FAQ

We are challenging you to walk, jog or run 50, 100, 150 or more kilometres throughout the month of August to raise funds to help restore sight to needlessly blind. Right now, over 43 million people in the world are blind, but 9 out of 10 don’t need to be! A simple procedure costing as little as $25 can help restore sight to these people. Fred’s Big Run is a fitness and fundraising challenge for everyone, supporting the sight-restoring work of The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Fred’s Big Run is a virtual online fitness challenge running for one month from 1^st August to 31st August each year. You decide where and when to start and finish your challenge and how far you will go to help restore sight.

Wherever you live, whatever your fitness level, you chose the place and pace to complete Fred’s Big Run. Choose the distance you want to cover, step up and start your challenge and keep track of your progress on your fundraising dashboard.

Fred’s Big Run is more than just a run, we encourage everyone to step up to restore sight, you decide if your challenge is on foot, on a bike, in a wheelchair or in the water, simply adjust the distance in a way that will challenge you. A challenging goal will make sure others will support you.

You are almost there – simply click here and get ready to step up to restore sight.

It’s free to register and participate in Fred’s Big Run! Just sign up and start your challenge and help restore sight to needlessly blind people.

Anyone can create a team for Freds Big Run when registering as a participant. After you filled-in your personal details you have a choice to create your own team or join a team. When you create a team you will become automatically the designated Team Captain. As a captain you can invite others to join you. You have the option to show your team as 'open to public', meaning anyone can join your team or 'private', meaning only invited people can join your team. 

To join a public team simply click on the "Join Us" button on the teams fundraising page. If a team is set to 'private' usually the team captain will send out an invitation to join that team or you will need to ask the team captain to send you an invite.

You can do this challenge on your own or invite as many friends, family or work colleagues you like.  Together you will work towards your overall team goal and target. Each of you will manage your own personal fundraising account, where you can track your distance and fundraising but everyone’s tally will be added up and combined on your team page.

Login to your Fred’s Big Run account and head to ‘Dashboard’. Select ‘My Account’ in menu bar and under ‘Update My Account’ select ‘Reset Password’.

You can log your kilometres in two more ways:

1. Link your fundraising page to a personal fitness tracker or app

Your fundraising page can be linked to FitBit, MapMyFitness or Strava to automatically sync and add your kilometres each time you record an activity.

You can use your smartphone to download FitBit, MapMyFitness or Strava app to get started. After creating an account with your preferred app, login to your Fred’s Big Run account and head to the ‘My Fitness Activity’ tab to connect to your fitness app.

Please note, sometimes there can be a delay with your fitness activity showing up on your fundraising page from fitness apps. Please allow up to 72 hours (especailly for Strava users) for this to appear.

2. Log your kilometres manually

To log kilometres manually, simply login to your online fundraising page and head to the ‘My Fitness Activity’ and follow the prompts to record your activity manually.

It is good to get ready for Fred’s Big Run and you can start tracking your training kilometres prior to August, however we will reset your kilometres to zero on 1st August. This is so that every starts equally and together.

1. USE A FITNESS APP (Fitbit, Strava or MapMyFitness)

Use your personal fitness device and track your workouts with Fitbit, Strava or MapMyFitness and your kilometres will automatically be added to your fundraising page.

Step 1: Download the Fitbit, Strava or MapMyFitness app and set up your account

Step 2: Login to your Fred’s Big Run dashboard and select ‘Log My Fitness Activity’

Step 3: Under heading ‘Connect your preferred Fitness app’, click your chosen app

Step 4: Follow the prompts to connect the fitness app to your account

Now each time you start a run or walk, take your phone and turn on your app and select 'Start your workout'. Once you end your workout, save it and your workout (distance) will be published on your page the following day (please allow up to 72 hours for Strava downloads).

Please note:

When using ‘Fitbit’, you must ‘start’ an activity and save it. Your daily steps will not automatically add to your page. If you are having issues, try syncing through BOTH your Fitbit and the Fitbit app on your smartphone.

When using ‘MapMyFitness’, you must ‘start’ your workout, ‘stop’ your workout and then ‘SAVE’ your workout.

2. ADD YOUR KILOMETRES MANUALLY

You can also enter your distance walked manually for Fred’s Big Run.

