How Child Sponsorship Works

Child sponsorship is an effective and fulfilling way to help give a child from a poor community the chance of a brighter future. Child sponsorship contributions fund community-based development activities, designed to bring about long-term sustainable improvements in the wellbeing of children, families and their communities.

The aim of the work is to help to ensure each child in the community:

• Enjoys good health
• Is educated for life
• Is cared for, protected, and participating in decisions that affect their lives
• Experiences the emergence of hope in their lives.

Each community that World Vision partners with faces specific challenges. Through partnerships with local families, community groups and governments, World Vision builds trusting relationships to help identify the community’s assets and needs, along with the underlying causes of children’s poverty and vulnerability.

Project activities focus on empowering communities to break the cycle of poverty and typically include:

• Advocacy – supporting local communities to secure their rights to essential services
• Education – opportunities for children and adults to go to school or participate in non-formal or vocational education
• Healthcare – improving health facilities and access to things like immunisation and antenatal care
• Water & sanitation – working with local partners to drill boreholes, build wells and basic sanitation and provide hygiene education
• Food & agriculture – access to seeds, tools and agricultural training and activities to improve child nutrition
• Economic development – skills and vocational training to improve incomes and support for small and medium-sized business activity

Other activities may focus on disaster preparedness, housing, peace building or capacity building for community workers and volunteers.

To achieve the best outcomes, child sponsorship contributions are combined and sometimes supplemented with funds from other sources, such as government grants. These funds are then used to implement development projects that benefit not only the sponsored child and his or her community, but children in other sponsorship communities as well.

Hear From a Child Sponsor

"It’s always great to get a letter from our little boy in Swaziland. We are so happy to hear about how well he’s getting on in school." – Donal Monaghan

“To meet the children, their mothers and the aid workers was fantastic. It was very special to hear the mother of one of the sponsored children speak of the importance of the sponsorship to her family and how it provides a means to live and also educate the next generation. These are things we are so used to and take for granted. Sometimes we need to be reminded that it is not the case for others.” - Read about child sponsor Caroline Dervan's visit to her sponsored children

Who We Are

World Vision is the largest non-government, non-profit overseas aid organisation in the world, reaching 120 million children worldwide. We have 44,000 staff members working in nearly 100 countries.

For six decades, World Vision has been engaging people to work towards eliminating poverty and its causes. World Vision is committed to the poor. We work with people of all cultures, faiths and genders to achieve transformation. We do this through relief and development, policy advocacy and change, collaboration, education about poverty, and emphasis on personal growth, social justice and spiritual values.

The action World Vision is committed to includes:

• Transformational development, which is the phrase we use to describe a holistic approach to improving the lives of the poor by recognising people's physical, social, economic and political needs.
• Emergency relief – following the International Code of Conduct for disaster relief organisations
• Promotion of justice – we advocate for victims of injustice and poverty
• Strategic initiatives - such as programs promoting community leadership
• Public awareness

FAQs

How is my sponsorship money spent?

In our financial year 2013, 76% of money spent was used to support our work with people living in poverty overseas. 24% was spent on administration costs including painstaking efforts to generate funds in a very challenging economic climate, staff wages, office maintenance. Every year World Vision Ireland publishes an annual report which provides specific details on all financial activities. Click here to find out more about World Vision Ireland's financial information.

How are children chosen for sponsorship?

World Vision places a special priority on helping vulnerable children. We work with community representatives to identify areas of greatest need and then the community selects children from those areas for sponsorship. We then ask the children’s families if they want to be part of the sponsorship program and explain how it works.

How does child sponsorship work?

Child sponsorship is an effective and fulfilling way to help give a child from a poor community the chance of a brighter future. Child sponsorship contributions fund community-based development activities, designed to bring about long-term sustainable improvements in the wellbeing of children, families and their communities. The aim of the work is to help to ensure each child in the community:

• Enjoys good health
• Is educated for life
• Is cared for, protected, and participating in decisions that affect their lives
• Experiences the emergence of hope in their lives

How do the child and the community benefit?

