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Sponsorship helps provide improved nutrition to children

Hungry and malnourished children are deprived of the opportunity to learn and grow. Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in many areas.

Through child sponsorship, World Vision encourages a diet that includes a variety of foods and sources of micronutrients.
Mothers receive training on how to grow backyard gardens and prepare nutritious meals.
A well-nourished child has a better immune system to fight disease, more energy to help around the home, and a sharper mind for learning in school.

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Sponsorship helps provide clean water to children and communities

Clean water helps promote cleanliness and health, lowering the overall risk of water-related diseases in a community.

Five million people die each year of water-related diseases such as Diarrhea and Cholera.
World Vision child sponsorship provides children and their families with access to safe water through well-drilling, pumps, and training in hygiene and sanitation.

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Sponsorship helps provide better health care opportunities for children

Each year almost ten million children die of preventable diseases before they reach their fifth birthday.

World Vision provides sponsored children with things like access to clinics, vaccinations, training in disease prevention, and other essential health care programs that ensure quality of life and save lives.

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Skills Training provides future opportunities for children

In addition to help with basic education, World Vision provides sponsored children in some communities with skills training so they can learn a vocation and earn a good living as adults.

Skills training can take many forms-depending on each child's circumstances, culture, and environment.
Sponsored children may learn:

• computer skills
• sewing
• handicrafts
• appliance repair
• how to start a business breeding small animals
• soap-making
• bicycle repair
• or any number of other trades that can help them achieve economic independence.

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How is the Money I Give Managed?

World Vision accounts for every dollar that's donated.

Of the funds given to World Vision in 2008, 82.1 per cent went directly into programs that help children, 11.9 per cent went to fundraising services and 6.0 per cent was allocated to administration.

Audits are conducted regularly by external firms to verify the accuracy of World Vision's financial reporting.

Download our Annual Report here.

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Can I communicate with my sponsored child?

World Vision strongly encourages you to write to your sponsored child. Children love to hear from their sponsors and often treasure the letters and photos that are sent.

Please note that while your letters may reach your sponsored child within a few weeks, the response time can be quite long (up to six months, in some cases) for some countries.

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Can I visit my sponsored child?

A visit to your sponsored child and their community is a rewarding way to see the benefits of your contributions, and it impacts both you and your sponsored child, providing memories for a lifetime to both.

In order to make the most of your visit, and to meet our child protection policies, all sponsors must contact World Vision at least three months before your intended departure date and before you make any travel arrangements.

To find out more about how you can visit your sponsored child and what's involved in the coordination of a visit, please contact a World Vision representative at 1-866-595-5550.

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How does World Vision work in communities?

World Vision helps transform entire communities through child sponsorship.

World Vision child sponsorship is a proven long-term solution to poverty. Your monthly pledge is combined with more than 350,000 other Canadian child sponsors. Pooling financial resources enables World Vision to maximize the productivity of every dollar.

Working together with local staff and community leaders helps create healthy environments and hopeful futures for children and their families with essentials like education, skills training, improved nutrition, agricultural assistance, safe water, and health care.

The long-term goal of each child sponsorship project is to empower a community to become self-sufficient. This transformation, from poverty to confidence and self reliance, usually takes 10 to 15 years.
At that time, with the goals of the project met, World Vision’s role within the community comes to an end.

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What do I get from World Vision?

Child sponsorship is an exciting journey of transformation—for the child you're helping and for you—especially if you use all the tools available to help you bond with your sponsored child.

One to two weeks after you sponsor a child, you'll receive a welcome package that includes your sponsored child's photo and personal information, as well as facts about his or her community and country.
If you sign up to pay for your sponsorship via credit card or automated bank withdrawal you'll also receive a magnet frame so you can display your sponsored child's photo on your refrigerator.

World Vision will keep you apprised of your sponsored child's progress with annual progress reports Six times a year, World Vision will send you greeting cards that you can sign and return for your sponsored child. Of course, your sponsored child will be thrilled to receive letters or photos from you anytime.

You'll also receive Childview, an informative magazine that will help you learn more about World Vision and how sponsors like you are making a difference for children, families, and communities worldwide.

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Sponsorship increases educational opportunities for children