A woman and her sponsored boy
About Us

What We Do:
Child Sponsorship

WHAT IS CHILD SPONSORSHIP?

Child sponsorship is the most cost-effective way to end child poverty.1 It not only addresses a child's immediate physical needs, it also builds self-esteem and self-respect.

HOW DOES CHILD SPONSORSHIP WORK?

Through monthly financial support, prayer and letter writing, sponsors invest directly in the lives of children living in extreme poverty.

The children attend church-based child development centers where they receive life-changing opportunities that would otherwise be out of their reach, and which build on, add to and extend their school lessons.

All Compassion-sponsored children have the opportunity to develop their God-given potential and be released from the poverty that has trapped their families for generations.

Child sponsorship offers:

  • ongoing Christian training through a local church.
  • educational opportunities to defeat illiteracy.
  • key life skills training and vocational programs to provide a brighter future.
  • health care to prevent and fight disease and sickness.
  • supplements to protect against malnutrition.
  • recreational activities to development self-confidence and social skills.
  • protection from crime, violence and danger.

Read More About How Child Sponsorship Works >

a boy peeking through the slats of a fence wall

THE MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGY FOR HELPING THE POOR

In 2008, Dr. Bruce Wydick, a professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, along with two colleagues, conducted a study of our Child Sponsorship Program to determine its impact on the adult life outcomes of formerly sponsored children against those of children who were not part of the ministry’s programs.

Wydick and his colleagues concluded that our Child Sponsorship Program has large and statistically significant impacts on the educational, employment and leadership outcomes of our children. The peer-reviewed research was published in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Political Economy.

What are the best ways to help the poor in low- and middle-income countries?

To answer the question, Dr. Wydick polled top development economists who specialize in analyzing development programs. He asked them to rate, in terms of impact and cost-effectiveness per donated dollar, some of the most common poverty interventions people donate their money to. Of all the long-term development interventions, child sponsorship received the highest rating.

"Sponsors typically pay $25 to $40 per month, which covers a child’s educational fees, school uniforms, tutoring, health care, and, in faith-based sponsorship organizations, spiritual mentorship. Many development economists today favor interventions like child sponsorship that remove practical constraints to education while building a child’s self-esteem, aspirations and goals. In this way, sponsorship relieves both external and internal poverty constraints."

A child's odds are better with Compassion

a young Thai boy
How Child Sponsorship Helps

From statistics to stories, there is mounting evidence that our Child Sponsorship Program equips children to successfully escape what is often a generational cycle of poverty.

Why Sponsor a Child? >

a woman sponsor hugs her sponsored child
Six Questions to Ask Before Sponsoring a Child

To help you make the best decision for your circumstances, priorities and values, consider these questions when deciding to sponsor a child.

What are the Questions? >

A smiling boy sits in a group of boys straining to read a sponsor letter one boy is holding
How to Choose Which Child to Sponsor

You want to sponsor a child, but you don't know where to begin. How do you choose whom to help and whom someone else must help?

How Do I Choose? >

Search for a Child
Select Today

Show more search options (child name, special needs and more)

Give With Confidence

With Compassion, your donation is used wisely to help children around the world.

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Have Questions About Compassion and How We Work?

Donating to a charity is an important decision. So when you’re passionate about a cause and want to make a difference, we encourage you to do your research. Compassion is 100% committed to financial integrity, stewardship and using each dollar wisely. If you have any questions about Compassion or exactly how your donation will be used, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Sources:

1 Measuring Poverty. World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/measuringpoverty.

2 Nearly Half the World Lives on Less than $5.50 a day. World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/17/nearly-half-the-world-lives-on-less-than-550-a-day

3 Overview: Understanding, measuring and overcoming poverty. The World Bank, http://go.worldbank.org/RQBDCTUXW0.

4 World development report 2000-2001: Attacking poverty. The World Bank, http://go.worldbank.org/L8RGH3WLI0.

5 How Hurricanes Affect Poverty Around the World. The Borgen Project, https://borgenproject.org/how-hurricanes-affect-global-poverty/.

6 The human cost of natural disasters: a global perspective. Centre For Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/42895

7 Worldwide, early 33 million children have been forcibly displaced at the end of 2019. UNICEF, https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-migration-and-displacement/displacement/

8 Ten facts about Haiti’s housing crisis. Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/01/ten-facts-about-haiti-s-housing-crisis/

9 Patel, Nirav. “Figure of the Week: Understanding Poverty in Africa.” Brookings, Brookings, 21 Nov. 2018, www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2018/11/21/figure-of-the-week-understanding-poverty-in-africa/.

10 These countries have seen the biggest falls in extreme poverty. World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/chart-of-the-day-these-countries-have-seen-the-biggest-falls-in-extreme-poverty/

11 Wydick, Bruce. “Cost-Effective Compassion: The 10 Most Popular Strategies for Helping the Poor.” Christianity Today. www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/february/popular-strategies-helping-the-poor.html accessed 17 February 2012.

* In 2015, the World Bank began phasing out the term “developing world” in its publications and databases. The use of the developed countries and developing countries categories was “becoming less relevant” with the adoption of the SDG and its focus on targets for the entire world.

Questions?

Please call us at 800-336-7676, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. MT to speak with a Compassion representative.