Frequently Asked Questions about Child Sponsorship

Our child sponsorship program addresses the root causes of children's vulnerability, empowering children, their families, and their communities to break free from poverty. We take a holistic approach to community development, partnering with communities, beginning by inviting them to identify their greatest needs. Then we work together to develop a plan, equipping them with resources to address their specific challenges, such as improving water and sanitation, health and nutrition, education, child protection, and spiritual nurturing.

And it works! Our holistic and empowering approach is helping children and families transform their own lives.

In the places where we work:

• Children are healthier: Over a five-year period,89% of severely malnourished children we treated in severely respite care settings recovered completely. This experience informs our nutrition programs in all communities where we work.

• More children have local health services: Mothers in the areas where we carry out health and nutrition programs are6 times more likely to receive medical care compared to mothers in areas we have not yet reached.

• Children are thriving in school: children's reading comprehension was measured at 68% in schools using our literacy program, compared to 4% in schools without the program.

• Water solutions are durable: A study by the University of North Carolina Water Institute found that 8 out of 10 of our drilled wells were still operating at high levels after nearly two decades. This is 33% higher than the industry average of 6 out of 10.

• Youth are growing in their faith: In our sponsorship programs in Central America, 85% of children say they experience God's love and almost 90% of children and youth participate in activities such as Sunday school and youth ministry.

We go to the most difficult places in the world and serve the most vulnerable people. Serving the poor in Jesus' name, we go to the most fragile places in the world, where life is most difficult for children, and where many other organizations cannot go. Through child sponsorship and other critical projects, globally we work in eight of the ten poorest places in the world as measured by the United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index.

Our approach to community empowerment affects more children. We work hand in hand with families and local leaders to achieve community-wide solutions, such as clean water, health care, and education, so that all children in the community can benefit, not just those who are sponsored.

Our work has a lasting impact. Our community development projects lead to sustainable change because we depend on local resources. Families and individuals are co-owners of project activities from the beginning, which helps make change last.

We serve all people. Our staff in nearly 100 countries serves those of all faiths and none, demonstrating our faith in Jesus in culturally appropriate and respectful ways.

We help create change for children at all levels. Our goal is nothing less than the complete spiritual, physical, emotional, and social well-being of children. We partner with individuals, organizations, and governments to change the systems and structures that keep people trapped in poverty.

Sponsoring a child is an ongoing commitment where you can help meet a child's basic needs by investing in their community, as well as build a relationship and watch them grow until they, or their community, becomes independent.

Sponsorship is a long-term commitment; however, the duration of each sponsorship depends on the needs of the child and his/her community. The age of independence or the circumstances of your child will vary from country to country. Sponsorship may be terminated for any of the following reasons:

The community has "graduated". The goal of the sponsorship is to help break the cycle of poverty so that children and families can take a step toward the future with well-founded hope. When sustainability goals are met, projects are phased out and we move on to serve the neediest children in other communities. This is a time of celebration.

Your child has improved his/her living conditions. In many cases, children are sponsored until they finish school, reach the age of independence in their community, are able to support themselves, or get married.

The family has moved to a different community. Occasionally, circumstances arise that mean a child must leave the sponsorship program. For example, a child's family may move out of the community to an area where World Vision sponsorship is not available.

Vulnerable children are nominated by the community to participate in the child sponsorship, and their parents or guardians register them in the program. The children then wait for a sponsor to choose them, or they can choose their own sponsor at a Chosen event. Children in the community who are not yet sponsored benefit from sponsorship-funded community improvements in areas such as clean water, health care, education, job opportunities, and more.

Although child sponsorship focuses on long-term sustainable community development, we know that emergencies do happen. And when they do, children are especially vulnerable. Our staff and community volunteers must be resourceful and flexible to respond urgently to the rapidly changing needs of communities.

Our goal is to help families and communities prepare for, resist, and recover from emergencies so that together we can continue to focus on long-term, sustainable development as soon as possible. During an emergency, we may temporarily suspend our regular programming to focus on the immediate needs of sponsored children, families, and community members. During a difficult time, the safety of all children and families we serve, as well as our staff and volunteers, remains a top priority. We also ask for your patience as you may experience delays in correspondence, including the processing of special gifts and your child's annual progress reports and updates.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge for vulnerable children and the communities we work with and the ongoing operations of our child sponsorship programs. The scale of the crisis requires us to be resourceful in using what we have to respond urgently to better protect your sponsored child and other vulnerable children in the communities where they live. That's why, in the immediate future, we will combine up to 20% of sponsorship funds into a country-level pool to more effective resource our COVID-19 emergency response in each country where we work. This will enable us to better coordinate and respond more quickly scale, and efficiently to help prevent the spread, save lives, support, and protect vulnerable children and their families in sponsored communities. In certain situations, some countries may require us to exceed 20%, but this will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Your donations have a big impact! In 2019, we use 87 percent of our total operating expenses for programs that benefit children, families, and communities. Your monthly sponsorship donation is combined with donations from other sponsors, and leveraged with public grants and corporate donations, to deliver resources that empower your sponsored child and your entire community - as well as other children in need - to improve their own lives over the long term.

