Some people may not be aware that SeeAbility - registered as The Royal School for the Blind - is a charity nearly 225 years old. Fundraising has always been a key aspect of how we function, and makes an enormous difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss. 

Our enthusiastic fundraising team keep busy raising vital funds in lots of different ways. In 2022/23 these included sponsored events, partnerships with companies, trust and foundation grants, public donations and gifts in wills. The fantastic commitment from our supporters and donors meant we received 20,550 donations totalling just under £1million.  

SeeAbility’s London Marathon Team 

One of our biggest sponsored events is the iconic London Marathon. The money raised by runners last year funded our programmes including supported employment and campaigning through lived experience. This fantastic support meant more people could achieve things they never before thought possible.  

We were lucky to have two London Marathon events - in October and April. Our teams of 62 runners raised a whopping £88,000 in 2022-23 and we are so grateful for this. Thank you to each and every one of you! 

Darcey, one of our runners, organised a quiz night in her local town as part of her fundraising.  She said:

“I wanted to run the London Marathon because I can see how important raising money is to provide more opportunities to the people the charity supports. And the fact that SeeAbility’s charitable fundraising is quite small has kept me motivated to raise awareness as well as funds.” 

Darcey’s quiz evening was a big success, with 20 teams taking part, buying raffle tickets and enjoying classic Cornish pasties as brain food. Darcey was super-pleased to raise £1,100 for SeeAbility through this event. 

Perhaps you’d like to run for us next year? We have guaranteed places in the April 2024 London Marathon.

Creating Connections with Microsoft 

As well as taking part in fundraising events like the London Marathon, SeeAbility also works in partnership with local, national and international companies, including Waitrose, John Lewis and the Golden Jubilee Trust, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care UK, Tesco and Microsoft.  

We worked with Microsoft to help people we support and our frontline staff develop new digital skills through our Creating Connections programme.  

Recently we were delighted to mark some excellent achievements in the programme’s final year. Creating Connections was born out of the pandemic but with Microsoft’s support it was able to evolve and succeed in new ways.  

Creating Connections enabled 2,375 people with learning disabilities and 842 people who work on the frontline in social care to learn about accessible technology and develop new digital skills. In today’s connected world that makes such a difference! 

We were so excited to share our findings at Microsoft’s Ability Summit, an annual global event which brings together people with disabilities, allies and industry professionals. Thanks to Microsoft, we are today continuing this partnership with further funding to build SeeAbility’s digital capabilities. 

Giving our supporters a royal thank you

In October we were lucky enough to hold a reception at Buckingham Palace, hosted by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. It was a chance to meet and thank some of our key supporters and to show them our vision for the future in our new five year strategy.  

We are so grateful to HRH The Duchess of Gloucester for providing us with this opportunity to show our supporters how much we value them. 

All our donors and fundraisers make a difference to the lives of people we support. We are hugely grateful for the efforts of fundraisers like Darcey and partners like Microsoft - as well as the invaluable contributions of donors who fuel our fundraising at SeeAbility. You enable us to make a lasting difference to the lives of people we support. You are brilliant! 

Discover our key partners and supporters.