About
Guide dog training and matching; Vision Rehabilitation Specialists (tech, travel, life skills sessions); children and young people services (My Time to Play, habilitation, large-print books); buddy dog partnerships (400th matched); Tech Selector online tool; Sponsor a Puppy programme; volunteer programme (dog walkers, fundraisers, puppy raisers, fosterers); community fundraising
Key Metrics
Key Metric 1
518 new guide dog partnerships created in 2024 — 10% increase beating projections; 1,379 new puppies from breeding programme; 400th buddy dog partnership matched
Key Metric 2
17,500+ volunteers giving 12 million+ volunteer hours collectively; 2,400+ volunteers looked after dogs; 7,000+ training sessions on tech, travel and life skills delivered by Vision Rehabilitation Specialists
Key Metric 3
£47m raised through Sponsor a Puppy; £3.1m from raffles; £8.3m increased income from gifts in Wills; 3.45 million clicks to digital information and advice content; 5,900 visits to new Tech Selector assistive tech review tool
Key Outcomes
- 1,864 children and family members attended My Time to Play sessions; 6,852 large-print books delivered; 5,991 habilitation sessions completed to help children learn essential skills; 432,817 online learners accessing digital content
- New Forward Together strategy to 2040 launched — 5 objectives: strengthen foundations, move beyond mobility, personalised support at key life moments, harness technology, reframe perception; identified future ongoing annual shortfall of £20m — plan to cut costs by £15m and grow income by £5m
- Identified £20m future annual shortfall in 2023; transformation of guide dog service; redundancy processes underway during growth — 'strength of character' of teams praised by CEO; Isabel Hudson joined as Chair September 2024; 90+ year history; charity reg. 209617
Geography
UK-Wide
