At Artie’s Vision, we believe that the right balance between social entrepreneurship and financial sustainability is crucial for creating real, lasting change. We are neither a traditional company that puts profit above all else, nor a traditional non-profit reliant on donations. We are a social-profit company, driven by the desire to create positive societal impact, supported by a solid, self-sustaining business model that allows us to ensure that impact in the long term.

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We are at the beginning of an ambitious journey: making eye care accessible to millions of people in developing countries who suffer from untreated visual impairments. As a young social-profit company, we understand that we will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way. However, instead of seeing these as obstacles, we consider them essential learning opportunities. We adapt, continuously improve our approach, and remain focused on maximizing the social impact we make. Our mission is not about maximizing profit, but about creating value for the communities we serve.

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Choosing the social-profit model, instead of a traditional non-profit organization, was a well-considered decision. In a non-profit structure, an organization is often dependent on donations and grants, leading to uncertainty about its continuity and growth. This dependency often results in a cycle of fundraising campaigns, with a focus on securing funds rather than developing a robust, self-sustaining system. This can limit social impact and hinder sustainable growth.

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That’s why we chose the social-profit model: it allows us to combine societal value with financial sustainability. This enables us to achieve real and lasting change in the long run. Instead of relying on external funding, we generate revenue by selling products that directly contribute to our mission. This creates a solid foundation for growth, ensuring we are no longer dependent on uncertain external capital to realize our vision.

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Profit is not an end goal for us, but a means to further amplify our impact and drive innovation. We are convinced that a commercial model is essential to generate the resources needed for technological advancements and process improvements. Profit allows us to develop new products, enter new markets, and scale our impact. It is through this profit that we can continue to innovate and expand our operations over the long term, ensuring we can keep providing eye care to those most in need.

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Furthermore, our commercial model allows us to attract external capital and build strategic partnerships. By attracting investors who believe in our mission, we can strengthen our infrastructure, work more efficiently, and reach new communities faster. Without a commercial model, we would struggle to secure the necessary investments that are essential for innovation and scaling our organization.

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Although not all profit is directly reinvested into our mission, we ensure that every decision we make is focused on maximizing our social impact. A portion of the profit is used to strengthen our organization, improve processes, and implement innovations. We continuously evaluate our choices and do everything we can to ensure that every euro we earn contributes to the sustainable growth of both our organization and the communities we serve.

We want to be fully transparent from the outset: Artie’s Vision is not a traditional non-profit, and we encourage people not to expect the typical charity model. We are still in the early stages of building our organization: figuring things out step by step, testing what works, and learning as we go.

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While our ambition is to become a fully independent social-profit organization, we are currently launching our operations under a non-profit structure to get started efficiently. For practical and legal reasons and to avoid delays while the formalities of setting up our own social-profit entity are in progress, we are temporarily operating under vzw Kerstnacht (BE0775.602.397), a non-profit founded by Artiom, the initiator of Artie’s Vision, in 2021 to help poor children. We are working closely with legal and financial experts to figure out exactly how a social-profit structure can best be implemented within the Belgian legal and tax framework, as this remains a relatively unfamiliar model in Belgium. This allows us to move forward with impact while laying the groundwork for a sustainable and legally sound future.

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Naturally, because we are currently operating under a non-profit statute, we also fully act as one: all profits made at this stage are 100% reinvested into our mission.