Shaun Groves
In college I worked for a children’s ministry that promised more than it actually delivered. When I found out? I quit.
I quit on a job. I quit on trust.
I swore I’d never be fooled again.
Many years later, working as a recording artist, Compassion International asked me to go on a trip with them. They wanted me to tell my audiences about their ministry to children and ask my fans to become child sponsors. And I said no.
Definitely not. Never again.
But after four years of their nagging invitations, just to make them stop, I agreed to take that trip after all. “Just give us a chance.”
I flew to El Salvador a skeptic. Before I gave my influence and money to Compassion – before I could trust – I needed answers.
Do you have questions about Compassion? You should. Before you give to any child sponsorship organization here are the…
#1 How do you define “beneficiary?”
If I were to pass away my wife and kids would receive money from an insurance company. The company calls them beneficiaries because they receive the benefits from my policy.
The people who receive the benefits of a charity’s hard work are also called beneficiaries. But not all child sponsorship organizations define “beneficiary” the same way.
One child sponsorship organization defines “beneficiary” as a person spotted in the community at least once every 90 days by a charity worker.
At the other end of the spectrum, Compassion International defines a beneficiary as a child who receives cognitive, physical, social, emotional and spiritual assistance at a Compassion partner church (aka “center”) for a minimum of four to seven hours every week, depending upon the child’s age.
#2 What benefits can you guarantee my sponsored child will receive?
Every child sponsorship organization provides more for some children than for others in their care. One child needs to meet with a psychologist. Another needs surgery. Yet another has a learning disability requiring a specialist. But every child is guaranteed certain benefits from being part of a child sponsorship program.
One child sponsorship organization guarantees every child in their program will receive letters if their sponsor writes them. There is no other guaranteed benefit to a sponsored child in that organization’s program.
Compassion International guarantees that every one of its 1.4 million sponsored children around the world receive proper nutrition, free education, free healthcare and will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not detailed enough? Here are just some of the many specific benefits every child in Compassion’s program is guaranteed to receive:
- Christmas gift
- birthday celebration
- shoes
- school uniform (if required) and supplies
- annual medical checkup
- hot meals at their Compassion center
- glasses, medicine, surgery when needed
- bible
- toothbrush and toothpaste
- clean water
- malaria net when needed
#3 What are the proven results of your sponsorship program?
More than $3 billion are given to child sponsorship organizations every year, yet until recently no one had proven that any of them were making a difference. Dr. Bruce Wydick, professor of economics at the University of San Francisco, changed that recently with the publication of his groundbreaking research.
Dr. Wydick asked several prominent child sponsorship organizations to participate in a longterm study that would measure the effectiveness of their programs. Only Compassion International said yes.
10,144 formerly sponsored children from Compassion’s programs in Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, the Philippines and Uganda participated in the study that sought to document the impact of child sponsorship on education level, type of employment and status in their communities. Dr. Wydick’s study proved that, on average, children sponsored through Compassion International were…
and…
and…
…than their unsponsored peers. (Learn more about Wydick’s findings here.)
When I Asked Questions…
I got answers. And the anger melted, skepticism gave way to passion. I was convinced that Compassion International effectively releases children from poverty. So convinced that I canceled the cable and made a whole host of other lifestyle changes so that more children could have their lives changed by Compassion’s ministry. So convinced that I not only began asking my audiences to sponsor children but I started taking bloggers overseas to see Compassion’s ministry, to be convinced and ask their readers to sponsor children.
You’re right to have questions. Have my answers satisfied? Are you convinced?
Jennifer says:
Thank you for your Tweet and Pin…I saw your tweet through a friend’s re-tweet. The Christian community is so large, and it does create questions. Where will my money really go and who should I give to? It is wonderful that you shared questions and answers here. I like data! Wonderful that Dr. Wydick did a study to show the long term effects. Blessings to you and all who consider to share love, time, and money in the name in of Jesus.
