 524
444
383
413		 521
560
-
428

Subsidiary undertakings

These group accounts include the activities, assets and liabilities of its subsidiaries. Sightsavers has the following subsidiaries:

Net Surplus/
Assets
Liabilities		 assets
Capital
Income
Expenditure
(deficit)
£’000s £’000s £’000s £’000s £’000s £’000s £’000s
2022 Sightsavers Ireland 1,002 138 864 - 6,405 6,324 81
Sightsavers Italia
Sightsavers International Inc.
Sightsavers Inc.
Insamlingsstiftelsen Sightsavers
International (Sverige)
Stiftelsen Sightsavers International
Norge
Sightsavers Trading		 1,836
125
2,552
54
175
19		 1,446
8
2,389
27
80
10		 390
117
163
27
95
9		 -
-
-
-
-
-		 6,061
189,870
29,368
312
689
13		 6,018
189,857
29,331
302
688
8		 43
13
37
10
1
5
2021 Sightsavers Ireland
Sightsavers Italia
Sightsavers International Inc.
Sightsavers Inc.
Insamlingsstiftelsen Sightsavers
International (Sverige)
Stiftelsen Sightsavers International
Norge		 1,466
1,227
110
2,083
107
167		 683
880
6
2,298
90
73		 783
347
104
(215)
17
94		 -
-
-
-
-
-		 6,266
5,332
7
12,277
424
726		 6,226
5,890
7
12,261
426
727		 40
(558)
-
16
(2)
(1)
Sightsavers Trading 19 16 3 - 8 23 (15)

www.sightsavers.org | 99

18 Debtors

18Debtors
Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Amounts owed by group and associated undertakings - - 602 984
Prepayments and accrued income
Other debtors		 6,242
744
6,986		 4,026
458
4,484		 5,285
729
6,616		 3,453
455
4,892

19 Cash at bank and in hand

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cash at bank
UK 73,012 68,329 73,005 68,322
Ireland 467 1,078 - -
- -
Italy 1,455 1,090
USA 1,932 1,824 - -
Sweden 53 107 - -
Norway 152 145 - -
Middle East 172 114 172 114
India 1,499 1,462 1,499 1,462
Africa 468 518 468 518
South Asia 213 189 213 189
79,423 74,856 75,357 70,605
Cash in hand
India 2 2 2 2
South Asia 7 6 7 6
Africa 1 1 1 1
79,433 74,865 75,367 70,614
----- End of picture text -----

Cash at bank includes money received at the year-end that is to be expended in the first quarter of 2023. In addition, further funds were received in advance to facilitate short-term cash commitments later than three months. In general, these are held in short-term, highly liquid, interest-earning deposit accounts with our existing relationship bank partners until required.

As of 31 December 2022, restricted cash stands at £44,776,000 (2021: £43,844,000); of total cash at bank and in hand £18,671,000 (2021: £15,933,000) represents deferred income, per note 20.

100 | Annual report 2022

20 Creditors

Amounts falling due within one year

Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Bank loans and overdrafts 3 6 3 -
Amounts owed to group and associated undertakings
Payments received on account for contracts or
performance-related grants
Accruals and deferred income
Taxation and social security
Other creditors		 -
18,549
1,995
752
2,472		 -
15,126
3,050
484
2,237		 718
16,168
1,665
691
1,755		 700
13,409
2,052
444
1,937
23,771 20,903 21,000 18,542

The Charity has a high level of restricted cash balances and associated liabilities due to a number of grants with performance-related conditions. When restricted funds are received in advance on such grants, income is deferred until the performance conditions have been met.

Sightsavers has agreed a one-year renewable, rolling £5 million standard general purpose overdraft facility with HSBC, which can be utlised to provide working capital funding for specific contracts with payment in arrears terms, principally FCDO Ascend and FCDO DID. The facility operates via a designated bank account, which held a balance at 31 December 2022 of £619 (2021: £2,328,275). The facility is unsecured but repayable on demand.

