Founded in 1952, Compassion is a leading Christian children’s charity.
Our approach to fighting poverty is highly focused and personal. You’ll be connected to and known by an individual child or children as their only sponsors. Through prayers and messages of encouragement, sponsors play a vital role in building the confidence of their sponsored child and affirming their worth in Christ.
Today, Compassion partners with more than 8,000 churches in 25 countries to deliver our proven child development programme to more than 2 million infants, children and youth. Around the world, children, families and entire communities are being empowered to overcome poverty and thrive both now and into the future.
Jesus is at the heart of what we do. Our programmes show God’s love to children born into poverty. Whilst Christ’s love motivates us, we help children and families from all backgrounds, regardless of belief.
We believe that the Church is the hope of the world. We run our programmes in exclusive partnership with more than 8,000 local churches, across 25 countries, because they know their communities inside out.
We intentionally focus on caring for children who are most vulnerable to the devastating effects of poverty. We support children in every area of their lives, tackling the root causes of poverty that hold them back.
Worldwide, 356 million children live in poverty*. Poverty robs children of their basic rights to learn, play and grow. It’s unacceptable.
Every child born into poverty faces a unique combination of challenges. That’s why our programme doesn’t just care for one area of a child’s life, giving them food or education in isolation, for example. Instead, our holistic child development programme empowers a child to overcome poverty in every area of their lives. We believe caring for a child’s mind, body, heart and spirit is the most effective way to release them from poverty, for good!
Holistic child development means we begin supporting a child in poverty, in some cases, when the child is still in the womb, and it means we go all the way through young adulthood with the child.
Our holistic child development model is tailored to a child’s age, gender, health, culture and family situation. Because we work through the local church, it’s also contextualized to fit the needs of the children in each community.
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Compassion has been a leader in Christian child development since 1952. Everything we do is focused on helping children achieve their God-given potential.
Independent research studies have shown that Compassion children have higher levels of happiness and self-efficacy. Sponsored children are also more likely than their unsponsored peers to:
A minimum of 80% is used to directly benefit children in poverty
We’re committed to handling the finances entrusted to us with the utmost integrity. Your donations are used wisely and strategically, and always for the greatest benefit of children in poverty.
See exactly where your money goes ›Read more about the history of Compassion and what drives our work in our blog.