November 2024
64 Million People Received Eye Care Since 1978 (and more good news) in the Impact Report
The 2023-34 Impact Report covers our new Vision Centers, diagnostic tools we’re field testing, new research, and our bold plan, “Guatemala Brillando,” which will create access to eye care for the entire country by 2032. Most importantly, you’ll meet a few people whose lives were transformed this past year. Click on the image to view a PDF of the report.
Seva on Social
Seva observed International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples with an insightful (and entertaining!) first-person vlog from our Programs Knowledge Coordinator Claudia Jose. In similar fashion, Seva’s Chief Programs Officer Heidi Chase collaborated with the Communications Team to help produce a short video capturing her experience laying the foundation stone for a new vision center in Quiche, Guatemala. We also launched Seva’s first social media video series about our involvement in the WHO SPECS initiative!
What’s That Seva Stuff?
Bob Weir is What’s That Seva Stuff! Narrated by Seva Original Suzanne Gilbert, we take a look at the guitarist and staunch Seva supporter’s work and influence within the Seva organization.
Larry Brilliant’s Blowout Birthday
With headliners that included Lucinda Williams and Seth MacFarlane as host, San Francisco’s August Hall lived up to its name when Larry Brilliant’s 80th birthday celebration rolled onto its stage on August 24.
Along with BFF Wavy Gravy and his wife Jahanara Romney, Larry and Girija Brilliant, and a few hundred friends and colleagues filled the venue with what can only be described as love. Jai and Ezra Uttal, Krishna Das, and Salman Ahmed spun their special magic as they strummed and sang. Seth MacFarlane crooned songbook favorites and made the entire house - performers and audience - feel like part of the Seva community.
And of course, there was cake. Decorated with Family Guy-style caricatures of Larry and Wavy, and presented to Larry onstage, it was the sweet embodiment of Larry’s remarkable life and work.
Larry’s 80th birthday celebration was captured on Seva’s social channels, with live coverage on Instagram Stories and exclusive live stream performances from the party’s musical acts.
Seeing the Love for Social
The final quarter of FY 23-24 was a strong close to a thriving year for Seva’s social media presence. To start, in recognition of Mother’s Day the #SeeTheLove campaign was launched in collaboration with four eye care social media influencers, each producing an original video in conjunction with the campaign’s holiday theme. Collectively the videos drove over 35,000 views and were met with unanimously positive follower feedback.
The quarter also saw us leverage a few on-location events, utilizing those moments as storytelling opportunities to showcase Seva’s community involvement and eye care expertise. This includes Seva’s trip to Geneva for the WHO SPECS 2030 launch, presence at IAPB’s In Sight Live 2030 in Mexico City, and our participation at Dead Forever’s Participation Row in the Las Vegas Sphere, all of which cumulatively drove over 135,000 video views.
Lastly, the collective contributions of our content programs and paid social acquisition campaigns continued to strengthen our priority channels. Seva’s LinkedIn page increased follower count by 58% year-over-year, while Seva’s Instagram account increased follower count by 89% year-over-year. This was in addition to driving over 1.2M Facebook impressions (+30% over FY goal) and 40M Instagram impressions (+300% over FY goal) during that same timeframe.
The Spirit of Service
Dr. Suzanne Gilbert’s retirement was the big news in the spring 2024 edition of the Spirit of Service. The story starts with her early years as a student doing her part in Washington and follows she (and her husband Tim) through India, Michigan, Nepal, and hospitals throughout the world. Other items included the study published in the WHO Bulletin proving eye care as a Best Buy in health, with a 36-to-one return in societal gains on every dollar spent.
We also got a glimpse into the lives of Cambodian women who are the heart of their families and village, the Evidence-Informed Practice Workshop with Seva partner eye hospitals in Nepal and India, and new training for students at the VMANNN eye hospital in India. Here at home we highlight two women who give back, one through yoga, the other through art.
Spring 2024
Ram Dass’s legacy honored
Ram Dass planted the seeds for the Seva Foundation over four decades ago, and through his vision and compassion, 57 million people have received vital eye care services since.
This April, we celebrated Ram Dass’s life, legacy, and unwavering commitment to service. He put it best, “to me life is joy, and the joy can include service. Instead of the joy or the service, the joy through the service.”
If you enjoy watching the video you can take a deep dive into the e-book transcribed from the video, The Spirit of Seva. It's a lovely keepsake that is laden with a treasure trove of old photos of Ram Dass, Neem Karoli Baba, Larry Brilliant, Wavy Gravy, Nicole Grasset, The Hog Farm, and much more!
