Our Supporter
Promise

What is our Supporter Promise all about?

A Supporter Promise is where you can hold us accountable. We always strive for transparency, consistency and expertise in everything we do - in fact, it was drummed into us by Fred.

Every day, we’re able to restore sight to the world’s blind because of your support. We acknowledge that there are thousands of great causes out there that you could have donated to - but you chose us. You’re someone who wants to see a better world, and who does something about it. Just like us, you’ve got enormous ambitions about what we can achieve and you’d like to help us fulfil them.

We’d like you to know how much we appreciate you and your support.

And so, here is our Supporter Promise.

COVER PHOTO: Michael Amendolia (1992)

We promise to always be transparent about how we raise and spend funds

We believe in transparency because our supporters and beneficiaries have the right to know our goals, how we operate and work to fulfill those, and how our resources are being used.
 
We share appropriate information, such as how we use donated funds, through our financial statements and annual reports, as well as reports from our programs, where possible.
 

Check out our Annual Reports here.

A number of publicly available policies guide our work, and as an organisation we proudly embrace sector-wide codes of conduct, such as the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). 

We also adhere strictly to guidelines from institutional donors such as the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In 2019, The Foundation ranked fifth in the 2019 Australian Charity Reputation Index survey. This study is conducted yearly by the Reputation Institute to measure the Australian public’s view of the overall reputation of Australia’s 40 largest charities. Measurements include ranking for trust, overall esteem, governance, leadership, and cost management to name just a few.

The Fred Hollows Foundation has also received the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar in the United States, the highest seal of transparency achievable.  

In addition, The Foundation is one of only a handful of nonprofits globally recognised by The Life You Can Save as one of the most effective charities to give to in the world, something we are extremely proud of.
 

Read more about our The Life You Can Save endorsement here

We promise to value your contribution, regardless of how you choose to support us

Fred was a passionate ‘doer’. He wasn’t interested in prejudice or snobbery, in the ‘shoulds’ and ‘coulds’ in life. He helped the causes that he was passionate about, in ways that made sense to him.

The Fred Hollows Foundation community is a passionate community of ‘doers’, just like Fred. 

Our donors, volunteers, fundraisers, advocates and staff contribute in a range of amazing ways.

And we wholeheartedly appreciate every single one of them and the contribution they make.

If donating isn’t for you, we have many other ways for you to get involved, from fundraising, events, opening mail, sharing our message on social media… the list goes on.

Read about them here and get in touch if you’d like to partner with us in another way that we haven’t thought about yet

We will keep you in the loop

We love sharing what we’re up to with our community, so from time to time, you’ll receive communication from us both via the post, phone and email.

You’ll be able to read patient stories like this one, academic research papers like this one, as well as tips and tricks for fundraising.

We think these emails and letters are inspiring and informative, but we also understand that everyone will have their own individual communications preferences.

We listen to and respect your communication requests, making sure that if you ask us not to contact you in a particular way, we won’t (unless we are legally required to).

If you need to let us know how you’d like to be contacted, please get in touch.

We welcome feedback, and regardless of the nature, we can handle it. Contact us with anything and everything you’d like to raise.

If you’ve got a complaint to make, firstly… we’re sorry to hear this. Secondly, please head to the complaints page for more information, or call us on 1800 352 352 and we can help resolve your issue. And if you’ve got a compliment for our team, or have a story about your interactions with Fred, we’d also love to hear that!

We strive to work with local and trusted partners to deliver services, while also strengthening the communities in which we work

Without partnerships, The Fred Hollows Foundation wouldn’t exist. We have an immense respect for our partner organisations, and we recognise and support our local and global partners’ knowledge, capabilities and resources.
 
These are the people and organisations on the ground, in the arena, doing the work.
 
Partnerships are transparent, equitable and mutually-beneficial collaboration.
 
Working towards a common goal, those in partnership agree to commit resources and share the risks and benefits of a program.
 
At The Foundation, along with our partners, we have been able to establish accessible and sustainable eye care services, while strengthening local institutions and systems.
 
Our principles for our approach to partnership are:

• In all our initiatives we work hard to ensure that the poorest people and most marginalised groups can benefit.
• We are catalysts and facilitators of positive change, working with local partners and supporting people who have the capacity and passion to make a difference.
• We take our lead from local people in designing and implementing programs.
• We work collaboratively with people and organisations who share our goals.
• We focus on building systems that can be sustained over the long-term.
• We are committed to learning from our experience so that we continually increase the impact of our work.
• We are accountable for our actions to the communities we work with, our partners, donors and supporters.

You can see the hundreds of organisations which we partner with in our Annual Report.

We will update you on our in-country programs

We know that not everyone can experience life in the field. International and community development programs can be complex and chaotic. But they can also hold moments of true human vulnerability and grace.

We aim to share stories from the field with our supporters as often as possible. We want you to be just as invested in the journey as those who are there day in, day out restoring sight in the countries where we work

We will always respect your privacy

We know how important personal privacy is to your feelings of safety and wellbeing. That’s why we treat your data with respect, and we will never sell your information to a third party.

Don’t worry, your personal information is safe with us.

The only reason we would share your personal information is if we were required to by law, or if we’re assisting you to solve a dispute with your financial institution relating to direct debit payments.

I give monthly, does this all apply to me?

Yes, everything above applies to you, and you can also read our Regular Giving Service Agreement, for more details on your regular payments.