Use your dashboard to add them to your fundraising page. This is a great option if you’re using a stepping tracker on your phone, a pedometer or log your workouts with Apple Watch Workout or if you don't use a fitness app at all.

Step 1: Login to your dashboard and select ‘Log My Fitness Activity’

Step 2: Under ‘Add activity’, enter the date and distance

Step 3: The number of KMs will now appear on your fundraising page!

No, Fred’s Big Run is a personal challenge and you set your own goal and target. Remember, your efforts will help the over 38 million people in this world who are needlessly blind and a short 10 minute procedure costing as little as $25 can help restore their sight. That small amount not only changes that person’s life but has a far-reaching impact for their family and wider community too.

Make sure you set an ambitious but achievable fundraising goal. You’ll be amazed at the impact you can make once you get started. Your friends and family are more likely to sponsor you if they see you have a goal and they can help you reach it. The higher the goal, the more support you will receive!

Don’t forget to also set a goal for the kilometres you want to cover. Challenge yourself and remember, the higher the goal, the more impressive you will be to your friends and family and they will want to support you.

Raising money may be a daunting task but that’s why we are here. We will help you with your challenge and make raising money to help needlessly blind people fun and easy. Check out our fundraising blog for ideas to get you started.

There are a few prizes to be won along the way for your fundraising efforts, we hope this also encourages you to go the distance

When you register for Fred’s Big Run, your fundraising page is automatically created. With that page you can keep track of your distance covered and your funds raised.

Fundraising is simple, easy and fun. Here a few quick tips to kick start your fundraising:

1. Be the first to donate, make a small contribution to your own challenge. Show your friends and family that you are taking this challenge seriously and help to encourage them to do the same.
2. Share your personal page on social media and let your network know of the great thing you are doing. Share internally at work too!
3. Use one of our prepared email templates, you can find these when you login to your fundraising page
4. Check out our fundraising blog for more ideas that don’t always involve asking for money!

The Fred Hollows Foundation has a very clear goal: we’re putting an end to avoidable blindness. Fred got things done. He always pushed for change and, because of that, put in motion a legacy to end avoidable blindness. In his time as a humanitarian and eye surgeon, Fred helped restore eyesight to thousands of people in Australia and overseas. Thanks to your help and support The Foundation is able to keep Fred’s dream of a world without needlessly blind people alive. The Foundation works currently in over 25 countries including Indigenous Australia. Find out more about our work and your impact here and read how much of your fundraising is spent to restore sight in our annual reports here.

Upload a profile image so that people can find you on the website and see who they are supporting. Tell your story, update the blog regularly and share your enthusiasm and passion for restoring sight.

Lead the way and sponsor yourself. Once you're underway, your friends and family will be encouraged to follow and make their donations to help reach your goal. Once you have achieved your goal, you do have the option to increase it! As long as there's a goal to aim for, people will give.

Join our Fred’s Big Run Facebook Community This group helps you to find all the answers you may have. You share tips and ideas with other fundraiser’s and you can also discuss training and running tips. Join here.

Put up a poster We have a range of resources for you to advertise your fundraiser. Put up a poster at your school, workplace, local coffee shop, gym or club and let everyone know about your participation in Fred’s Big Run. Click here for posters.

Add a Fred’s Big Run email signature to your emails Download our Fred’s Big Run Email Signature Banner from our resources page, and add this to the base of your emails, before emailing to your network.

Ask and you will receive Ask everyone you know to support your efforts to restore sight. Log in to your fundraising account, go to 'My Fundraising', then 'Get Support'. 

We’ve done most of the work for you – select one of our email templates and send to your own email address where you can personalise, before forwarding to your contacts.

Remember - if you don’t ask, people won't know. If you tell people about your efforts to run/walk 50km or more in August, they will likely want to support your challenge and donate. You may be surprised who will support your challenge to help restore sight to needlessly blind people.

And don’t forget to thank your supporters for their donation!

FACEBOOK is the perfect platform to fundraising. People who use social media raise on average twice as much as other fundraisers!

Share your fundraising page on all your social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to maximise your donations. Make sure you read our FAQs on Facebook Fundraising to avoid donation issues!

Send a personal message to your friends explaining your reasons to help needlessly blind people and ask for their support.

