Over the years, Compassion has shared its vision with people in countries who expressed a strong desire to come alongside us and partner in our child development through sponsorship program. Today, Compassion serves more than 1 million impoverished children through the caring support of strong partner networks with central offices in the following countries:
How did this growth come about? It started in the early 1960s, when Canada became our first partner country, with Australia and the United Kingdom joining us in the mid 1970s. Then, in 1996, Compassion's president, Wess Stafford, had a vision to reach over a million children with the benefits of Compassion's program. He believed that building diverse networks of caring sponsors throughout the world — all connected by a common vision, mission and set of core values — could make this happen. It
is happening, and the network continues to grow each year.
