SEVA Canada

About SEVA Canada:

Founded in 1982, Seva Canada Society (Seva) works to prevent or reverse blindness. An estimated 36 million people around the world are blind, and another 217 million have significant trouble seeing. A medical journal, The Lancet, predicts that due to the aging population, 115 million people could be blind by 2050. Up to 80% of blindness is preventable or treatable including the leading treatable cause, cataracts. Seva addresses vision issues by offering glasses, medicine, and surgery to those in need. In F2017, Seva-funded eye care programs helped 1,448,969 people. Cataract surgeries specifically, were performed on 96,084 people.

Seva operates in 13 countries: Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Tanzania, and Tibetan areas of China. Seva partners with groups of people in remote areas to create and staff Community Eye Centres. Scholarships encourage local doctors to learn more about eyes, and staff are trained in modern surgery procedures such as those treating glaucoma and cataracts. Most patients pay a small amount surgery. The money collected allows the eye centres to provide free care to the poorest 10% of patients, and to operate self-sufficiently. The fees for service are not collected by Seva Canada because they are used by the individual eye centres in continued operations. 

Seva Canada Society recognizes that there is almost no difference in the rate that men and women go blind, but women are significantly less likely to access eye care. Among children with treatable blindness, two-thirds are girls. The charity has an initiative called Equal Right to Sight, and part of this programming is working with local women’s groups to help the eye centres reach out to women.

Results and Impact: People with restored sight, including the 96k who received cataract surgeries this year, have restored dignity, productivity, and independence. Up to 75% of people with visual impairment need help from someone to complete everyday tasks. By allowing someone to see, you increase their own productivity, but also the productivity of those who were acting as caregivers. Children with restored sight can return to school and eventually work. Without these opportunities, they would certainly be unable to escape poverty.

Financial Review:

Seva Canada Society is a medium-sized charity with donations and special events revenues of $1.5m in F2017. Administrative costs were 10% of total revenues and fundraising costs were 15% of donations. For every dollar donated, 75 cents go towards Seva’s programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. Seva had total funding reserves of $329k in F2017, for a program cost coverage ratio of 24%. This means that the charity’s reserves can cover annual program costs for 3 months, indicating that there is a need for funding.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Seva Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated May 29, 2018 by Madison Kerr.