Safeguarding and The Foundation's policies

The Foundation is committed to keeping our people, beneficiaries, donors and other stakeholders safe. We adhere to The Foundation’s Values of Integrity, Collaboration, Empowerment and Action.


These are some of the Policies that guide our work:

  • Our Safeguarding People Policy includes our Safeguarding Code of Conduct and sets out The Foundation's zero tolerance approach to harm, sexual exploitation and abuse to children and other vulnerable people including preventative steps, reporting and commitments regarding modern slavery. The Foundation has published its first Modern Slavery Statement which is available here or on the Australian Government’s Modern Slavery Register.
  • Our Privacy Policy sets out how we handle and protect your personal information.
  • Our Speak-Up Policy outlines that The Foundation encourages a transparent speaking-up culture and environment and will provide support for whistle-blowers. Our procedures in support including those for clinical Serious Untoward Incidents are available here.
  • Declarations and Conflicts of Interest Policy
  • Corporate Governance Charter: Note Principle 9 that The Foundation’s principles of independence and self-sufficiency mean that we do not engage in or support welfare programs, evangelism, or partisan politics either in our own work or the activities and strategies we support and fund.
  • Communication & Transparency Policy
  • Procurement: We aim to demonstrate how a leading approach in sustainable procurement can positively influence outcomes for the communities in which we work, our suppliers and their supply chains, our workplaces and our valued partners who support our operations and enable our program outcomes.
  • Environmental Sustainability Policy: The Foundation recognises the importance of environmental sustainability and climate change, and this Policy details our commitments to reducing potential negative impacts on the environment and to developing resilience to the impacts of climate change across our operations and programs in our work to end avoidable blindness. We are commited to operating transparently in this space and have accordingly prepared a public disclosure statement detailing our approach over the past year. 
  • Our Human Rights Equity & Inclusion Policy sets out the commitment of The Foundation to uphold the universal principles of human rights, particularly gender equity and disability inclusion, throughout all practices in the achievement of our Vision to see a world in which no person is needlessly blind or vision impaired.
  • Our Financial Crime Policy sets out our commitment to the prevention of financial crime - including fraud, corruption,  terrorism financing and money laundering – in all of our activities, operations, projects and programs.  
Interested in what The Foundation does within ESG but don’t want to read all of these policies? We’ve summarised it in ESG @ The Foundation here.

We welcome your thoughts about how The Foundation is doing. Learn more about how to give feedback or make a complaint about The Foundation or its partners.