An Inside Look: Correspondence at Compassion
Since implementing the new online letter writing tool, we receive about 7,000 web letters each day compared to the 1,000 or so we received daily before the tool was implemented.
Ideas for writing your sponsored child are a very popular topic on the Compassion blog, OurCompassion, on Facebook…pretty much everywhere.
Can I Send This Gift to My Sponsored Child?
Our correspondence team receives many gifts from sponsors for their sponsored children that can’t be sent to our country offices. What items can be sent to your sponsored child through the mail?
Changes to Our Letter-Writing Process
To help you feel more closely connected with your child, we’re implementing four changes to our correspondence process in the next year.
Who Do You Say We Are?
Every decision we make is based on our “distinctives” — child focused, church based, Christ centered and committed to integrity. But do we actually live up to this?
Thankful for Summer
I can’t help but long for summer. I can’t wait for long drives with the windows down, cookouts with friends at a local park, and nice refreshing afternoons spent in a pool.
National Day of Prayer 2011
Today is the National Day of Prayer in the U.S. How has the power of prayer changed your life?
A person can live four weeks without food, but only three days, depending on the circumstances without water. Lack of water can cause short-term memory loss, fatigue, and trouble learning. Your body will not function without water.
How Do You Stay Passionate About Letter Writing?
I’m passionate about children and fighting injustice. So why have eight months passed since the last time I wrote to my three little ones?
Expressing Need While Maintaining Dignity
How should we express the urgent needs of the children in our programs while maintaining their dignity?
Not Guilty: Using Your Blessings for Good
No, it’s not fair that I was born in America instead of Africa. It’s not fair that I enjoy abundance while billions endure extreme poverty. But gosh dog it, I will not feel guilty for it. Moving forward, I resolve that it will empower me to work harder on behalf of those I care for…
Can My Sponsored Child Visit Me?
Child protection is something we take very seriously. We know that 99 percent of you would smother your sponsored child with love, prayer and encouragement. Regrettably, it’s the few bad apples we have to be careful about. Allowing a sponsored child to travel to his or her sponsor’s home increases the risk of abuse or…
World AIDS Day: Many Lies, but One Truth
We can easily educate ourselves with books, the Internet, visits to the doctor, etc. However, these resources aren’t as readily available to those in the developing world surviving on less than $1.25 a day. The truth about HIV is that it’s a preventable and treatable disease.
We depend on the church in your sponsored child’s community to carry out our programs. With your help, we provide the church with finances, guidance and accountability in order to make their program a success.
Our goal is to assist as many children and families as possible. In order to do this, we allow three children per family to be enrolled in our program.
However, the child development center staff is able to change that allowance to one or two children — based on the community’s needs. Particularly in Africa, one…
When a Child Leaves Our Sponsorship Program
In the contact center we’re responsible for processing the paperwork for every child that leaves our program — “departs” in Compassion lingo. On average, we deal with about 1,500 to 3,000 departures a week.
A Big-picture Perspective
Becky is going through a difficult time right now. Her husband has survived cancer twice, but the doctors have found another spot on his lung. Scared that the cancer has returned, she described her feelings to me.
“I remember walking around the office and thinking ‘Does anyone know that my world has collapsed today? Does anyone…
How Young Is Too Young to Sponsor a Child?
Compassion has sponsorship booths at hundreds of events across the country, throughout the year. Some of those booths are at events specifically for teens. Working in the contact center, I sometimes speak with parents whose teen sponsored a child at one of these events.
The parents are often concerned that their teen will not be…
When you set up a regularly occurring and automatic direct payment plan (e.g., Automated Clearing House (ACH), bill pay or credit/debit card), you save us at least $1 on each transaction. It’s a significant amount when you consider that many of the children’s families we serve survive on less than $1 a day.
You have a few different options for sending a monetary gift. Each year, you can send $10 to $50 as a birthday gift, $10 to $50 as a general gift, and $25 to $1,000 as a family gift. You also have the option of donating any amount, we typically suggest $20, to the Christmas Gift…
I’ve taken many calls from sponsors about their children’s pictures. “Why is my child wearing such nice clothing?” “Why is my child not smiling?” “My child’s newest picture doesn’t look like my child.Why?”
Picture this: You’re in El Salvador in the middle of summer visiting a newly opened child development center. There is a long line…
Accountability. This word has so much meaning. In this fast paced and cynical world, many people have lost trust in nonprofits. It’s actually very sad, but I understand why.
How many times have you heard about the misuse of funds hindering an organization’s effectiveness, or greed compromising decision-making and values? Regrettably, I think we all…
How Long Does My Sponsorship Last?
Although age is a determining factor in a child’s completion, we do not finalize a completion just for that reason. Our completion guidelines include consideration of our goals for each individual child and the goals each child has personally set.
Questions about letter writing are the most common ones I hear in the contact center. Many sponsors call or write us because they are frustrated with the quality of the letters they receive from their sponsored children.
A few days ago, I spoke with Judy because she was upset that her sponsored child, Carlos, doesn’t…
Children are welcomed into our programs regardless of their faith. Although, we are unapologetically Christian and every child development center is connected to a Christian church or ministry.
That’s one of the things that makes us distinct. We’re church based.
While we provide the children and their families the opportunity to see living faith in action,…
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