Experience has taught us that the best way to change a child’s life is to change the community in which they live. World Vision works with local families, community groups and governments to:

• Identify the specific, local causes of children’s poverty and vulnerability
• Develop a mutually agreed range of development projects to address them

These projects are designed to:

• Break the cycle of poverty
• Create long-term changes
• Give all children the opportunity to reach their potential

As World Vision builds trust and credibility with the community, community members participate in, and take ownership of, the projects. Our goal is to enable the community to become independent and self-sustaining.


What can a sponsor expect to receive?

As a child sponsor you’ll receive:

• A Welcome Pack with your sponsored child’s photo and personal details and information about your sponsored child’s country
• The chance to create an online space to view photos and video updates about your child and sponsorship, as well as update your personal details, at My World Vision
• An Annual Progress Report detailing the health and educational status of your sponsored child and achievements his or her community has made with your support
• An annual update on your sponsored child’s community and country
• The chance to develop a personal connection with your sponsored child by exchanging letters, e-letters, Christmas and birthday cards and photos

Why should I choose World Vision over other Charitable organisations?

World Vision is a unique organisation as in we work with communities to better themselves. We only employ local people to work in our programmes. We are completely transparent (all of our financial information is published on our website) and we make sure that your hard earned money is put to the best use possible, providing children in the world’s poorest places with a safe and hopeful future.

As well as empowering communities through infrastructure and development, we can be the first on the scene for any major disaster or emergency. This is due to our size. World Vision is the largest overseas aid and development organisation in the world, employing over 50,000 dedicated and passionate staff and volunteers across the world. With 10 million committed supporters, who know that we are changing children’s lives, we support 100 million people worldwide.

How do I get to know my sponsored child?

We encourage you to connect with your sponsored child. Sponsored children love to receive letters and cards from their sponsors and it can be a great source of encouragement for them to know that someone far away cares about them and their future.

There are three ways to correspond and build a connection with your sponsored child:

• Send the World Vision-supplied postcard, card or letter. When you first sign up for sponsorship you will be given a postcard to send to you child, then twice a year thereafter, we’ll provide you with the opportunity to send them a card or letter - at Christmas and for their birthday. We’ll include a due date for you to send the card or letter back to us in the envelope provided. However, you are not limited to writing at just these times, you can write to your sponsored child whenever you like.
• Send an eLetter to your sponsored child. You can also send an eLetter to your sponsored child via the My World Vision page on our website. Conditions and technology in your sponsored child’s country are very different to Ireland, so once the email arrives in the local World Vision office, it’s printed and hand-delivered.
• Write a letter or card and post it to your sponsored child. Many sponsors send a letter, card or postcard directly to their sponsored child's country. You can do this at any time. Information and guidelines on writing to your sponsored child can be viewed here.

Am I the only sponsor for my sponsored child?

Yes. World Vision assigns only one sponsor per sponsored child.

What if I need to cancel? Is it a contract?

We encourage sponsors to view sponsorship as a long-term commitment. But a sponsor can cancel at any time, for any reason. We understand that people’s circumstances change over time. If you are unable to make regular payments either temporarily or permanently, we can assist you with a range of options. If you do need to cancel your sponsorship, we will inform your sponsored child and their family and we will ensure your sponsored child is made available for sponsorship by another family or individual.

What is My World Vision?

My World Vision is an online space for you to register and log in to view photos and videos of your sponsored child and their community, send an eLetter to your sponsored child and update your personal details. Register now for My World Vision.

How long does child sponsorship last?

Ideally, child sponsorship is a long-term commitment throughout the period of our work in a particular community, which typically lasts for 10-15 years. But how long child sponsorship lasts will be different for each sponsor. Some sponsors join us at the beginning of our work in their sponsored child’s community and others join us towards the end. Sponsorship can end for a number of reasons.

These include:

• When our work in a community is completed
• When your sponsored child finishes school or begins to earn an income
• When your sponsored child’s family moves away from the community in which World Vision is working

Whatever the reason, we’ll notify you when your sponsorship comes to an end and at that time offer you the opportunity to sponsor another child.

Why do I sponsor a community as well?

The wellbeing of a child is dependent on their families and community and in order to thrive, children need to grow up in an environment that provides the essentials for today together with hope and opportunity for the future. The most effective way to improve children’s wellbeing therefore is to strengthen their community’s ability to provide these needs.