Sponsor a child

You may also feel uncomfortable with the idea of sponsorship for a variety of reasons. Compassion is committed to serving children living in poverty, and we believe one-to-one sponsorship is a great way to do this. Why do we think this? It's a locally-led approach Far from being dictated, Compassion has in-country leadership teams who formulate the strategy for their local in-country church partners, across the 29 countries. This means they can minister to the children and their families who need the most support in the ways they know best. It's driven by the local church We believe local in-country church leaders, staff and volunteers are best positioned to care for and love the children and families living in their communities because they live there, too. As a result, they can adapt supporting activities to
meet their unique needs. Compassion equips and enables these church leaders and provides them with the resources they need so they
can continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their communities. It's not just benefitting one child, but their family too And the great news is that the child you sponsor's family also benefits from your decision to sponsor. So, if you’re weighing up sponsorship advantages and disadvantages, here are nine ways your child sponsorship makes an even bigger difference. And all the stories we tell are collected by our local in-country photojournalists. They understand the culture, practices, and challenges and are trained to approach every story opportunity with dignity and gratitude, knowing that we are not entitled to anyone's story. We're grateful for your support Time and time again, we hear from graduates that their sponsor's encouraging words and prayers made a real difference in their lives. You can read more about that here. Together, we can release children from poverty in Jesus' name.

Our friendly team are here to help. Contact us at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org. We do understand that our supporters go through periods of financial difficulty. If you are finding it a challenge to keep up with your sponsorship payments, then please get in touch as there are a number of ways we can help. We can look at giving you a break from payments for a few months, reducing the amount you pay, changing the day your Direct Debit comes out of your account, or a combination of all three. We really want to help you maintain the relationship you've built up with the child or children you sponsor, so please get in touch with us directly, so we can discuss your options.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, global travel restrictions and safety concerns for the communities we serve hindered our ability to invite supporters like you to see first-hand what God is doing to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. This situation was unexpected and led to a significant repurposing and reduction of our original workforce, who were dedicated to planning and facilitating trips and visits. As a result, we’re now re-growing our teams and capacity. Initially, we’re offering a small number of trips for specific purposes. We ask for your grace and patience as we rebuild. We’re looking forward to being able to offer these experiences to supporters more widely in the future. Compassion visits give you the privilege of meeting the child you sponsor and their family. During your day’s visit, learn more about how the local church is supporting the family and empowering them to overcome poverty. Spend valuable time building relationship with the child you sponsor and praying and encouraging one another.   What you need to know about visiting

• You will need to have been supporting a child with Compassion for at least a year.
• You need to arrange your visit through our Tours and Visits team. Please get in touch with us at least 6-8 weeks in advance.
• Visits take place at a Compassion project or other suitable location. If possible, you’ll also visit the home of the child you sponsor.
• While visiting, you'll need to pay for any expenses incurred, including transport, visit host, meals and accommodation.
• Visits usually take place Monday – Friday and are between 3 and 6 hours long.

We do understand that sponsors’ situations change, and there may be any number of reasons why you have to end your support. If you’re moving out of the country, struggling to keep up with the sponsorship payments or finding it difficult to write letters, there are several ways we may be able to support you, so please let us know. If you do decide to end your sponsorship, the child you sponsor will continue to benefit from the Compassion Child Sponsorship Programme, and we’ll try to find another sponsor for them as soon as possible. If you do decide to stop sponsoring, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org so we know what happened. Thank you.

Here at Compassion, we want to help as many families as possible. Therefore, it’s typical for Compassion projects to enrol just one child per family to reach as many families in their community as possible. This is because sponsorship benefits not just the child but the whole family. However, if the family is in great need, up to three children could be enrolled. But there's a ripple effect The great news is that the benefits of the sponsorship programme reach into the family and wider community of the child you sponsor. Because all our programmes are run through local churches, families can access health screenings, nutritional advice and support, parenting workshops and other church activities. Sponsored children often share what they learn at the Compassion Project with siblings, and many lead their entire families to Christ. As well as encouraging the child you sponsor's family through your letters and prayers, you can also send financial gifts to the family. Here's Doreen's experience We asked Compassion Graduate, Doreen, how her siblings felt when she was sponsored. "Obviously, the ones that are not sponsored would be like, "Why not me?" The bigger picture is it's excitement, it's hope. I may not be educated, but the fact that Doreen has gotten a sponsor and she'll be educated, she might be the one who's going to hold the light for the family. For them it was hope that, yes, they have gotten this, and they will be the ones that will help the rest of the family members." You can read her story here.