Click here for social media images 

Sample Social post: “I’ve started a new challenge! Fred’s Big Run is a virtual challenge to walk or run 50km or more during the month of August. I’m running X km and fundraising for The Fred Hollows Foundation to restore sight to needlessly blind people. Help me carry on Fred’s vision by supporting my run. Every bit helps! As little as $25 can help restore sight.”

HOW TO LINK YOUR FUNDRAISING PAGE WITH INSTAGRAM?

Instagram doesn’t allow links in comments or posts.

The only way to add your fundraising page link is by adding it to your personal profile as a URL. Go to 'Edit Profile' and copy/paste your fundraising URL into the website field. 

Then to promote on Instagram, we suggest you download a social tile from our resources page on Freds Big Run website and add the words “Please click the website link in my bio to support my challenge” to the tail end of the copy in your post.

Yes, they will. However, at this stage we are unable to identify nor link any donations back to your Fred’s Big Run fundraising page automatically. We suggest that you don’t use the Facebook Donate button for that reason. Should you already have set-up such a fundraising post, we recommend that you:

1. Delete the post, as this is the only way to remove the Facebook Donate button,
2. Create a new Facebook post and only share the link to your fundraising page without adding the ‘Donate’ button.

Facebook donations are handled by a third party, and unfortunately, we can’t sync these donations with your personal fundraising page due to limitations with Facebook Donate functionality. We advise you do not use the Facebook Donate button to raise funds and recommend that you simply share the link to your fundraising page on your social media pages without using the Facebook Donate button.

1. Delete the initial post, as this is the only way to remove the Facebook Donate button,
2. Create a new Facebook post and share only the link to your fundraising page without adding the ‘Donate’ button.

Facebook donations are handled and held by a third party, and Facebook doesn’t have the functionality to sync donations to a fundraisers page at the moment. We’re working with Facebook to try to find a solution for the future, but currently we advise you not to use the Facebook Donate button to raise funds. 

Yes, if you have selected ‘The Fred Hollows Foundation’ as your charity of choice, we’ll receive the funds. However, there will be a delay until we receive this funds from Facebook and before we can allocate the funds to your fundraising page. Contact us if you know of supporters who have given you through Facebook, so we can look out for these donations for you.

The Facebook Donate button is a Facebook-owned feature, you need to contact them directly with any queries about privacy and security. Here is the link to their policy:  https://m.facebook.com/payments_terms/privacy

All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible for Australian tax payers. If the donor receives something material in return for their money, such as a raffle ticket, a ticket for a movie, a dinner or auction item, these contributions are not tax deductible.

Of course, BBQ, movie night or trivia, a book club, dinner, high tea, girls’ night in, the options are endless.

1. Click here for BBQ tips and tricks
2. Why are trivia nightsso popular? Because they work! Get your friends, family and work colleagues together and have fun with fundraising. Click here for more
3. Host a Lunch, Brunch or Dinner– a great meal with friends and families? Charge an amount to cover food, drink and a donation towards your fundraising. Click here for more
4. Movie Night – a movie night may be all you need to reach your fundraising goal. Enjoy a great night out with friends and family and restore sight at the same time. Click here for more
5. Raffle - A raffle can be incorporated into all fundraising events! It’s a great way to increase your fundraising.  Click here for more

Your supporters will automatically receive a tax receipt emailed to them, when they make a donation on-line using your fundraising page. For cash and cheque donations follow the instruction below.

The Fred Hollows Foundation does not usually issue receipt books to its fundraisers, unless a large event with potentially lots of cash donations warrants receipt books being used. If you need assistance with receipts, please email or phone 1800 627 892

Add cash donations to your fundraising page by following these steps:

Step 1: Login to your fundraising page

Step 2: Go to 'My Fundraising' and select 'My Donations' and then select 'Add Offline Donations' 

Step 3: Add the amount and the details of the donor (First and Last Name and email address) should your donor wants a receipt. Or use your own personal details.

For a tax receipt please tick the box under the amount field. Please note any money received for goods sold (e.g. movie or raffle tickets, BBQ etc) are not tax-deductible so please DO NOT tick the box under the amount field.

Step 4: Use your credit card to make the donation

Step 5: The amount of the donation will be added to your fundraising total and a tax receipt is issue to your sponsor if applicable.

