Spectacle Makers' Charity

The Charity supports cause areas including disability, education and skills, employment, mental health, and arts and culture, all focused on vision impairment and eye health. They fund project delivery for UK-registered charities that promote independence and wellbeing for vision-impaired people. Additionally, they provide small-scale and pilot research projects in vision science, primarily through academic and hospital departments in the UK. The Charity also supports innovative projects that improve access to sports, culture, employment, or global eye care training in low-resource areas, delivered via UK charities. All funded work must be carried out and accounted for within the UK.

UK-registered charities can apply for the Charity Grants programme. For the academic and institutional research grants, eligible applicants are departments and institutions in the UK, such as academic and hospital departments; individuals are not eligible for these grants. The Charity has no religious restrictions. It prioritises small to medium-sized organisations and projects that demonstrate measurable outcomes, particularly those benefiting vision-impaired people of all ages.

The Charity does not fund activities unrelated to vision impairment or eye health. Excluded causes include poverty and hardship, homelessness, animals, environment, faith, refugees and migrants, domestic abuse, and criminal justice. They also avoid more general disaster or emergency appeals, direct grants outside the UK, and projects run outside the UK. For research grants, they do not support projects that do not relate principally to improving or treating vision, or clinical aspects of preventing sight loss. Grants for postgraduate degrees or individual research are also excluded.

The Charity provides grants for project delivery only, not core costs or overheads. They welcome unsolicited applications. Funding is typically one-off and focused on discrete projects with reportable outcomes. They also offer a small-scale research grant programme, with grants likely to be under a certain amount, and a bursary scheme. The Charity emphasises measurable impact and may consider repeat funding for proven results.