How your money is helping

We rely on donations to continue our life-changing work. To help make a difference to people living with sight loss, it costs:

    1. £63.8 million to provide our guide dog service.
    2. £9.3 million to provide our other services for adults, such as My Life Skills.
    3. £10.0 million to provide our wide range of services for children, young people and families.

On this page

    Your generous donations in 2022

    • In 2022 we created 387 new guide dog partnerships and supported 4,065 existing guide dog and buddy dog partnerships.
    • We provided support through digital information and advice 2.5 million times.
    • We provided expert information and advice through more than 51,000 calls to our Guide Line.
    • We provided 4,548 My Life Skills interventions for adults.
    • We helped children with a vision impairment to learn essential life skills 4,235 times, so they can navigate the world around them confidently and safely.
    • We helped children and family members 805 times through Guide Dogs My Time to Play.
    • We supported families 643 times through our Family Support and Education Support services.
    • Our CustomEyes Books team delivered 6,289 accessible books to families.
    • We provided 2,499 free iPads to children and young people with a vision impairment.
    • We partnered 52 children with a buddy dog, helping to improve their confidence and wellbeing, and supported a total of 266 partnerships.
    Woman with Guide Dogs volunteer sighted guide in a museum

    How we spend your money

    Did you know?

    The UK’s first guide dog partnerships qualified in 1931. Since then, thanks to our dedicated staff, volunteers and supporters we have partnered over 36,000 people with a guide dog and transformed the lives of thousands more through our other services.

    Breakdown of a pound in 2022

    For every £1 spent, Guide Dogs spends:

    • 57p goes to providing guide dogs and other adult services.
    • 9p goes to campaigning and raising awareness.
    • 7.8p goes to providing children and young people’s services.
    • 0.5p goes to research and development.
    • 25.4p goes to generating income, including trading activities.
    Guide dog owner Stacey with her arm around guide dog Toffee

    Further information

    You can find an accessible version of the breakdown of the pound as well as more detailed information on how we spend our money in our annual review and report.

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