Social media surges
The first half of FY 23-24 saw several notable social media wins for Seva. Major campaign launches include the release of Seva's "Best Buy in Global Health" Policy Paper, the Nepal Blindness Study's 40th anniversary, celebrating International Women's Day, and a new social-first trending content program. One of the videos spawned from the aforementioned social content program, the #OfCourseChallenge, has garnered over 8,000 likes and 875,000 video views and currently stands as Seva's all-time most-shared Instagram post. Thanks to the collective contributions of our content programs and paid social acquisition campaigns, we have also seen notable follower growth on our channels, with Instagram growing by 24% YTD and LinkedIn by 20% YTD.
Smart, Compassionate, Creative. Meet The Seva Squad
Fall of 2023 ushered in the inaugural Seva Squad, young artists and activists eager to make the world a better place. From stories that explore not only vision problems but the stigma that can come with it, to video and photo streams, these projects reflect the talent and compassion of their creators. Over the course of three months, members came up with ideas, asked questions, and dug deep to create projects you can view, along with their full bios, on our website. Seva, and our larger community, are in good hands with upstarts like these.
Conversations with Kate: Big Dreams Start Small
On our latest session of Conversations with Kate, the remarkable Rebecca Giefer, CEO of MODO Americas joined me to share with our audiences how we deliver world class pediatric care around the world and the impact we’ve had in the past few years. Click here to view the recording.
Impact Report
For 45 years, Seva has been engaged in the ongoing global health and development discussion. Our approach involves precise data collection, synthesis, and surveillance to understand health trends, improve service delivery, and expand our range of approved eye care solutions worldwide. Seva's commitment to science and compassion has reached 57 million people, with over 6.5 million served in the past year.
Our time-tested methodology for high-volume, sustainable eye care interventions is effective from every angle. Our programs undergo rigorous evaluation to align with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals identified by the United Nations. These goals are not possible if we do not address vision loss. This report delves into our Vision Centers, the innovative diagnostic technology we're testing, and, most importantly, the human experience through individuals whose sight was restored this year.
Something good for a change
The clown prince of counter culture celebrated his birthday with 900 people! Wavy Gravy’s birthday concert benefitting Seva was a good old-fashioned lovefest, brimming with soul. And bubbles.
Wavy and his wife Jahanra took the show in from the front row; Dr. Larry Brilliant emceed.
Musician friends including Steve Earle, Maria Muldaur, and special guest Taj Mahal kept things jumping, video greetings and anecdotes from a slew of Seva stalwarts played between acts.”He brings people together,” said Bonnie Raitt in her video, “He’s the Pied Piper of our generation.”
The stars aligned on Guatemala Brillando.
Elvis Costello, Eric Krasno, Nicki Bluhm and many many others joined to make this video for Seva and spread awareness about Guatemala Brillando.
With Guatemala Brillando, Seva is poised to establish five new hospitals and 30 vision centers bringing primary eye care to rural and other areas that are currently underserved. Seva will develop sustainable programs which create jobs for local women and men to help them provide critical services to their home communities.
Conversations with Kate
Seva’s homecoming: It all began in Nepal
Seva continues to make enormous strides in bringing vital eye care to the doorsteps of Nepali communities. To spearhead the next chapter of our impact in this region, we recently welcomed our new Country Director Dr. Binita Sharma.
Register today to attend live on
March 30 at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET) and/or
watch the recording at your convenience.
SEVA SOLSTICE WITH JACK KORNFIELD & TRUDY GOODMAN
Seva hosted a special Solstice Edition of Conversations with Kate. Author, Buddhist practitioner, and founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Jack Kornfield, as well as Dharma teacher and founder of Insight LA, Trudy Goodman, joined Kate in a conversation around spirituality, mindfulness, and the spirit of compassion. Both of these remarkable individuals were students of Seva Co-Founder Ram Dass’s teachings and longtime members of our Seva family. Watch the recording here.
Through her eyes - International Women’s Day
Seva staff from all over the world sent in snippets which were stitched together to create this beautiful video for International Women’s Day. The theme Seva chose was “Through her eyes”.
Seva Celebrates World Sight Day
Seva staff came together virtually and in-person to make this beautiful video in celebration of World Sight Day! The theme set by IAPB was “Love your eyes” once again and eye care organizations around the world participated in making these “pass the glasses” videos for their organizations.
50 MILLION PEOPLE SERVED
Our eye care solutions are designed to thrive within and in spite of challenging global environments. How? By co-creating sustainable systems and solutions with local communities. We work with government and private partners alike, along with a committed team of staffers and a robust network of eye care institutions, to execute at the scale of a corporation and the nimbleness of a start-up. That has resulted in more than 50 million people receiving eye care services since 1978, including 3.5 million people in the last year alone.
As you engage with this report, you’ll learn more about new diagnostic technologies we are developing, our investment in capacity-building of eye hospitals, clinics, as well as our investment in better-trained personnel. Most importantly, you will meet a few of the smiling faces whose lives are forever transformed.