Movement on deferred income during the year

Group Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Balance brought forward 15,933 13,484 13,440 12,393
Received in year
Released to income
Balance carried forward		 25,965
(23,227)
18,671		 41,837
(39,388)
15,933		 19,399
(16,549)
16,290		 36,461
(35,414)
13,440

The balance carried forward on deferred income is split between payments received on account for contracts or performance-related grants and an element from accruals and deferred income. This element comprises funding received in advance for 2023 projects.

www.sightsavers.org | 101

21 Provision for other liabilities

The Charity had the following provisions during the year:

Dilapidations
provisions
£’000
End of
contract/
service
benefit
£’000
Employee
benefit
accrual
£’000
Total
2022
£’000
Total
2021
£’000
Group At 1 January 2022
61
669
192
922
877
Additions
-
1,017
268
1,285
790
Utilised
-
(737)
(192)
(929)
(721)
Reversals
-
-
-
-
-
Foreign exchange translation
adjustment
-
(27)
-
(27)
(24)
At 31 December 2022
61
922
268
1,251
n/a
At 31 December 2021
61
669
192
n/a
922
Charity At 1 January 2022
57
669
188
914
871
Additions
-
1,017
263
1,280
786
Utilised
-
(737)
(188)
(925)
(719)
Reversals
-
-
-
-
-
Foreign exchange translation
adjustment
-
(27)
-
(27)
(24)
At 31 December 2022
57
922
263
1,242
n/a
At 31 December 2021
57
669
188
n/a
914

Dilapidations provision

As part of the Charity’s property leasing arrangements, there is an obligation to repair damages during the life of the lease, such as wear and tear. The cost is charged to the SOFA as the obligation arises. The provision is expected to be utilised before 2028, the year the leases terminate.

End of contract/service benefit

The Charity provides certain international employees with an end of contract / service benefit. The Charity does not set aside assets to fund the payments and pays the benefits out of cash resources. The amounts provided are paid out as and when required, and are ongoing whilst the employee remains in employment.

Employee benefit accrual

The Charity recognises a provision for annual leave accrued by employees as a result of services rendered in the current period, and which employees are entitled to carry forward and use within the next 12 months. The provision is measured at the salary cost payable for the period of absence.

102 | Annual report 2022

22 Financial instruments

The Charity has certain 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. Certain other financial instruments are held at fair value, with gains and losses being recognised within income and expenditure.

The Charity has the following financial instruments measured at fair value through the profit and loss:


and loss:
Group Charity
2022
2021
2022		 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Financial assets measured at fair value, through profit and loss
Investments 6,763
7,237
6,763		 7,237
Forward foreign exchange contracts - - - -
6,763
7,237		 6,763 7,237
Group 2022 Group 2021
Income Expense Gain/(loss) Income Expense Gain/(loss)
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Financial assets measured at fair value,
through profit and loss
Investments
200
Forward foreign exchange contracts
-
200		 (463)
-
(463)		 (263)
-
(263)		 687
51
738		 -
-
-		 687
51
738

Sightsavers entered into three forward exchange contracts during the year to hedge forward currency exposure on future programme expenditure. These contracts were to purchase US dollars (USD) using sterling (GBP), each for six months in duration, at GBP/ USD contract rates ranging from 1,340054 to 1.416181.

As at 31 December 2022, there were no contracts remaining and as such there was no carrying amount in the balance sheet (2021: £nil). This movement on the fair value forms part of the free reserves in note 23.

Trachoma recorder Salamatu is part of a team that speaks to communities to find out whether they can access clean water. Water, sanitation and hygiene are critical in the prevention and management of neglected tropical diseases.

104 | Annual report 2022

23 Statement of funds

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 Balance at Investment Balance at
1 January gains/ 31 December
2022 Income Expenditure (losses) Transfers 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
General reserve:
Free reserve 32,185 54,648 (47,537) (463) (5,807) 33,026
Pension reserve - - 434 (434) - -
Designated funds:
- - -
Future overseas expenditure 1,407 (18) 1,389
Fixed assets fund 656 - - - (118) 538
- - - -
Liquidity reserve 3,000 (3,000)
NTD activities 6,500 - (5,569) - 12,069 13,000
Total unrestricted funds 43,748 54,648 (52,672) (897) 3,126 47,953
Restricted funds:
Donations and legacies:
FCDO UK Aid Connect Inclusion Works - 833 (803) - (30) -
FCDO UK Aid Match 65 1,439 (1,240) - (264) -
People’s Postcode Lottery 3,208 2,500 (4,948) - (468) 292
Standard Chartered Bank Seeing is Believing 385 1,210 (834) - (61) 700
Irish Aid - 1,690 (1,669) - (21) -
Fred Hollows Foundation - 15 - - (15) -
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 80 2,033 (331) - (14) 1,768
Dubai Duty Free - 123 (123) - - -
Dubai Cares 184 123 (303) - (4) -
UNICEF - 302 (213) - (7) 82
Izumi Foundation - 172 (172) - - -
GiveWell recommended funds 10,348 7,057 (3,189) - (438) 13,778
Global Institute for Disease Elimination - 1,642 (496) - 78 1,224
DAK Foundation 139 241 (175) - (17) 188
Cholamandalam Business Services 66 387 (493) - 40 -
L’OCCITANE Foundation 50 171 (186) - 1 36
ELMA Foundation 3,494 - (3,016) - - 478
Other 3,436 17,791 (18,845) - (397) 1,985
Subtotal 21,455 37,729 (37,036) - (1,617) 20,531
Gifts in kind - 189,861 (189,861) - - -
----- End of picture text -----

