The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) has wound up its charitable arm, the Eye Surgeons’ Foundation (ESF) as a separate legal entity and will run its own version, together the administration of its research arm, the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia (ORIA) in-house to save costs.

The ESF had been operating for 15 years to raise money to support medical research and sustainable development projects across the Asia-Pacific region. “In recent years the pressures of an increasingly competitive charity sector have meant that it has been difficult to build a sustainable fundraising base to meet the costs of a standalone charitable organisation,” said Dr David Andrews, RANZCO CEO. “It was clear, therefore, that changes to the organisational model were required to ensure that the support provided by ESF fundraising could be continued.”

The ESF Board decided to wind up ESF on 30 September 2017 and made their final distribution of funds to international development projects. To ensure the ESF legacy continues, however, the majority of its functions are being taken in-house where the running costs can be reduced, said Dr Andrews.

RANZCO is now looking to appoint a new “Foundation committee”, including representatives from its indigenous and international development committees, the ORIA Board and Save Sight Society NZ and RANZCO fellows interested in philanthropy and education, to run an in-house version, which can continue to raise funds for education and research. RANZCO will be able to accept donations from Australian members directly or from New Zealand members through the NZ Branch, though not from the public, except as bequests. The donations will be used to fund early stage research through ORIA, and education programmes.

ORIA

ORIA will also be administered in-house by RANZCO following the retirement of executive officer Anne Dunn-Snape last year, after 15 years in the role, and a request by ORIA’s board. Unlike the situation with ESF, ORIA remains a separate legal entity, though much of the day-to-day administration will now be run by RANZCO staff, again providing reduced overheads for ORIA and maximising the benefit that can be achieved with the available funds, explained Dr Andrews. The ORIA Board will, however, continue to manage the research organisation and set its direction and strategic priorities.