AN ENDURING MASTERPIECE TO CREATE LASTING CHANGE
Art enables us to see the world through a new lens and make a difference through it. It is by no insignificant serendipity that the art of William Wolk (1951-2022) captures the rainbow essence of Seva Co-Founder, Wavy Gravy. The thread that ties Wolk and his wife Marie to our foundation is deep and meaningful. For nearly a quarter century, they have supported Seva as charitable donors and tireless advocates because of their personal conscious awareness and commitment to help people 'see' on so many levels.
In celebration of Wavy's 86th birthday and in support of the philanthropic work of the Seva Foundation, Wolk honors the playful spirit with vision, color, and a bit of joyful whimsey that is Wavy Gravy, in "Bubblicious" the final piece the artist completed prior to his passing this past May.
Not unlike the founders of Seva, William Wolk used his passion and artistic gifts to express his vision and bring his unique insight to the world through his inimitable art. It is fitting that this brilliant piece, filled with love and light, comes to us so that we can transform this 'energy' toward the work of our foundation through your generous auction bid this coming fall. All proceeds benefit our sight-restoration efforts – keep an eye out for more details.
Yours in gratitude,
Kate Moynihan
Executive Director
Seva Foundation
Marie Wolk
William Wolk Fine Art
What IS That Seva Stuff?
What’s That Seva Stuff or WTSS, is a brief video history of specific items told by Suzanne Gilbert. Almost every week for the last two years during WFH, during the staff all-call meetings, Suzanne has provided lively commentary on the history of Seva treasures sourced from her own private treasure trove or from the semi-shuttered offices. Each episode engages the staff through wonder and curiosity and each episode is a welcome enlightenment.
Donor Newsletter: Holding Half the Sky: International Women’s Day!
Half the Sky – a book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published in 2009 – argues that the oppression of women worldwide is “the paramount moral challenge” of the present era. Women and girls face gender bias daily, particularly in rural communities.
Sadly, even today, there are limited work opportunities and a sense of lost freedom. Here at Seva, we are steadfast in addressing barriers and creating solutions to help women and girls thrive. A few examples of the community-based ideas we champion:
Vision Centers, permanent local, accessible, and sustainable establishments that bring primary eye care to remote communities recruit & train local women for jobs as ophthalmologic paraprofessionals.
Gender-responsive outreach assistance ensures women & girls know affordable care is available to them.
Technology and telemedicine are leveraged to create access to eye care and ensure follow-up for women living in isolated and rural communities.
We advocate for policy at a national and global scale that supports female advancement in the field of universal eye health – from paraprofessionals to ophthalmologists.
With our donors’ support, Seva has reduced and, in some areas, eliminated gender inequality – that said we know all too well, the bar for gender equity is a bar we have not yet cleared. Last year, 1.5 million women & girls received Seva-supported services.
On today’s International Women’s Day, join us in reaching the millions of more women worldwide still in need of eye care. After all, our shared future is in her sight.
On behalf of the talented women I serve and serve alongside everyday,
Kate
Report: Commitment to Gender Equality
April 2022
Baby Kenny sportin’ the new reimagined Seva Baby Onesie.
Merchandise: Not Your Average Fluorescein
When the pandemic first hit, we wanted to make sure the staff was safe, so we made sure they had plenty of KN95's at hand. Plus, we sent boxes to our international team, whose countries at that time were low on accessible PPE supplies. Then we realized we were in the pandemic for the long haul and while KN95's offer that right kind of safety, how could we boost morale at a time of uncertainty. Enter the tie-dye masks. Sourced through Tamara, we were able to procure masks that put smiles on everyone's face. And we did not stop there. Looking at the deadstock (merchandise) we had on the shelves--why not tie-dye those boring grey t-shirts and basic white Seva sparkly baby onesies, too? Voila, old merch becomes new merchandise, and sell, sell, sell it did. We sold out of the first round of masks and received a lot of positive responses from the tie-dye line. Our merch outlook for 2021 is a little unclear at this moment, but one thing we do know is that tie-dye is forever here to stay.
Annual Impact Reports
Annual Impact Report 2021
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Annual Impact Report 2020
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Your Legacy…Their Future
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Annual Impact Report 2019
Annual Impact Report 2018
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Newsletters: Spirit of Service
The latest stories and news about the people and programs that define Seva.
Spirit of Service Spring 2024
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Spirit of Service Fall 2023
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Spirit of Service Spring 2023
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Spirit of Service Fall 2022
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Spirit of Service Spring 2022
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Spirit of Service Fall 2021
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Seva Foundation Strategy
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Fact Sheets
Specific information and data on initiatives that Seva is currently working on.
