A few facts about Guide Dogs for the Blind. Only some blind people use guide dogs, and there are far fewer blind people than there used to be due to the management of childhood illnesses and conditions of the ageing eye. For many years, other blind charities couldn't stand GDB because they could get all the money by waving pics of sweet golden labradors, whereas people creating talking newspapers for example, used by a large percentage of blind people, found it very hard to raise money (I know this from direct experience).
GDB has started to diversify, and the actual number of guide dogs it provides is not made clear in its accounts, where they come under the category of "guide dogs and other mobility aids: £44m". They appear to have started to "spend down" the vast capital that they had accrued, which is a good thing, as is the diversity, although it seems that it can't handle diversifying into campaigning without cokking it up.
I note also that they raise £66m annually. They spend well over £20m - about £22m I think - raising that amount and employ well over 1000 people. There are 360,000 registered blind people in the UK (though up to 2m people living with some sight loss).
I hasten to add, I understand that charities need to spend money on amin - I am the first to defend it - and the blind need help, it must be nightmarish to be blind - but frankly I think the charity is a bit of a dinosaur.
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