Fight for Sight and Vision Foundation are set to merge later on this year, with the new organisation led by the former’s chief executive Keith Valentine.
Olivia Curno, the outgoing chief executive of Vision Foundation, will be stepping away from the charity to take on a national chief executive role in the care sector.
Both boards voted unanimously to merge and will work as one organisation from 1 April 2023.
The charities are joining to expand their reach and increase their impact, and will tackle sight loss from a clinical and social perspective.
No non-executive redundancies planned
Vision Foundation told Civil Society News the charities “will unite our areas of expertise for maximum influence but we will also maintain our grantmaking departments”.
There will be two distinct areas of grantmaking, medical research and social impact, and each will have their own director and application process because the expertise required for each is so different. However, both branches of activity will sit within the one charity.
The name of the new merged charity is to be decided after the merger is completed in April of this year.
A Vision Foundation spokesperson said: “We want this to be a collaborative process, with our teams coming together as one to offer their insight and expertise. We also want to listen to the people we are here for – people experiencing sight loss, as well as our patrons and other stakeholders.”
The spokesperson added: “Coming together is about growing our influence and impact, not reducing or diluting what we do.”
In its current planning, they do not envisage any reduction in headcount below executive roles in 2023.
For the time being both offices will also remain open to use, and the spokesperson said any proposed changes to where employees work from will be part of the joint decision-making process.
‘This merger will also enable us to grow our funding’
Valentine, who is set to be chief executive of the merged charity, said: “I’m a long-standing supporter of Vision Foundation and have immense respect for all it achieves. Taking that incredible work – as well as our mission at Fight for Sight - onto the national stage is a very big deal.
“The impact we will deliver for people and families affected by sight loss across the country is immeasurable. This merger will also enable us to grow our funding, which means a stronger, more impactful organisation for the years to come.”
He added: “I’m thrilled to build on what we’ve already done as two separate charities to take us to the next level, because my goal is nothing short of changing the world for people with sight loss.”
Olivia Curno, the outgoing chief executive of Vision Foundation, said she “can’t think of a better next chapter than joining forces with Fight for Sight and taking our impact to a national stage”.
“Through this merger, we will have the expertise, talent and scale to go on to incredible things, all under the visionary leadership of Keith Valentine.”
Fight for Sight is currently investing £6.9m across 118 research projects at 35 universities and hospitals across the UK. Since 1921 the Vision Foundation, through its vision fund, has distributed more than £31m in funding.
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