Deposit directly into The Foundation bank account

You can bank cash or make an EFT transfer to The Fred Hollows Foundatio through any Westpac Bank branch. For our bank details please contact us on 1800 627 982.    

Cheque donations

Please make sure any cheques are made out to The Fred Hollows Foundation. Send the cheque(s) together with a small note containing the event name (Fred’s Big Run), participant name, donor name and donor email address to The Fred Hollows Foundation, Locked Bag 5021, Alexandria NSW 2015. Make sure you mention it is in support of Fred’s Big Run.

We will allocate the money to your fundraising page and issue the donor with a tax receipt.

Involving your work colleagues with an event is a great way to raise money and a great excuse for team bonding! Here are a few ideas to get you started. Don’t hold back on being creative and making it fun! Also make sure to ask your HR or CSR team if they offer matched-giving donations.

Many employers support their employees’ charitable efforts through their matched-giving program. Even if an employer does not have a matched-giving program, they may still be willing to support your challenge and donate to you. All you have to do, is ask! Check here for more info

Host a bake sale, casual clothes day, sausage sizzle or sports activity to raise money for The Foundation at your school. Check out our fundraising blog for more.

No, however we reward the first 1,500 fundraisers who raise more then $300 with a limited edition of our Fred's Big Run 2023 T-shirt! Set a high fundraising goal so your supporters see you are keen to help restore sight and you will be wearing a Fred’s Big Run T-shirt very soon. Alternatively make a donation to yourself right now and you are a step closer to wear the limited edition of our Freds Big Run T-shirt. And don't forget, there are many more exciting rewards for our dedicated fundraisers going the extra mile ;-) 

Since Fred’s Big Run is a virtual event, we do not need volunteers for this event. However, you can volunteer for The Foundation in our office or at one of our other events.  The Foundation recognises that volunteers are a crucial part of smooth running and success of events and in the office. Contact us to find out more.

Instagram doesn’t allow links in comments or posts.

The only way to add your fundraising page link is by adding it to your personal profile as a URL. Go to 'Edit Profile' and copy/paste your fundraising URL into the website field. 

Then to promote on Instagram, we suggest you download a social tile from our resources page on Freds Big Run website and add the words “Please click the the website link in my bio to support my challenge” to the tail end of the copy in your post.

When you sign up for Fred's Big Run you'll be asked whether you'd like to create a team or join a team. If you create a team, you'll need to name the team and invite your team members to join you (you need their names and email address). They'll receive an email to join your team and to complete their registration. 

Companies also have to option to register an Organisation/Workplace page, again a team captain, after having created the team, will have the option to create an Organisation page. Individual have the option to join a team already linked to an organisaton or simply join the Organisation or a team within the Organisation. Any team can also join the Organisation.

Go team!

We appreciate your request to visit our programme work, but unfortunately, we can’t allow visitors in our clinics. This is to avoid disruption to our eye care services and to provide privacy and respect to the patients accessing eye care. Please contact us on 1800 627 892 for more information or questions.

While the cost of cataract surgery varies depending on the specific operating environments in the countries where we work, in some countries it is possible to restore sight for as little as $25.

Our $25 cost includes the three key things needed to restore sight – the surgeon’s time, the consumable equipment and the intraocular lens (IOL) which replaces the cataract.

The most important element in modern cataract surgery is the IOL – Fred Hollows used to refer to them as "the most expensive pieces of plastic in the world". Reducing the cost of the IOL was the fundamental factor in making cataract surgery affordable.

Today, IOL prices vary significantly – including in low and middle-income countries.

In October 2021 The Foundation evaluated our program costs for small incision cataract surgery in countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia to ensure the $25 cost remained accurate.

Our assessment showed IOLs start from $4 in Pakistan, about $6 in Cambodia, and about $14 in Bangladesh.

The other key costs are the surgeon’s time (which is less than $1.50 per patient in those three countries) and consumable equipment (as little as $5.46).

So with the cost of the IOL, the surgeon and the consumables it is possible that The Foundation can restore sight for as little as $25 in some countries.

We acknowledge that not all surgeries in all countries are as little as $25. The cost of surgery depends on factors including the country of treatment, the age and circumstances of the patient, how and where the treatment is delivered, the type of procedure, the IOL used, the hospital type (government or private), the facilities of the hospital, inpatient or day procedure delivery mechanisms, and the economic status of people in the country or region.