www.sightsavers.org | 105

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 Balance at Investment Balance at
1 January gains/ 31 December
2022 Income Expenditure (losses) Transfers 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Income from charitable activities:
- - -
FCDO Disability Inclusive Development 7,587 (7,576) (11)
FCDO ASCEND - - 1 - (1) -
USAID - 931 (885) - (46) -
The Gates Foundation - 2,214 (1,925) - (289) -
- - -
Accelerate partners - Other 19,857 (18,743) (1,114)
Helen Keller International - 208 (179) - (29) -
RTI International - (1) - - 1 -
European Commission - 318 (298) - (20) -
Subtotal - 31,114 (29,605) - (1,509) -
Total restricted funds 21,455 258,704 (256,502) - (3,126) 20,531
Endowment funds:
Mountjoy Trust 214 - - - - 214
Total endowment funds 214 - - - - 214
Total funds 65,417 313,352 (309,174) (897) - 68,698
----- End of picture text -----

Nasima is a head teacher of a school in Rangpur, Bangladesh, where a Sightsavers-supported pop-up eye screening camp was held for the local community.

106 | Annual report 2022

23 Statement of funds (continued)

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance at Income Expenditure Investment Transfers Balance at
2021 1 January £’000 £’000 gains/ £’000 31 December
2021 (losses) 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000
General reserve:
Free reserve 22,040 41,069 (31,897) 550 423 32,185
Pension reserve (1,378) - 401 977 - -
Designated funds:
- - -
Future overseas expenditure 1,830 (423) 1,407
Fixed assets fund 73 - - - 583 656
- - - -
Liquidity reserve 3,000 3,000
NTD activities - - - - 6,500 6,500
Total unrestricted funds 25,565 41,069 (31,496) 1,527 7,083 43,748
Restricted funds:
Donations and legacies:
FCDO Inclusion Works 4 2,399 (2,236) - (167) -
FCDO UK Aid Match 88 2,259 (2,076) - (206) 65
-
People’s Postcode Lottery 3,951 2,500 (2,594) (649) 3,208
Standard Chartered Bank Seeing is Believing 224 528 (330) - (37) 385
Irish Aid - 1,577 (1,488) - (89) -
States of Jersey 32 12 (32) - (12) -
Fred Hollows Foundation - 19 (19) - - -
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 488 655 (1,097) - 34 80
Dubai Duty Free 6 111 (117) - - -
Dubai Cares 158 425 (371) - (28) 184
The END Fund - 16 (5) - (11) -
Izumi Foundation 15 - - - (15) -
GiveWell recommended funds 6,853 6,639 (2,784) - (360) 10,348
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - 418 (318) - (100) -
Arcadia 37 - (37) - - -
DAK Foundation 129 231 (185) - (36) 139
Cholamandalam Business Services 219 225 (378) - - 66
L’Occitane Foundation 122 83 (139) - (16) 50
ELMA Foundation - 4,575 (905) - (176) 3,494
Other 2,572 18,653 (17,108) - (681) 3,436
Subtotal 14,898 41,325 (32,219) - (2,549) 21,455
Gifts in Kind - 112,258 (112,258) - - -
----- End of picture text -----

