Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation & Optometry Giving Sight Australia: striving towards one common goal, vision for everyone, everywhere.
Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation and Optometry Giving Sight Australia will become one entity from 1 July 2019.
The decision was fully supported by both Foundation and Optometry Giving Sight Australia’s Boards.
The work of the new entity will continue to have a global presence throughout Africa, Asia Pacific and South East Asia.
The consolidation of strategy and resources will mean restructuring; some operations will be scaled down and some projects will cease. Staff will be supported during this transition.
For Sandra Bailey, Chairperson of the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation, people remain at the core of the work of the organisation.
“Both Optometry Giving Sight Australia and Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation employees are passionate about reducing inequality in eye care and providing our donors with opportunities to make a difference.”
“This renewed direction will ensure we are outcomes driven and can better service communities in need now and into the future.”
Merger Was Previously Abandoned
The new announcement of a merger comes after a previously abandoned move to merge the two organisations. On January 30, 2018, Brien Holden Vision Institute reported, “The Global Board of Optometry Giving Sight announced today that it will merge its operations into the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation. The decision was based on a desire to ensure that by working more closely together, the entities could achieve more significant and sustained outcomes to benefit the millions of people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired simply because they can’t access an eye exam and glasses from a qualified optometrist.”
However, in early 2019, it became apparent that the merger had not proceeded.