We’re sorry you've had trouble seeing your sponsorships on your myCompassion account. Here are a few suggestions to help get you logged in. 

• If you are an existing sponsor, your sponsored child will show in your myCompassion account within 24 hours of verifying your account.
• If you are a new sponsor, your sponsored child will show in your myCompassion account within two working days of verifying your account.

You can verify your account through the verification email that you received after registering for myCompassion.

If no information about your child or children has appeared after two working days, please contact us so that we can resolve this issue for you. If you have further questions, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org.  If you're struggling to log in, this might help.

When you sponsor a child, parents or caregivers are released from some financial pressure as one of their children receives;

• 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.  

Compassion has leadership teams in each country who know their contexts well, and each country office has a strategic plan to begin partnerships and open Compassion projects in communities, which would be most beneficial. In identifying areas where the need is great, they seek out churches which would be good partners in the mission to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. You can read more about how we select those church partners here. Churches understand their communities inside out, so are well placed to identify and support children in greatest need. We’d love to sponsor every child, but our resources are limited, so we focus our support on the poorest families. We work with children from all faiths and backgrounds. All children to be registered are selected based on objective criteria that establish their need and ability to benefit from the programme. Our project staff meet with the families to better understand their circumstances and to ensure they are happy for their children to participate in a programme run by the local church. You can read more about how we assess needs here. If you have further questions, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org.

When you sponsor a child with Compassion, you’ll have the joy of knowing you’re making a tangible difference to one of the world’s most vulnerable children. We understand that answering God’s call to care for those living in poverty can feel like an overwhelming task. That’s why we’re giving you the opportunity to sponsor a child and tackle poverty in a highly personal and effective way. Your sponsorship will directly provide a child with access to educational resources, healthcare and the emotional support they need to break free from poverty, for good. Over time, the child you sponsor’s letters and photo updates will encourage you in the difference you're making. If you have further questions, please get in touch with our friendly team at 01932 836490 or by email at info@compassionuk.org.

Sponsored children can move from one Compassion project to another for a number of reasons. Families in poverty are often extremely mobile and a child may move to a new area because a parent is looking for work. Alternatively, sometimes Compassion will need to end a partnership with a church for integrity reasons or because a church no longer needs our help in ministering to children. When a partnership with a local church ends, Compassion’s field office tries to ensure that as many children as possible are transferred to another project nearby. As Noel Pabiona, country director for the Philippines explains, every effort is made to give each child “a new Compassion home”. This was the case for the children who were attending Charis Child Development Centre in the Philippines. After nine years of ministering to children, the partnership sadly had to come to an end. This left more than 100 children who were transferred to the nearby Kabalaka Child Development Centre. One of these children was 16-year-old Jhezzo. Jhezzo is so grateful that she has been able to keep receiving support from the Compassion programme by moving project. She's thrilled that although she will be given a new child number to reflect the number of her new Compassion project, she can still maintain a relationship with the same sponsor. This consistency has been so reassuring during a time of great change and transition. “I’m happy to have my sponsor,” Jhezza explains. “She is a big help to me in many ways, including in my spiritual growth. Through sponsorship I can attend camps, special meetings, support groups and Bible studies. Having a sponsor gives opportunities to simple people like me.” The project workers at Kabalaka Child Development Centre have made every effort to welcome Jhezzo and the other children. They even organised a special service where they sung the hymn “Welcome to the Family” and Reverend Salvador Parpa preached a message explaining ‘We are now one family’.