Your monthly donation is combined with donations from other sponsors so that we can provide long-term resources for lasting change for all the children in your child's community. Your gift will help provide your sponsored child and other children in desperate need with the basic needs that can help them reach their God-given potential, including access to resources such as clean water, better nutrition, basic health care, education, spiritual nourishment, and economic opportunities for their family, community, and other children in need. In the areas where it is permitted, a sponsor's gift will also help provide a Christian education program to give children the opportunity to learn about Jesus and His love.

Sponsorship also helps the entire community by providing benefits such as new or restored water wells, new or renovated schools, and health clinics, as well as improved agricultural training. Adults can receive professional training in areas such as tailoring and carpentry or can attend classes in nutrition and hygiene.

We offer help in these areas and more, according to the needs of the community, because we believe that the best way to change a child's life is to change the community in which they live.

We believe that the best way to change a child's life is to change the community in which they live. The well-being of children is the focus of everything World Vision does, and our work is focused on improving the lives of vulnerable children.

Each World Vision sponsorship project is designed to meet the most pressing needs in a sponsored child's community, and all projects are regularly measured against these goals and objectives. Projects are designed to ensure that children are healthy by local standards, receive an appropriate education, and receive spiritual nutrition. Other goals are determined by what the children and community need most: clean water and better sanitation, better income opportunities for parents, improved agricultural production, etc.

Many of our programs are aimed at developing the skills and capacities of adults, parents, governments, and/or communities with the ultimate goal of improving the well-being of children. Because a child's well-being is tied to the well-being of his or her family and the community in which he or she lives, the work we do to help improve your sponsored child's life is based on meeting the challenges your community has identified.

Giving money to the child's family does not ensure responsible spending or that the community can sustain itself once we stop working in the area.

We believe that true community development is not about providing money or even services. It is about helping people discover their God-given potential as human beings, and working together to realize that potential. Fundamental to this is the spiritual transformation that instills hope and promise for the future.

Technical assistance and funding in areas such as health, agriculture, water resources, sanitation, nutrition, and income generation are important, but the underlying basis of community development work is motivation and community organization, something that a simple handout of money cannot provide.

Linking this development philosophy and approach to Sponsorship requires that children are at the center of the development effort and that the needs of each sponsored child are considered. It is crucial that sponsors understand that a child does not receive direct cash benefits, as a welfare system would.

We help children, families, and their communities by supporting long-term sustainable development projects. Sustainable development work takes approximately 15 years. We can stay in a community for less than 15 years, or more, depending on when the development goals we set out to achieve are completed. However, sometimes we may have to leave a community or country because local conditions - often related to political or stability issues - have changed.

Because we want to ensure that children continue to flourish after we leave, our exit is planned from the beginning. From the beginning of our Sponsorship projects, we work with the community to build lasting systems to maintain and build upon what has been achieved so that their children can continue to thrive after the World Vision project is over.

We work with communities to set priorities and establish the time it will take to achieve the goals. Addressing the root causes of poverty involves establishing trusting relationships, breaking mindsets, changing attitudes, and providing tools, skills, and training, all of which require a large investment of time.

The goal of community sponsorship is to help break the cycle of poverty so that children and families can take a step toward the future with well-founded hope. When these goals are met, World Vision will be able to move forward to serve children in great need in other communities.

We work in communities where our presence is requested and welcomed. Before a sponsorship project begins, World Vision workers meet with local community leaders to listen and assess community needs and determine appropriate and effective responses.

Together, we develop a plan for the project areas and activities that will address their needs and priorities. An operational plan is created with a proposed timeline, budget, specific goals, and objectives. This plan includes the number of children and families who will be assisted through the various components of the project. The majority of World Vision's project staff are local residents who are best prepared to assess and address the needs of their community.

As we gain trust and credibility within the community, community members participate and take ownership of the projects. During project implementation, the work is evaluated to ensure that it has maximum impact. This can take 10, 15, or even 20 years. In the last few years, the community prepares to carry out the development work after we leave.

By partnering with the local people in the project communities, we empower them to bring about change themselves and to maintain progress in their community long after the project goals they have set with World Vision have been achieved.