Our partners

The Strategic Engagement Team for the Third Sector

There is estimated to be about 225,000 charities in the UK, with more than 150 of those comprising of national, regional and local charities working with blind and partially sighted people and those at risk of sight loss.

Working together we can equip and empower blind and partially sighted people and improve conditions in society so they can live the life they want to lead.

The Strategic Engagement Team for the Third Sector at RNIB supports engagement, communications and activity with charity partners. We have a wide range of opportunities including information sharing, awareness raising, training, resources, support, and services, where we are actively seeking to collaborate to help others. If you are interested, please get in touch with the team: [email protected].

The team also support the work of the VI Charity Sector Partnership.

VI Charity Sector Partnership

Eight of the leading charities in the sight loss sector formed the VI Charity Sector Partnership in October 2020. The aim of this partnership is to provide strategic overview for the planning and implementation of initiatives in the charity sector that will lead to improving the lives of blind and partially sighted people and those at risk of sight loss across the UK.

The founding partners are: Blind Veterans UK, Glaucoma UK, Guide Dogs, Macular Society, Retina UK, RNIB, Thomas Pocklington Trust and Visionary (Visionary are a membership organisation for local sight loss organisations).

Partners agreed to focus on the following work streams:

• Sight Loss Pathway, including vision rehabilitation
• Establishment of a sector-wide Insight base
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Talent development and lived experience leadership, including employment
• Access to technology).

Each work stream has an identified CEO sponsor and comprises of an operational lead and working group of partners. Interested parties from within the sight loss sector and beyond who are willing to contribute to the work streams are invited to get in touch.

The VI Charity Sector Partnership have drawn together an offer for all asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the UK. This is an extension of our offer specifically for blind and partially sighted Ukrainian’s’ arriving is the UK. As well as a range of practical and emotional support, a Thomas Pocklington Trust grant awarded to RNIB enables us to provide free specialist equipment to all blind and partially sighted asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the UK from anywhere in the World.

For further information about the VI Charity Sector Partnership please contact: [email protected].

We work with more than 50 organisations - similar to ourselves - in countries across the globe. These include:

• APH – American Printing House for the Blind
• National Federation of the Blind
• CNIB – Canada National Institute for the Blind.
• Vision Australia 
• National Council for the Blind of Ireland

In our lifetime, sight loss will double affecting up to 500 people a day; that's one person every three minutes.

Unless we collectively act we will continue to see barriers stopping blind and partially sighted family, friends and colleagues from thriving. By partnering with RNIB your organisation can play a fundamental role in creating a fairer society for blind and partially sighted people leaving a legacy for generations to come.

We take a bespoke holistic approach to partnering, considering your brand, culture, CSR and Inclusion agendas.

We’d love to hear from you. Some of the support we have provided to corporate partners recently includes:

• Educating staff on a better understanding of sight loss so they take care of their eyes better.
• Creating social change by helping us remove outdated stereotypes on what blind and partially sighted people can do.
• Fundraising through Charity of The Year, Strategic Partnerships, Appeals, Cause Related Marketing, Payroll Giving, residual client funds, Corporate Grants and Sponsorship.
• Customer base synergy if your customers are 40+ they are more likely to be affected by sight loss. Together we can keep them thriving.

Other valued support such as gifts in kind, pro bono support, volunteering skilled teams into our organisation or supporting our community growth plans.

In return we can offer:

• A dedicated account manager that has access to all our organisational resources
• Support on a localised level from our regional fundraising, volunteer and campaigns teams
• A variety of inspirational and engaging stories
• The potential to access a wide range of platforms such as our award winning Connect Radio and strong social media platforms
• Fun, employee engaging, positive PR generating, rewarding feel good partnerships that will meet your social responsibility goals.

To find out more please email us at [email protected] or call us on 0207 874 1334.

We are members of a number of international networks and organisations. These include:

• World Blind Union
• EBU - European Blind Union
• The DAISY Consortium (International Standards for Accessible Publishing)
• ICEVI (International Council for the Education of people with a Visual Impairment)
• W3C (International Standards for the World Wide Web)
• IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations)
• IAAP International Association of Accessibility Professionals

We strive to provide a strategic, ethical and service driven approach to procurement.

Procurement mission statement

We aim to ensure our procurement process provides RNIB with value for money, and goods and services that are of high quality.

Procurement is an integral part of our strategy, so it’s vital our process:

• takes an ethical approach
• provides RNIB with high quality goods and services in a timely fashion
• provides RNIB value for money
• enables RNIB to meet the needs of the people and groups we serve.

Our procurement vision statement

To extend the influence of procurement to all areas of RNIB, to assist with the provision of value for money goods and services that assist the organisation in achieving its objectives.

To be true to our mission of providing those goods and services of the appropriate value and quality at the lowest overall cost available and at the time needed.

We will be innovative in our approach to problem solving, and be proactive in supplying and meeting the needs of the people and groups we serve, utilising approved methods and available/new technologies.

Procurement strategy

Our procurement strategy supports our strategic objectives and ambitions. We have five strategic procurement objectives, which are:

• value for money
• sustainable procurement
• developing and valuing our people
• knowledge and information
• excellent procurement service.

These strategic objectives are underpinned by our four guiding principles. To:

• be close to the business
• be an exemplar of best practice
• enable our goals and programmes
• promote diversity and corporate social responsibility.

Our procurement policy

We understand that to achieve best value, we need a procurement policy that encourages innovative service provision and delivers efficiency, effectiveness and value for money.

The key principles of our procurement policy are:

• Value for money – a prime aim of the procurement process is to ensure that best Value for Money (VFM) is achieved.
• Competition – procurement should be through open competition unless there are exceptional reasons.
• Payment on time – suppliers must be paid on time in accordance with contractual arrangements.
• Ethical standards – procurement must be undertaken to the highest ethical standards, and fairness to suppliers.
• Legal aspects – contracts must be in writing, and in accordance with RNIB policy.
• Environmental impact – purchasers must consider environmental impacts and aim to minimise adverse effects.

Supplier Code of Conduct and Anti-Slavery

• Download our Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)
• Read our Modern Slavery statement

If you have any questions please email [email protected]