Many answers can be found right here in our frequently asked questions.
If you pay Income Tax at the higher or additional rate and want to receive the additional tax relief due to you, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self-Assessment tax return or ask HM Revenue and Customs to adjust your tax code.
To declare Gift Aid, you must pay an amount of UK Income and/or Capital Gains Tax, which is at least equal to the combined amount of Gift Aid that charities are claiming. If you pay less tax than this, you can stop one or more of the declarations to ensure the Gift Aid is not more than the tax you are paying. Simply contact the supporter services team at the charity or charities of your choice
You should receive a P60 each year that will show any tax deductions.
Education helps lift people out of poverty—and Compassion ensures each child and youth has access to knowledge and training. Every child in the sponsorship programme is given the opportunity to complete formal primary schooling. The support provided to ensure this happens varies depending on the child's context and the barriers preventing them from accessing the classroom. For example, sponsorship funds may pay for one, or a combination of the following: school fees, resources, uniforms or securing identification papers and other documents needed to access local schooling. After formal primary education, our church partners ensure young people have the opportunity to either continue in formal education or vocational training depending on what is most appropriate to their context. Along with access to formal education or vocational training, Compassion project staff and tutors also offer age-appropriate learning like hygiene, computer training and music.
Please visit our child sponsorship page and find a child you'd like to sponsor. You can sponsor a girl or sponsor a child from a specific country; you can even sponsor a child with the same birthday as you. If you'd like help sponsoring a child, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org. Sponsor a child today and give them life-changing support, including food, education and health-checks. Child sponsorship with Compassion is an opportunity to come alongside a local church, and together, bring hope and lasting change to a child living in poverty.
Child sponsorship with Compassion is an opportunity to come alongside a local church, and together, bring hope and lasting change to a child in poverty. Independent research shows that this approach works!
Education: Formal education or vocational training and training on subjects like hygiene, computing and music. Alongside educational support, including school uniforms and resources or advocating for identification papers and other documents that help children access local schooling.
Healthcare: Each child and youth receives a yearly medical check-up. Additionally, they can access recommended immunisations to support their fight against diseases and help them stay healthy. Follow-up medical care and interventions will be provided as necessary.
Nutritional support: Malnutrition is one of the world’s leading causes of child deaths and hinders brain and physical development. Regular monitoring helps identify and address malnutrition before it critically impacts development.
Community: through pastors, tutors, church staff and volunteers, children we work with are cared for and invested in by members of their own communities who encourage them to discover their unique gifts, passions and abilities.
Through the local church, children and youth have peers to learn alongside and opportunities to form healthy friendships. Sponsors play an important role through prayers and messages of encouragement. Compassion also addresses the wider context of the child by providing opportunities for the caregivers, families and communities of those we serve.
Safety: child protection is at the heart of our work. Child development projects are safe places to learn and play. Adults who engage with children are trained and committed to protecting children. Children and youth are taught about how to safeguard and advocate for themselves. Compassion commits to high-quality systems and processes for handling reports of abuse.
Support during disasters and crises: Compassion’s local church partners are often the first to respond in the community. When a crisis strikes – like widespread natural disasters, civil unrest and economic instability facing the world today – vulnerable children and families are the hardest hit. Compassion comes alongside so children and youth can access emergency aid and necessities like clean water, shelter, clothing and trauma counselling.
What’s more, by empowering and educating one child, you bring change to a family. Sponsored children share what they learn with their siblings and parents. We regularly hear stories of children teaching their parents and siblings to read or how to practice good hygiene in the home. Moreover, they receive the love, care and support of a local church community, which can make a transformative difference for the whole family.
If you have further questions, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org.
Our church partners reach the children in the greatest need.
Staff who know their communities inside out identify the children most in need of your sponsorship support. Children are given help regardless of their backgrounds or beliefs.
We start searching for a sponsor, like you.
Once registered in the Compassion Programme, we look for one sponsor to support each child.
One Compassion sponsor starts to empower one child.
When you start sponsoring, you sponsor a child directly! Your donations will immediately begin to support the child you sponsor.
Children meet at their local Compassion project
We have thousands of local church partners tailoring our holistic child development model to the contextualised needs of the children they serve — the children in their communities.
When you sponsor a child with us, the beneficiary of your support is the specific child you sponsor. The family may receive additional or indirect benefits, but we focus on one child.
The child you sponsor will attend a Compassion Project at their local church. There, they'll;
Compassion is a leading Christian charity and is considered one of the best child sponsorship organisations.
We have experience!
Founded in 1952, Compassion is a Christian child development charity releasing children from poverty, in Jesus’ name.
We work across the globe exclusively through local church-driven projects
Working in 29 countries, we partner with more than 8,600 local churches within communities experiencing poverty. Our heart is to give children and young people living in extreme need the opportunity to thrive and reach their God-given potential both now and into the future.
We’re Christ-centred
We're motivated by Jesus’ call to love our neighbour.
We're child-focused
We're helping those left most vulnerable to the effects of poverty.
Our programmes care for every part of a child's life
Compassion’s child development programmes are holistic, giving children support in every core area of their lives.
Because we work in partnership with local churches who know their communities inside out, our programmes are tailored to a child’s age, gender, health, culture and family situation. Independent research shows they are highly effective; now, more than 2.3 million children are being released from poverty.
Click here to find out what graduates say.
Click here to find out what sponsors say.
If you have further questions, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org.
Gifts are a great opportunity to show the child you sponsor that you care for them. We don’t want to overwhelm the children we serve and their families, and we want to be mindful of the local context. We suggest the following:
To enable you to easily connect with the child you sponsor through writing letters and looking through their profile, photos and past correspondence, you can log in to your individual myCompassion account online or in the Compassion UK App. You’ll need the email you registered with, so if in doubt, we’re more than happy to create an account for you or let you know the email we have on record. Please do call our friendly team at 01932 836490 or email info@compassionuk.com if you need support. Alternatively, if you know your registered email address, you can create a username and login yourself on our website. Step-by-step
Our friendly team are ready to help with any questions you might have.
01932 836490 - Lines are open from 10am-5pm Monday to Friday.
Please leave a voicemail if you call outside these hours and we’ll get in touch as soon as we can.
Compassion UK Christian Child Development, registered charity in England and Wales (1077216) and Scotland (SC045059). A company limited by guarantee, Registered in England and Wales company number 03719092. Registered address: Compassion House, Barley Way, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UT.