Sponsor a Child - which charity is best?

littlestar1981 · 2 March 2008 at 12:47PM

Hi

If you're looking at smaller charities, how about this one in Tanzania:

www.foreverangels.org

I am going out there in October for 6 weeks as a volunteer, and I'm trying to get people to sponsor the children.

£8 a month would cover a child's medical expenses including childhood immunisations.
£15 a month would feed a child for one month.
£35 a month would pay a nurse's salary to care for the children.
£75 a month would cover the cost of total care for one child for a month

However, any amount you give, no matter how small, would be a fantastic help.

Just remember in most cases whilst you are sponsoring a particular child, the money won't go directly to that child but to the care of all the children for that charity (in the above case there are only about 35 children anyway)

scuzz · 2 March 2008 at 1:36PM

This is a charity which is run near where I live

www.thequickentrust.com

It's run by a married couple, Geoff and Geraldine Booker. They do great work out in the Ugandan village of Kabubbu. I've done a lot with them through my work. They've put over 1000 children through school and have just build a kitchen to give hundreds of children a porridge breakfast before school. They would otherwise go hungry till dinner.

mw1 · 12 March 2008 at 6:18PM

SOS Children's Villages (non denominational organisation) makes sure 100% of sponsorship goes to support the children sponsored. They are working with children from a variety of backgrounds (AIDS orphans, street children, child soldiers and were heavily involved in Pakistan earthquake relief as well as tsunami. As well as the children's villages over one million children and adults are helped in the community.

More details about their sponsorship can be found here
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/

Hope that helps.

scrooge678 · 19 March 2008 at 6:27PM

Oldtoolie has a very good point - I wouldn't give to a charity that only helped one child in a community. It must be very divisive. I would only give where the money supports community projects. If individual children want to keep in touch with sponsors then fine, but this should still be possible.

sebby2007 · 20 March 2008 at 10:07AM

Hiya

There is a list of childrens charities here:

http://www.mycharitypage.com/charities.php

Hope thats useful

tigwell · 25 March 2008 at 10:38AM

Hello, i too am of the opinion that the sponsorship money does not all go to the child. I know in some shape or form this is true even if you just make a donation to a charity, these are costs for various things. All charities (well major ones definalty) have to publish their accounts annually, so even though it may be a boring job you would have the option to look to see which charity gives the most to the cause and the less to the admin.side of things. Good luck!

GiveItBack · 25 March 2008 at 11:17AM

Just to add to Tigwell, you can find the charities accouns at the charity commission website, but PLEASE PLEASE remember that admin costs are not a bad thing.

If there's no money spent on 'admin', then how do they recruit the staff to go abroad to assess the needs fo the kids,/ find the kids that need help? Or pay the salaries of these staff? or deal with their national insurance and payroll work? or get their work visas arranged, deal with requests, answer your questions or publish their annual accounts, to name but a few.

if a charity has no admin costs then how on earth can it keep running?

novelli · 25 March 2008 at 4:09PM

many of the childrens charities in the developing countries depend largly on volunteers, so staff wages are generally minimal.
If u go to the childrenwalkingtall website there is a needs section that details what u could donate your money for, such as bags of rice, medicines,fruit etc etc. This way u know where your money is going and know that its not being swallowed up in general costs.
Fresh fruit is taken to the children in the slums daily, so people could donate a small amount for a days fruit. just an example.
U could also donate money for the children to have a trip to the beach for the day, something they do not usually get to do and they absolutely love it, Children walking tall beach days are legendary!! enjoyed by volunteeers as much as the children!!:j

lav0 · 25 March 2008 at 7:53PM

Hello,
I myself run a child sponsorship scheme through Robin Hood Ministries. We are a small not for profit christian organisation, not only dealing in child sponsorship, but sponsorship of projects. please visit the website [Expired link removed by Forum Team]. Our child sponsorship costs £20.00 per month, 66p per day, but the whole of the 20.00 goes to the child at the project they are based in. We partner with small organisations based in romania, Tanzania, Nepal and India. They are christian organisations, but like us at RHM we "promote" our christianity through our works. however, if the people we work with want to know more of christianity, then the subject would be approached. We are there to raise awareness of poverty and help them become self sustainable.
I hope this has given you a flavour of our charity. We are small and operate with only a few paid staff and the rest are volunteers.
I hope to hear again from you
best Regards

GiveItBack · 26 March 2008 at 1:33AM

novelli wrote: »

many of the childrens charities in the developing countries depend largly on volunteers, so staff wages are generally minimal.

Hiya, thank for your post, just wondering where you found this information?

Sponsor a Child - which charity is best?

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