www.sightsavers.org | 107

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance at Income Expenditure Investment Transfers Balance at
2021 1 January £’000 £’000 gains/ £’000 31 December
2021 (losses) 2021
£’000 £’000 £’000
Income from charitable activities:
- - -
FCDO Disability Inclusive Develpoment 3,714 (3,639) (75)
FCDO ASCEND - 22,231 (18,812) - (3,419) -
USAID - 97 (113) - 16 -
The Gates Foundation - 1,565 (1,364) - (201) -
Accelerate Partners – FCDO Commonwealth - - 3 - (3) -
Accelerate Partners – other - 14,103 (13,304) - (799) -
Helen Keller International - 249 (218) - (31) -
RTI International 1 7 (8) - - -
EC India 59 157 (194) - (22) -
Subtotal 60 42,123 (37,649) - (4,534) -
Total restricted funds 14,958 195,706 (182,126) - (7,083) 21,455
Endowment funds:
Mountjoy Trust 214 - - - - 214
Total endowment funds 214 - - - - 214
Total funds 40,737 236,775 (213,622) 1,527 - 65,417
----- End of picture text -----

On a visit to India, Sightsavers celebrity ambassador Sunetra Sarker talks with Rajesh, a driver who had his eyes tested and received glasses for short-sightedness

108 | Annual report 2022

Designated funds

The balance on future overseas expenditure represents cash held in overseas programme countries bank accounts at the balance sheet date. These balances will be drawn down within one to two months of the year-end.

The balance on the fixed-asset fund represents the net book value of tangible fixed assets at the balance sheet date. These are operational assets required for the day-to-day operations of the Charity.

The liquidity reserve, designated at year-end 2018, to ensure adequate operational liquidity and cash availability to support the day-to-day operations of the Charity, was discontinued in 2022 and transferred back into general reserves.

The NTD activities reserve of £6.5 million, designated at the end of 2021, primarily to address the FCDO Ascend contract shortfalls, but to also complement the existing Uniting to Combat NTDs programme and the various projects relating to combating NTDs, was primarily spent down in 2022.

At the end of 2022, £13 million was designated to fulfil our public commitment to financially support ongoing NTD activities at the June 2022 Kigali Summit on malaria and NTDs. This will fund activities from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025.

Restricted funds

The transfer to unrestricted funds of £3,126,000 relates mainly to funds received as part of restricted funding agreements that are provided for Sightsavers’ indirect costs, principally under our large grants and contracts, including with FCDO.

Endowment funds

The Mountjoy Trust is invested and the interest earned is expended specifically for the benefit of people with visual impairments in accordance with the terms of the bequest.

Godfred, a farmer and handyman in Ghana, had surgery for hydrocele (swelling in the scrotum) through a Sightsavers-run programme. He can now walk around and carry out jobs with ease.

www.sightsavers.org | 109

The principal grant contracts Sightsavers has classified as restricted fund projects in 2022, the majority of which are recognised under charitable activities, are set out here:

----- Start of picture text -----
Donor name Countries affected Formal contract name
Irish Aid Cameroon, Liberia, Programme Grant II
Senegal and Sierra Leone
Conrad N. Hilton Tanzania Supporting research to
Foundation understand the role of gender in
trichiasis case-finding in Tanzania
Conrad N. Hilton Tanzania Support the national trachoma
Foundation elimination programme in Tanzania
The ELMA Foundation Nigeria, Liberia, Chad ARISE – To fund mass drug
administrations for onchocerciasis
and lymphatic filariasis
GiveWell Cameroon, Nigeria, Delivering schistosomiasis and soil
Recommended Funds Guinea Bissau, Guinea transmitted helminths MDA in:
Conakry and Democratic DRC, Nigeria, Cameroon, Guinea
Republic of Congo Bissau and Guinea Conakry
Global Institute for Cote D’Ivoire, Malawi, DISSECT – Developing innovative
Disease Elimination Mozambique, Ghana scalable solutions to entomology
gaps and cross border
transmission of Onchocerciasis
Standard Chartered Pakistan COVID-19 emergency response
Bank programme
Standard Chartered Pakistan Futuremakers Pakistan
Bank
Standard Chartered Kenya Futuremakers Kenya
Bank
Standard Chartered Bangladesh, Nepal and Futuremakers Bangladesh
Bank Indonesia
UNICEF Mali Education for all in Mali
Foreign, Burkina Faso, Chad, Accelerating the sustainable
Commonwealth and Central African control and elimination of
Development Office Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, neglected tropical diseases
Democratic Republic (ASCEND) Lot 2 – Western and
of the Congo, Guinea, Central Africa
Liberia, Niger, Nigeria,
Benin, Ghana, Guinea
Bissau and Sierra Leone
----- End of picture text -----

