VISION ACTION

Registered charity 1081695 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q7936132 · Wikipedia · also known as VAO, VISION AID OVERSEAS

Vision Action aims to transform access to eyecare in developing countries. 670 million people worldwide are visually impaired because they do not have access to spectacles, due to the lack of eyecare services available in low income countries.Our work focuses on improving the lives of people marginalised by poor eyesight and is motivated by a belief that good vision should be a right for all

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE THE PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION OF EYE HEALTH AND TREATMENT OF EYE DEFECTS AMONG POOR PERSONS OVERSEAS IN PARTICULAR BY PROVIDING OR ASSISTING IN THE PROVISION OF OPTOMETRIC AND OPTICAL SERVICES, INCLUDING THE PROVISION OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND OTHER RELATED FACILITIES

Area of benefit: OVERSEAS

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Camden, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £66,771 for the year ended 31 March 2025, a significant improvement from the £263,019 deficit in the prior year. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £321,921, which is just below the stated policy target of £345,000, though the trustees maintain a reasonable expectation of going concern based on cash flow forecasts and income pipelines.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Richard Place Dobson Services Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/03/2022 (received 24/03/2023, 52 days after the 31/01/2023 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Vision Action (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Else Kroner Fresenius Stiftung — “Trusts and Foundations Else Kroner Fresenius Stiftung” (source page)
• The James Tudor Foundation — “The James Tudor Foundation” (source page)
• The Souter Charitable Trust — “The Souter Charitable Trust” (source page)
• Optometry Giving Sight — “Optometry Giving Sight” (source page)
• The Beatrice Laing Trust — “The Beatrice Laing Trust” (source page)
• Wallace Bell Charitable Trust — “Wallace Bell Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Dinkin Family Charitable Trust — “The Dinkin Family Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The N Smith Charitable Settlement — “The N Smith Charitable Settlement” (source page)
• The Alfred Charitable Trust — “The Alfred Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Thomas Sivewright Catto Charitable Settlement — “The Thomas Sivewright Catto Charitable Settlement” (source page)
• Paget Charitable Trust — “Paget Charitable Trust (also known as Joanna Herbert Stepney Charitable Settlement)” (source page)

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.1 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (54% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 13.7% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (11/05/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (24/11/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Darren Lee Jackson · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Ahalya Subramanian
• Dr Anne Ebri
• Dr Hannah Bassey Faal · trustee of 1 other charity
• Emma Kate Thomas
• Ian Kerr
• Lucy Jane Soar
• Thomas Edward Munday
• Thomas Munday
• Ving Fai Chan
• Zoe Jane Gray

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Ethiopia · Ghana · Sierra Leone · West Sussex · Zambia

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with WORLD VISION UK.

• WORLD VISION UK income £66.1m
• VISION CHURCH LTD income £130k
• New Sight U.K. income £32k
• VISION HOMES ASSOCIATION income £3.6m
• SUFFOLK SIGHT income £202k
• VISION FOR LIFE TRUST income £72k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.