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What is sponsorship?

ChildFund Australia works in developing countries to provide children, their families and communities with lasting, practical support. For just over $1 a day, your sponsorship provides children in great need with nutrition, healthcare, clean water, education and protection.

Becoming a sponsor with ChildFund Australia gives children the chance to grow up with real prospects for the future.

How does sponsorship work?

When you choose to be a child sponsor, you create a special bond with a child from another country who is in great need. You will make a huge difference to a child's future by providing their basic needs, such as nutritious food, safe water and health care, as well as the opportunity to receive an education, which is so vital in breaking the poverty cycle.

Sponsored children thrive in the knowledge that their sponsor really cares about them and their future, which improves their self-confidence and self-esteem. Letters, photos and gifts from their sponsor quickly become treasured possessions.

You'll find that sponsorship is incredibly rewarding for you too. Through letters and reports, you can see the progress of your sponsored child and their community over the years, and know that you have made a massive difference to a child's life and future.

What happens to my sponsor money?

When you sponsor a child, the funds are used to provide essential services that benefit all children in your sponsored child's community. In the past, this wasn't the case - individual children only received the benefits of sponsorship and this created inequality within families and communities. Now sponsorship funds are added together in order to achieve real outcomes for communities.

Combining sponsorship funds means large scale projects can be undertaken by ChildFund which will benefit your sponsored child, as well as other children in the community. These include the installation of water systems, comprehensive immunisation programs, nutrition and livelihood initiatives, the construction of school facilities and equipping healthcare centres.

Today, the pooling of sponsorship funds prevents preferential treatment and opportunities for only a number of children in a community - we firmly believe all children should receive an education, clean water, healthcare and food. For example, if a child is sponsored, their brothers and sisters will also receive healthcare, education and access to safe water.

How are children selected for sponsorship?

The ChildFund sponsorship program enables local agencies and Parent's Committees to select the children and families most in need of assistance. ChildFund National Offices, staffed with highly qualified local people, regularly evaluate all programs, double check family circumstances and offer guidance and training to local program staff in the communities.

ChildFund regularly conducts needs assessments of different communities in the countries where we work. Where ChildFund identifies a community in need of our assistance, all children from that community are included within the sponsorship program. ChildFund's work is aimed at supporting communities, rather than individuals, so every single child within that region will benefit.