Child sponsorship is a type of fundraising in which a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ...

associates a donor sponsor with a particular child beneficiary. The sponsor receives updates from the child, typically including photos and translated letters, which help create the feeling of a personal relationship with the child. The donated funds are often not spent specifically on the sponsored child, but pooled with other contributions to fund a variety of education, health, security, infrastructure, or other projects in the child's community or country. One estimate is that over 9 million children are given over US $5 billion by child sponsorship programs. Other sources state the amount of child sponsorship funding is closer to US $3 billion per year.

History

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

was the first child sponsorship organization, beginning individual child sponsorship in 1920 to help children following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Children International Children International is a global nonprofit humanitarian organization that helps children break the cycle of poverty. It addresses children’s critical needs through early intervention and regular interaction in community centers. The goal is ...

began as a child sponsorship charity in 1936.

Plan International Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation which works in over 75 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. Its focus is on child protection, education, child par ...

(1937) and

ChildFund ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children's Fund, is a child-focused international development organization that provides assistance to children facing poverty and other challenges in 24 countries, including the United States. ChildFund's h ...

(1938) followed suit, as the concept grew in popularity. In response to the unmet needs of children during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Save the Children USA Save the Children Federation, Inc., commonly known as Save the Children USA, is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of children in the United States and around the world. Their headquarters is located in Fairfield, Connectic ...

launched a sponsorship program to benefit British war orphans in 1940.

Chalice International Chalice International is an international humanitarian aid organization. Chalice provides aid focusing on child and community development in developing countries such as Zambia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Bangladesh, under local dire ...

, since 1996, uses funds from child and elderly sponsorship to implement direct family funding in 15 countries. In 2007,

JAAGO Foundation The JAAGO Foundation (বাংলা: জাগো ফাউন্ডেশন) is a civil society organization established in April 2007, in Bangladesh. The Foundation work towards the betterment of people living below the poverty line. The JA ...

started a child sponsorship program locally in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Impact

A 2017 study found that "international child sponsorship increased monthly income by $13–17 over an untreated baseline of $75, principally from inducing higher future labor market participation. We find evidence for positive impacts on dwelling quality in adulthood and modest evidence of impacts on ownership of

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

durables In economics, a durable good or a hard good or consumer durable is a good that does not quickly wear out or, more specifically, one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use. Items like bricks could be consi ...

in adulthood, limited to increased ownership of mobile phones. Finally, our results also show modest effects of child sponsorship on childbearing in adulthood."

Criticisms

Critics have argued that child sponsorship could alienate the relatively privileged sponsored children from their peers and may perpetuate harmful stereotypes about third-world citizens being helpless. They also claim that child sponsorship causes cultural confusion and unrealistic aspirations on the part of the recipient, and that child sponsorship is expensive to administer. This latter problem has led some charities to offer information about a "typical" child to sponsors rather than one specifically supported by the sponsor. In some cases charities have been caught sending forged updates from deceased children. Concerning the organization

, the Effective altruism community generally opposes their child sponsorship as a type of donor illusion.

Givewell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentag ...

describes sponsorship thus: More generally, David Roodman says that child sponsorship creates "a tension between creating the psychological experience of connection that raised money and the realities of fighting poverty".

References

{{reflist

External links

The Rough Guide to a Better World
a publication which was partly UK government funded, reviewing some types of sponsorship, including arguments for and against (pp83f). Child welfare Philanthropy