Fran says:
Thank you for sharing the heart of the people behind Compassion. Edie’s post have certainly tugged at my own heart and made me take a closer look at what I can do for these children. The information that you shared gives me comfort in knowing that my small contribution will make a difference in the life of a child and that they will know the love God has for them!
keyla says:
Woa!!!!! I’m so happy and proud of the work compassion is doing, and that someone is giving testimony of that is wonderful! thanks GOD for your mercy, support and love to those little kids!
Paula says:
One question? How many children in one family can be sponsored? I guess, my concern is if only one child is sponsored how does that make the other children in the family feel. I wish that Compassion would let my family sponsor a whole family.
Shaun Groves says:
It depends upon the country, Paula. Here in Nicaragua two children per household may be sponsored.
The study I linked to shows that there is benefit to siblings who are not sponsored. I wish every child could be sponsored too! But it is more effective to connect Compassion’s ministry to as many families as possible – lightening the load for each family enough that mom and dad (not Compassion) can afford to care for the whole family.
I wrote about this here on my last trip too. Hope it helps.
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
Wonderful and informative post, Shaun! This is definitely one I’ll be sharing in the future!
I am sorry I couldn’t join you all on this trip to NI but I am REALLY hoping I can join the Fall trip!
Yvonne says:
That study has some amazing information that I hope many people will read, even if they are not skeptics! 🙂 The other thing I just love about being a volunteer advocate with Compassion is the wonderful people that we get to work with that share our passion for wanting to make a difference for these kids.
Dorina Gilmore says:
Thanks for sharing this, Shaun. I’ve been so encouraged by reading on that study & we have seen similar results through our child sponsorship program in Haiti as well. Thank you for being an advocate!
Michael says:
Thank you for sharing this, Shaun!
I’ve been a sponsor and Volunteer Advocate since 2008 and it has been one of the most amazing choices I’ve ever made. And I love hearing about the way Compassion has impacted the lives of other believers who sponsor.
I’d also like to share a story I heard from a graduate of a one of Compassions projects in Kenya. Her name was Nellie and she was here in the states to complete her college degree and to speak at the Creation Festival on Compassion’s behalf. She told my wife and I that at her project the children were given 3 meals a day because it was a Saturday and Sunday program only. She told us that at lunch time she would fill her plate to overflowing so she could take it to the gate where she would share it with her brothers and sisters.
I guess that could be considered another way in which sponsoring one child in a family benefits the whole family.
God bless you for what you’re doing!
Matthew says:
Hi Shaun, I know of a lot of sponsorship programs, each with very different views as to how to best use the money to impact the life of a child. What is compassion international’s stance on this? Do they give the money directly to the child, or does it go into a pot to benefit the entire community? Or a mixture of both?
Shaun Groves says:
Compassion doesn’t give money directly to children or their families. Compassion is a holistic child development organization – meeting the basic needs of children by partnering with a church in the child’s community.
The sponsorship dollars go to meet the child’s need for education (providing tutoring, paying for uniforms and school fees, etc), proper nutrition (this can supplemental food, farming implements, providing hot meals at the church partner), clean water, free health care, and Christian spiritual development (the opportunity to follow Jesus).
By focussing on children (who then grow up to be mature, educated, employed, and often Christian) communities are transformed in time.
Jo says:
Are you saying that Compassion is the only charity whereby their sponsorship program is effective?
Why not just do an ad about the benefits of Compassion as opposed to cristising others to make Compassion look good.
There are lots of charities that deserve support, why not allow the public to make their own informed choices as to which charity they would like to support.
Shaun Groves says:
No. That’s not what I’m saying.
I wrote a bit about why it’s important to research, compare and contrast organizations here:
http://shaungroves.com/2013/11/dont-just-do-something-how-to-research-a-charity-and-why-it-matters/
Hope that helps.
HART says:
Great blog post! Thank you for sharing! We offer a child sponsorship program for children in Eastern Europe and we encourage our sponsors to be educated and try our best to answer all their questions. We love helping our donors connect to their children and see the true results their sponsorship has not only on a developmental level, but as well we have seen many incredible friendships and prayer partnership develop! Great work. Please visit http://www.hart.ca for more information if you are interested!