100% Optical
“Smaller organisations don’t realise the impact they can have”
OT spoke to Morna Lane, head of trusts and corporate partnerships at Sightsavers, at 100% Optical to discuss the charity’s new eye health partnership programme for small businesses
20 March 2024
Sightsavers used 100% Optical 2024 (24–26 February) to highlight how vital it finds small organisations in supporting its global eye health mission.
The charity is looking for small businesses who can lend their support without having to make a large financial commitment, Sightsavers’ head of trusts and corporate partnerships, Morna Lane, told OT.
In order to engage smaller partners, Sightsavers has established an eye health partnership package.
The scheme is separate to the charity’s larger corporate partnership scheme.
“It’s about those small organisations, or just an individual optometrist, who thinks, ‘I personally want to do something,’” Lane said.
She added: “They might not see themselves as big enough to go down the route of a charity partner, with a Memorandum of Understanding. So, we thought we would set up a plan for eye health partners.”
Six ways small businesses can support Sightsavers
- Consider a donate-as-you-purchase scheme, where a small percentage for each product sold is pledged to Sightsavers
- Fundraise for the charity, through a bake sale or sponsored run
- Engage with Sightsavers via social media on World Sight Day
- Share Sightsavers’ case studies on your own and your practice’s social media channels
- Tell your patients about the work Sightsavers is doing to support global eye health
- Sign up and have your name added to the charity’s published list of eye health partners.
Sightsavers has sent out cards, highlighting the global eye health issues that are at play and the work the charity is doing to combat them, to promote the partnership package.
The cards also include a call to action for the Sightsavers website, which explains how small businesses can help.
The website includes case studies, information on how to support the charity on World Sight Day (10 October 2024), and the opportunity to sign up to a quarterly partner newsletter.
Sightsavers also has posters available, which it hopes can be displayed in practice so that optometrists can share their support for the charity with patients.
Lane hopes that partnering with optical practices will help cascade the Sightsavers message down to patients and customers, who will appreciate that their practice is doing something valuable.
“In doing so, they might encourage them to become individual givers,” Lane said.
She added: “I think, sometimes, smaller organisation don’t realise the impact they can have. It can be huge.
“The more people we have coming together doing things, the more noise we can make, and it shines a light on the issue, which is what we’re really trying to do.”
Those who are interested in signing up as a Sightsavers eye health partner should email the charity for further information.
OT asked Morna Lane: what do can the optical sector do to help support the global inequality of eye health services?
“One of the challenges that we have is how we make people prioritise eye health. I think for lots of people, when they’re thinking about health, it can be down the priority line. But by ensuring people have access to really good eye health services, children can learn, they can go to school, and adults can earn.
“I got my glasses when I was 10 years old, and if the teacher hadn’t noticed, I would have struggled for longer at school and I would probably have been told that I was misbehaving. In children, we often think it’s a behaviour issue.
“In lots of the countries that we work in, access to eye health isn’t as strong as it is here in the UK. People might live in very remote areas, without access to those services. It’s about how we can get primary eye health to people in those areas, and also promote, in the countries where we work, the importance of eye health.
“You do notice that quite often, people who come for cataract operations, say, ‘I didn’t think it could be addressed, I just thought this would happen as I got older. That’s what I’ve seen where I live, and my grandmother lost her sight.’ So, there’s an education aspect as well.”
Lead image: Sightsavers colleagues, Jo, Rob, and James, raise awareness of the global inequity of eye health in eye-catching boiler suits and protective eyewear
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