Sponsor a Child - which charity is best?

sarah_elton · 27 February 2008 at 12:33PM

Not really money saving as I want to give some away.

I'm looking at the various charities that do 'sponsor a child'.

Does anyone know which is best, or have any tips?

I'm looking at the amount of money that actually gets to the area in need (varies from 75-85p in each pound so far - smaller charities it seems to be more so I guess the big ones aren't run so efficiently).

Also, the ones that are Christian charities, are they forcing Christianity on the kids? I know a lot of poor areas are Christian anyway, but I'm not religious myself and I don't agree with views being imposed on anyone in that way.

I also know that regular donations to charities which then help lots of kids may be 'better', but it's a selfish thing of liking the idea of one individual beign helped. It's easier to picture.

moneypooh · 27 February 2008 at 1:49PM

try actionaid as a start: www.actionaid.org

This one does work well. :T

novelli · 27 February 2008 at 2:24PM

Do you specifically want it to be children in the UK or are u looking at developing countries as well??

ahai1 · 27 February 2008 at 4:06PM

I have heard it is not cost effective as for every child information will have to be provided plus you have to be contacted to be told what is going on which costs some money.

GiveItBack · 27 February 2008 at 5:35PM

It's quite natural to want to see the help going to one person, but do consider that there are natural costs involved in keeping donors up to date with how things are going.

Smaller charities sometimes need less stringent accounting and governance which keeps costs down. Statistically, the charities with the lowest costs as a percentage are the upper middle sized ones. Small ones still need to pay for things, so their costs are a big chunk of their overall spending, big giant ones spend a little more maintaining systems, keeping their donors involved and looking to long term funding.

Regular donations by direct debit / deed of covenant are best, keeps the charities costs down, and gives them regular income. Gift Aid it if you're eligible too.

sarah_elton · 28 February 2008 at 11:26AM

Thanks for the info, and I will bear in mind the costs associated with sending info back to sponsors etc...

I'd seen Action Aid's website and was quite impressed.

I was looking specifically at developing countries, but am open to anything really.

One that I did like was SOS Children's Villages:

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/children-charity.htm

They run children's villages for orphaned kids (AIDS, war, poverty etc). With regular donations you can opt to sponsor a child, or a village (obviously each village has many sponsors). You get an annual update about the village, including some photos etc. That to me seemed like a nice compromise - it's not going to be too onerous or costly to produce an annual update, and from the site it looks like they're doing good work.

Does anyone know anything more about them?

novelli · 28 February 2008 at 7:45PM

Try https://www.childrenwalkingtall.com
I can vouch for them and know that small amounts really can make a huge difference to these children

ahai1 · 28 February 2008 at 11:33PM

Christian Aid does not do sponsorships as they believe they are a waste of money.

shamac · 29 February 2008 at 10:27PM

We sponser with PLAN as they are a secular charity and don't shove any religion down anyones throat! They work in many third world countries and we sponser a little boy in Zimbabwe-we get lovely letters from him and my children love reading the update we get about his village and family each year. Never read anything bad about them and we did lots of research-would recommend. Good luck!:T

Rosieoli · 29 February 2008 at 10:30PM

Another vote for plan here! We sponsered a little boy in Tansania from the age of 3 to age 10. I've had a change in circumstances and have had to give it up but would recommend them.

Rosie

oldtoolie · 2 March 2008 at 12:41PM

It is important to recognise that responsible child sponsorship should be done in the context of programmes benefiting the whole community where the children live. Imagine the resentment, if you had six children and your rich uncle in America only sent Christmas presents to one of them.

Other people benefit as well from child sponsorship. I had a girlfriend in Nicaragua in the 1980's who worked in an office with about 20 translators doing the letters for child sponsors.

Sponsor a Child - which charity is best?

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