Restoring sight. Changing lives.
For more than 30 years, The Fred Hollows Foundation has been working to end avoidable blindness in Australia and around the world. Restoring sight can transform lives, families and entire communities.
If you are looking for the best Australian charity to support and you believe everyone deserves the right to sight, your donation can help change a life today.
Why support The Fred Hollows Foundation for eye health and sight restoration
When you choose to support The Fred Hollows Foundation, you can feel confident that your donation contributes to:
Clear and measurable impact
Your support has helped restore sight to over 3 million people worldwide and continues to deliver life-changing results.
A trusted and reputable Australian charity
Consistently ranked among Australia’s most trusted charities, including #4 in the 2025 Charity RepTrak Index.
A shared vision that creates long lasting change
Guided by Fred Hollows’ vision, we’re working towards a world where no one is needlessly blind or vision impaired.
The Australian charity that really makes a difference
The Fred Hollows Foundation was founded in 1992 by Professor Fred Hollows, a renowned Australian eye surgeon who believed that everyone should have access to high quality and affordable eye care.
Your support doesn’t just restore sight. It restores independence and the opportunity to learn, work, and fully participate in life.
In the past year, supporters helped us:
- Provide more than one million eye treatments and screenings
- Deliver more than 173,000 sight restoring surgeries
- Train and equip more than 118,000 local health workers
- Direct 74 per cent of funds to eye health programs and advocacy
- Work in more than 25 countries, including remote communities in Australia, Africa and Asia
Behind every number is a person whose life has been transformed. You can help create the next story of change.
Why The Fred Hollows Foundation is one of the best Australian charities to support
1. Sustainable programs that create long term impact
Your donation helps train local doctors, nurses and eye care workers so communities can continue delivering eye health services long into the future.
2. Global reach with strong local focus
We work in more than 25 countries and we are committed to improving eye health in remote and underserved communities across Australia.
3. Sight restored for more than 3 million people
Our work is proven and measurable. In some countries, sight can be restored for as little as 25 dollars, which means your support can help someone living with avoidable blindness see again.
4. Independently recognised and trusted
The Fred Hollows Foundation is consistently ranked among Australia’s most trusted charities, including recognition in the Charity RepTrak Index. In 2025, The Fred Hollows Foundation was ranked #4 in the most trusted charities index.
Every dollar you give helps restore sight and rebuild lives. Donate today or become a Visionary with a monthly gift. In some countries we work in, for every $1USD invested, $28USD is returned to the community.
How do you know which charity makes the biggest impact?
Avoidable blindness is an equity issue that affects people in low-income countries, remote regions and Indigenous communities. More than one billion people live with vision loss simply because they cannot access basic eye care. Incredibly, 9 out of 10 people who are blind, don’t need to be
When you support The Fred Hollows Foundation, you help us:
- Perform sight restoring cataract surgeries
- Prevent avoidable blindness in low-income countries and in Indigenous Australian communities
- Treat and prevent trachoma, the leading cause of blindness by infection for eye disease.
- Train local surgeons, nurses and eye care workers
- Equip clinics with essential tools and technology
If you are choosing the best Australian charity to donate to, continue Fred's vision where no person is needlessly blind, just because of where they were born.
How we support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
We recognise the significant need for eye health services here in Australia for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are three times more likely to experience blindness than other Australians. More than 90 per cent of this vision loss is preventable or treatable.
We partner directly with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to deliver culturally safe, community led eye care.
Our work includes:
- Mobile eye health clinics across remote Australia
- Outreach for cataract, diabetic eye disease and refractive services
- Training Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers
- Advocacy for systemic change and equitable access to care
To help close the eye health gap, consider supporting this vital work.
Why supporters choose The Fred Hollows Foundation
No one should live with avoidable blindness. With your help, we can continue restoring sight and breaking the cycle of poverty for millions of people.
Supporters choose us because we offer:
- Proven accountability through independent audits and transparent reporting
- Measurable outcomes through surgeries, screenings, trained professionals and equipped clinics
- High efficiency so your donation goes further
- Investing in eye health through The Fred Hollows Foundation delivers an extraordinary return on investment (ROI), with up to a $28 USD return for every $1 USD invested
- A lasting legacy with more than three million people having had their sight restored in over 30 years
- Industry recognition as one of the best Australian charities to donate to
Read more about The Foundation's work
A year of eye health wins, made possible by you
Where does your donation go? A transparent breakdown
The power of your generosity: how monthly support creates lasting change
