Does all of my $32 go to my sponsored child every month?
A minimum of 80% goes toward meeting the physical, metal, social, economic, educational and spiritual needs of your sponsored child. That’s high by comparison. The actual percentage right now is 83.8.
Am I the only one sponsoring my child or does my money go into a fund or something that takes care of lots of kids? How’s that work?
Your money sponsors your child. Only your child.
How on earth does 80% of $32 make the difference you say it does? How? You can’t be shooting straight.
I am, I swear. A little goes a long way in the third world, you know? Consider this. I made a “family gift” to my sponsored child in El Salvador one time. A family gift isn’t something I had to do but I wanted to give that money for Compassion folks to use if there was a need not covered by my regular sponsor dollars. I just wanted to do more, something for the whole family, if they needed it. Anyway, you know what they did with my $20 gift? They put a while new roof on their house. A roof! For $20! I put a roof on my house for $4000. A little goes a long way.
So I’ve heard you say Compassion International works through local churches and pastors. Ok, well, what’s in it for them? Are they making some cash off the deal or what?
These people are the most generous folks I’ve ever met – they put me to shame. They give to Compassion and kids much more than they get. Compassion keeps it’s relief percentage (80% of your $32 a month) so high partly because Compassion doesn’t have to build buildings. The Compassion “projects” I talk about are church buildings – Sunday school classrooms, sanctuaries, etc. The church uses existing facilities to care for kids, and church members and other Christian locals to do most of the work along side Compassion staff – also local. These church members are trained in social work and child care and everything need to do their jobs with excellence. And they’re held VERY accountable by Cmpassion staff right there in their country. I guess, from what I’ve heard from pastors, what church get most out of the deal is growth. Numerical growth because as kids make commitments to Christ their families follow, and also who doesn’t want to check out a church that feeds and educates their kid? But the church pastors have also consistently told me working with Compassion grows their congregation spiritually. It puts the poor, the folks Jesus commanded us sacrifice for, at the core of their church. You show up for Sunday school and your classroom still has math problems on it from the fifth grade class that met there all week. That sort of exposure to the work of Compassion breeds compassion in the hearts of church attenders. It changes the church. But no, no pastor is getting rich off of Compassion. I’ve seen where a couple of them live so believe me they’re not milking Compassion for a condo and a Mercedes. This is a partnership between Compassion International, sponsors like you, and local churches – everybody pitches in.
Why work through churches? Why not work through corporations, institutions, government, somebody bigger and richer and better? Is this the best way to help kids in poverty?
Compassion International is not about helping kids in poverty. That’s what they do but not what they’re about. They’re about raising an impoverished into a mature, healthy, independent Christian adult. Meeting ALL of a child’s needs – inside and out – I believe is the best way to free children from poverty forever. That’s the goal. Now, that’s important to understand because it is the foundation that affects every other decision Compassion makes, everything about how they operate. For instance, governments and institutions and whatnot can do a great deal to feed and clothe kids. They can educate kids. They can teach nutrition and could even teach parents a trade. But they can’t cure the biggest poverty a kid can know: spiritual poverty. Only Christ has the cure for that. Only Christ offers that kind of wealth and hope. So Compassion works through the church. And besides, while its great when anyone helps folks in need, Jesus didn’t command anyone to help these kids in the third world except the Church. that’s you, me and the local congregation in Uganda. It’s our job, not Uncle Sam’s.
Got more questions? Shoot ‘em to me at [email protected] and I’ll get back to you.
Thanks again for reading about, and praying and thinking through the work of Compassion International. Did these answers relieve your reservations about getting involved at all? If so, please go sponsor a child today.
Tiffany says:
Shaun, First off – thank you for your words. I am now a converted reader of your site. I have been personally burdened over the last 3 months about the extreme poverty in our world and about my personal need to acquire “stuff”. By reading about compassion, I have found a way to fight poverty and will hopefully get closer to a simple life, not cluttered with things of this world. Keep fighting the good fight. Oh, have you ever taught a sunday school class at the people’s church. Because if you have, i’m pretty sure I was in it.
Jill says:
I am so excited to have found out about the trip to Uganda.
My husband & I have been praying over this, trying to figure out how to put it into our budget, when we finally realized how silly our budget really is. Cable? Cell phones? Internet? Fun money? Please. How ridiculous we are!
We are so blessed, and God calls us to bless others with what He has blessed us with.
We finally did it. We are now sponsoring our own little girl in Uganda and I am so excited to add her picture on our wall so we can remember to pray for her and her family daily.
Thanks for doing this trip.
God bless
Grovesfan says:
Thank you Shaun. As an Child Advocate for Compassion, I’ve gotten lots of information about how the programs work with churches, etc. To get it directly from the perspective of someone who’s there’s right now, living out this mission, is nothing short of incredible. Thanks for spreading the passion. I can’t wait to hear more.
Beth
chilihead says:
Thank you for spelling this out. I admit that I have been skeptical of sending money to sponsor a child in the past (not necessarily via Compassion, just in general). So many so-called charities simply use the money for admin costs.
I’m a friend of Shannon’s and I’ve been following everyone’s blogs closely since she left on Sunday. I can plainly see the impact Compassion has and I’m grateful for it. Y’all are really doing a wonderful job. Keep it up.
hawksnst says:
Hi Shaun and Fellow Bloggers,
I’m a professional fundraiser for another Christian organization totally unrelated to Compassion International. I can tell anyone who might be interested that the percent of each donation that gets to kids through Compassion is astounding. You would be amazed at how few organizations can get 80 cents of every dollar right to the need. I am blown away by the integrity and good stewardship of Compassion. These stories ‘on location’ are amazing too.
Thank you so much for sharing and for rekindling my own flame for what you guys do. I’m going to go write to my sponsored kids right now. Blessings on the rest of your time there. Bob and I are praying for you!
Megan