How Child Sponsorship Works

How does Child Sponsorship work?

Your experience | The community | Reviews | A former sponsored child's story | FAQs

Child Sponsorship pairs you with a child living in one of the world's toughest places.

While your donation helps to fund our work in the community, you’ll get to experience the transformation through the eyes of your sponsored child.

"Sponsorship gives you the chance to help someone out of poverty and give them hope to lead a better life, achieve their dreams and put something back into their community." - Francis, sponsor for 30 years.

With Child Sponsorship, you’re not just helping one child, you’re helping the entire community thrive, not just survive.

Sponsor a child

Child Sponsorship and you

When you sponsor a child, you'll receive a welcome pack introducing you to your sponsored child and their community. You’ll then receive regular photos so you can watch them grow through the years, and updates so you can find out how their life and community is changing.

They’ll send you letters and drawings. And if you want to, you can write back to them too, by post or online, so you can become a powerful positive force in their lives.

You can easily see how your donations are making a difference by logging in to your online account and viewing the latest photos, videos and updates.

A woman meets her sponsored child in the Dominican Republic, holding a photo of herself that he has

Sponsor a child

Child Sponsorship helps the whole community

The best way to change a child’s life is to transform their whole community, and Child Sponsorship means helping communities to help themselves.

We work together with communities to tackle the root causes of poverty.

First, we work with local leaders and families to understand their struggles and the areas where they need support. Together, we focus on helping the most vulnerable children in the greatest need – those at risk of the worst poverty, exploitation, and abuse.

Then we create a plan to transform the community into a safe place, where children are cared for and protected, long into the future. This maximises the impact of your sponsorship – empowering communities to break free from poverty and become self-sustaining.

Your sponsorship will help children and the entire community with the essentials they need to build a better future, such as clean water, education, healthcare facilities, nutritious food, protection, and job opportunities for parents to improve their income.

Sponsor a child

How your sponsored child benefits

Regular visits from one of our community team to check on their progress and wellbeing
Community-wide solutions such as water pumps, classroom equipment, teacher training and healthcare
Taking part in activities like children’s clubs, training and community celebration
Storytelling and creative activities to help them express themselves and build self-confidence
The opportunity to share their voice and play a part in how the community changes
Protection from abuse, neglect and exploitation
Any messages, photos or letter you send, translated and delivered by hand

What you can expect

A welcome pack introducing you to your sponsored child and their community
An online My Sponsorship account, with the latest photos, videos and updates
A letter from your child, introducing themselves, soon after signing up. You can write letters or send messages online anytime. We’ll translate and hand-deliver them
Christmas and birthday cards for you to send – by post or online – for some extra encouragement
A photo of your child each year, with an update on how their life is changing. And regular updates, videos and photos from your community to show how your donations are making a difference

What child sponsors say

“I would say to someone who is thinking about sponsoring a child - go ahead and do it, it is the most life changing thing ever!”

Shemi

Child Sponsor

More Child Sponsorship reviews

How being sponsored changed Nancy's life

Growing up in Kenya, Nancy watched as all her friends were forced to grow up too fast.

One by one, the girls in her class left school to become child brides. She worried that her family wouldn’t be able to afford to send her to school for much longer. But thanks to Child Sponsorship, life in her community started to change. She excelled at school and went much further in life.

Hear Nancy share how her sponsor, Georgie, encouraged her to reach her dreams.

Sponsor a child like Nancy

The benefits of Child Sponsorship

You're helping specific people, not just a ‘cause’

Sometimes, we can feel disconnected from the causes we support. When you sponsor a child, you can put a face and story to your donation. This can help you personally connect with the challenges your sponsored child's community faces and learn about how your money helps.

See where your money goes

Our Child Sponsorship programme not only allows you to help children around the world, but can also show you where your donation is going as you receive regular updates. Whether it’s educational opportunities, offering health and medical care or providing clean water solutions, you’ll know the difference your money has made in your child’s life and their community.

For every child sponsored, four more benefit too

Maintaining a connection with one child when so many others are in need can be overwhelming. However, at World Vision, we work with whole communities to tackle the cycle of poverty. So, when you sponsor one child, four more benefit. Find out more in the video below.

Debby, 7, lives in Zambia. Her sponsor's monthly donations are transforming her home, family, and community. Her friends aren't sponsored, but thanks to her sponsorship they're seeing their lives change too.

Brendah, 12: She can now drink clean water from the new community borehole.
Adam, 5: When Adam fell ill, he was treated at the new local health centre.
Lightwell, 10: New reading classes have given him a love for books.
Beatrice, 11: Beatrice's family are now growing tomatoes, beans, okra, maize, and beautiful sunflowers - enough to share.

Sponsor a child like Debby today

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Child Sponsorship FAQs

All of World Vision's work begins with listening to communities in need. Community leaders work with us to identify the most vulnerable children and families who will benefit from Child Sponsorship.
World Vision only works within countries where we have our own offices so we can be sure that we can account for all the money that we receive and how it is used.

We have audited accounts that are publicly available at any time. As a charity, we're regulated by the Charities Commission – a legal body, which oversees all UK charities and their activities.

We are a not-for-profit organisation, and we know that the continued support we receive is dependent on our efficient use of supporters’ money. Our Annual Report is available here.
The donation you give doesn't go directly to your sponsored child or family. That's because experience has taught us it’s more effective to use the money on projects that will benefit your sponsored child’s community as a whole, while still improving the well-being of the child you sponsor.