110 | Annual report 2022

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Donor name Countries affected Formal contract name
Foreign, Bangladesh, Kenya, Disability Inclusive Development
Commonwealth and Nigeria, Tanzania, Nepal programme
Development Office and Jordan
Foreign, Bangladesh, Kenya, Inclusion Works
Commonwealth and Nigeria and Uganda
Development Office
Foreign, Tanzania Improved sustainability and
Commonwealth and equity of access to affordable
Development Office and quality eye care services
for people, with and without
disabilities, in Tanzania
Foreign, Malawi and Uganda Improved access to affordable,
Commonwealth and quality eye care services for
Development Office people, with and without
disabilities, in Southwest region,
Malawi and Karamoja, Uganda
Options Consultancy Ghana Leave No One Behind: Mental
(sub FCDO) Health & Disability (MH&D)
Ghana
Foreign, Sightsavers and International
Commonwealth and Disability Alliance: Disability
Development Office Capacity Building Programme
Component 2
Foreign, Global, including Resource and support hub (RSH)
Commonwealth and Ethiopia, Nigeria and
Development Office South Sudan
USAID Kenya Global Labor Program Kenya
Integrated Sciences Tanzania Reaching Children with Quality
(Sub USAID) Eye Care Services in Singida
Region, Tanzania
Integrated Sciences Mozambique Advancing Quality Eye Care
(Sub USAID) Services for Children in Nampula
Province, Mozambique
The Bill and Melinda Global 1. Enhancing the advocacy
Gates Foundation capacity of the Uniting to
Combat NTDs support centre
2. Setting and resourcing a new
NTD agenda for a decade
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www.sightsavers.org | 111

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Donor name Countries affected Formal contract name
The Bill and Melinda Nigeria and Mozambique Onchoceriasis elimination
Gates Foundation mapping in Africa
The Bill and Melinda Nigeria Greenlit: Nigeria Oncho/LF
Gates Foundation Assessments
Accelerate Partners:
The Bill and Melinda Benin, Botswana, Accelerate: Eliminate blinding
Gates foundation Bukina Faso, Cameroon, trachoma in ten African countries
Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and make significant progress
Virgin Unite
Guinea, Guinea Bissau, towards elimination in three
Children’s Investment Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, other African countries via an
Fund Foundation Tanzania, Uganda, integrated neglected tropical
Zambia and Zimbabwe disease programme and conduct
ELMA Foundation
targeted research on reducing
child mortality through trachoma
Anonymous Donor
and onchoceriasis programmes
European Commission Zambia Tusambilile Chapamo – Lets
Learn Together, developing a
Zambian model of low-cost
inclusive education that spans
early childhood to secondary and
vocational education
Helen Keller Cameroon Act to end NTDs West
International (Sub programme
FHI360/USAID)
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112 | Annual report 2022

24 Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible Other net Pension
fixed assets
Investments		 Cash assets liability Net assets
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
2022 Unrestricted funds:
General
-
6,549
Designated
538
-
Restricted funds
-
-
Endowment funds
-
214
538
6,763		 20,268
14,389
44,776
-
79,433		 6,209
-
(24,245)
-
(18,036)		 -
-
-
-
-		 33,026
14,927
20,531
214
68,698
2021 Unrestricted funds:
General
-
7,023
Designated
656
-
Restricted funds
-
-
Endowment funds
-
214
656
7,237		 19,994
10,907
43,964
-
74,865		 5,168
-
(22,509)
-
(17,341)		 -
-
-
-
-		 32,185
11,563
21,455
214
65,417

25 Leasing commitments

Operating lease obligations

Sightsavers is committed to make future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases of £1,305,000 (2021: £1,488,000). The obligation to make these payments fall due as follows:


payments fall due as follows:
2022 2021
£’000 £’000
Land and buildings
Within 1 year
Within 2-5 years
After 5 years
Subtotal
Other		 751
458
-
1,209		 730
680
18
1,428
Within 1 year 20 31
Within 2-5 years
After 5 years
Subtotal		 76
-
96		 29
-
60
Total 1,305 1,488

www.sightsavers.org | 113

26 Post-balance sheet events

None to report.

We work with partners in low and middle income countries to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities www.sightsavers.org

SightsaversUK @Sightsavers @sightsavers SightsaversTV

Bumpers Way Bumpers Farm Chippenham SN14 6NG UK

+44 (0)1444 446 600

info@sightsavers.org

Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110