Causes: Community Health Systems, Community Service Clubs, Health, Philanthropy, Philanthropy, Charity & Voluntarism Promotion

Mission: To support the efforts of lions clubs and partners in serving communities locally and globally, giving hope and impacting lives through humanitarian service projects and grants.

Programs: Humanitarian grants and programs - as members of their community, lions are uniquely positioned to identify local initiatives that will improve the lives of the people around them who are underserved and vulnerable. Each year lions club members design and implement projects that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, the elderly, the chronically ill, at-risk youth, and economically disadvantaged members of their communities. Lcif humanitarian grants are combined with locally raised funds, typically supporting capital constructions or equipment needs. In addition, lcif develops global initiatives and partnerships based on common local needs, for example through the opening eyes program with special olympics lions have screened the vision of more than 376,000 athletes in 92 different countries. Also, through involvement within the measles initiative and gavi, the vaccine alliance since 2010, lions helped support the vaccination of millions of children in several countries.

sightfirst - according to international experts, 80% of all visual impairment can be avoided. Sightfirst is the foundation's program which aims to sustainably and systematically combat preventable blindness and visual impairment around the world. Through sightfirst, lcif funds projects that build comprehensive eye care systems to fight the major causes of blindness/visual impairment and care for blind and visually impaired persons. The program supports high quality, sustainable projects that deliver eye care services, train personnel, develop infrastructure and/or provide rehabilitation and education in under served communities. In summary, sightfirst has invested us$336.23 million in 1,266 projects in 116 countries, resulting in: * over 9.1 million cataract surgeries * building or expanding over 1,520 eye hospitals/clinics/wards and related facilities * management training for 276 facilities * training of over 1.57 million ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, community health workers and other related personnel sightfirst investments have also been critical in helping the governments of colombia, ecuador, guatemala and mexico eliminate onchocerciasis transmission as well as significantly reduce the impact of the disease in cameroon, ethiopia, mali and uganda.

disaster relief - lcif implements a grassroots model of disaster relief through emergency and major catastrophe grants. These grants are immediately available to local lions in areas affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods, and can be used first for immediate needs and later for long-term reconstruction. Immediately after a disaster, lions quickly assess the most urgent needs and use emergency grant funds to deliver basics such as water, food, clothing and medicine. After immediate needs are met, major catastrophe funds are used to rebuild the lives of those affected by providing key infrastructure such as housing, schools, and other important community buildings. To date, nearly 4,355 emergency grants have been awarded worldwide.

lions quest - grants are also awarded to expand a social emotional learning (sel) program, lions quest, which focuses on delivering life skills training in educational settings for grades pre-k through high school. More than 15 million students and 650,000 educators in more than 100 countries have been positively impacted through this program.