The society is a non-profit organization and provides the human eye corneas and tissues free of charge, except for a small fee on processing and delivery.

[2] Deshabandu Dr. Hudson Silva, the founder and inaugural president of the society, launched the first campaign to collect corneas in Sri Lanka in 1958 as a medical student.

The most prominent recipient country has been Pakistan (where the traditional Islamic law requires bodies to be buried whole and intact), with over 20,000 corneas.

[6] The society has over 450 branches in Sri Lanka, with a manpower of over 15,000 trained volunteers who are ready to remove donor eyes on demand.

[4] The extraction process has to be handled with care, to avoid damaging Corneal endothelium, a thin layer of cells on the inner surface of the cornea that pumps water away to keep it clear.

[4] Many famous individuals, including the late Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene, have donated their eyes upon death.