Sponsors travel far and wide to visit their sponsored children and see how we work in the field. For many, a visit to their sponsored child’s country is simply not an option. Most likely, it’s because of health or financial limitations.

I would LOVE to go and meet all three of my sponsored children, but I definitely don’t have the thousands of dollars it would cost my husband and I to do so. So why can’t my sponsored children come visit me in Colorado?

Even if the child’s parents allowed them to travel outside of the country (many children have never left their communities), there are many logistics that would make this trip difficult.

A sponsor with her sponsored child

Think about it – arranging the child’s visa and departure requirements, finding a Compassion representative to accompany the child, accommodations, translation issues, and most important – protecting the child from unsafe situations.

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 exploitation dramatically – a risk we cannot take.

Notice that I said this would be difficult – not impossible. Yes, I admit it. It’s possible. But that doesn’t mean we can allow it.

Our purpose is to holistically develop children through child sponsorship. Bottom line, it’s all about the children and what is best for them.

Yes, a trip to the U.S. or wherever you live may seem like a great cultural experience for your sponsored child, but can you imagine how scary that might be for a child who has never left his or her community? Talk about culture shock.

I don’t like the thought of my sponsored children visiting me. I remember how horrified I was at the depth of poverty I witnessed while visiting Zambia a few years ago. The guilt I felt upon returning to my warm home and fully stocked kitchen was debilitating for several days.

Although it would be fun to show my sponsored children the States, I really don’t want them to see my house, my car or my city. I’ve seen pictures of where they live. I know their circumstances. At the core of me, I don’t want them to see how I’m living. Why you ask? I’m ashamed of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very average according to America’s standards. However, a much different picture is painted according to their standards.

But that’s just me. Everyone’s struggles are different, and this is one of my many.

So no, your sponsored child will not be able to visit you – and maybe you won’t be able to visit him or her. But that’s okay. The words of encouragement you speak in your letters mean everything.

Don’t believe me? Listen for yourself.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

You started sponsoring little Jessica three years ago. You picked her because of her mischievous grin and her pigtails. You’ve been writing letters back and forth and are slowly starting to feel like you’re getting a glimpse into her world and what her daily life is like. You’re praying for her, and you find you’ve grown quite attached.

Then you find out that her child development center has closed, and suddenly this relationship you’ve begun to build comes to an abrupt end.

Naturally, you want more information, but are left with the little that you got through the last communication.

We partner with more than 5,000 churches worldwide to implement our sponsorship program. And last year, 95 centers closed, about 1.7 percent of the centers open at the time.

The number of child development centers that close each year varies. They close for a variety of reasons, and each case is different.

• A center might close because of unresolved financial integrity issues.
• A center might close because the church partner is having difficulty maintaining the staff and volunteers needed to successfully implement the program and no longer wants to continue the program.
• A center might close because the church leadership and the center’s staff have relationship conflicts.
• Or, on the positive side, a center may close because the church partner no longer needs assistance from Compassion.

If in the future the church would like to engage in another partnership with us, they can, but they would need to follow the process of opening a new center at their church.

The Partnership Facilitator (PF), the direct link between our Country Office and our centers, is the person who visits the centers to ensure they are running properly.

If the PF encounters problems at a particular center, he works with the center staff and the Country Office to resolve the issues. He will visit the center to work on development plans to help resolve the issues. He will meet with the pastor and the leadership of the church.

If necessary, the Country Director will meet with the pastor or even with the president of the church’s denomination.

Sometimes, however, the issues may persist, in which case the center will be put on suspension. In some cases, if the problems remain unresolved, the situation may end with the closure of the center.

However, not all closures follow this process. Sometimes a church partner will decide to end our partnership without going through the suspension process, or vice versa, depending on what the circumstances are in that particular case.

If a center is closed, the Country Office fills out the appropriate forms and sends them to the Global Ministry Center in Colorado as soon as possible. The closure is processed within seven days and is communicated to the appropriate Global Partners so they can share the news with you.

The Country Office also tries to transfer as many sponsored children as they can to another nearby center. However, if this is not possible, the children are “departed” from the program.

It is never easy to hear that a little one you have been praying and caring for is no longer part of our program. But know that we do all that we can to ensure that not only are our programs implemented with the utmost integrity, but also to resolve issues within our centers whenever possible, and ultimately, to transfer children to nearby centers when necessary.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Letters are not just pieces of paper. They carry a connection – a relationship – and love from sponsors to registered children. Letters are powerful tools. The prayers, encouragement and affection they contain can change a life. But a lot of work has to occur to get the letters on their way.

Every week the Thailand country office receives approximately 1,000 letters from sponsors. Seven Sponsor and Donor Services (SDS) staff members check in the letters, cards and photos. Then, they send the letters to be translated by contracted translators.

Most of the translators have full-time jobs, such as working as teachers or office employees, while some are retired. There are 20 translators who translate from English to Thai.

The selection criteria for translators in the Thailand office is that translators have to be Christian, attend church regularly, have English skills and have a commitment to serve the Lord in ministry. They must also pass a skill test.

Potential translators receive four letters to translate from English into Thai and Thai into English. When they finish translating the letters, a staff member proofreads the letters, checking meaning accuracy, grammar and vocabulary.

After the translators pass the test, they have an orientation introducing them to our ministry and helping them understand our technical terms.

Generally, each translator receives at least 50 letters and the translators have seven days to finish the work. The translators are not only translating the letters, but also checking on the gifts mentioned in the letters.

The translators write on the cover sheet what the gifts are, and how many. They also write down the questions you ask to ensure that the children will not miss any questions when they reply.

Once the translated letters arrive in the office, staff members randomly check letter quality by each translator. The staff then sort letters by child development center number once a month by scanning the letters into a computer data system. Then thousands of letters are ready to be sent to the children all over Thailand.

In Thailand, when the letters are in the hands of your children, they have 20 days to write back telling about their lives, school or what they learn at the center. Some children draw or paint pictures on the backs of the letters.

Then these letters are sent from the centers to the office. At this stage, 40 translators jump into the process of translating from Thai to English.

“The translation process is very important. Translators are the persons who are in the middle between child and sponsor,” explains Ampika Wongkaew, SDS Supervisor.

Chuwit Wutthikarn is a distinguished translator. He was a vice dean and professor at Payap University in Chiang Mai. He began to serve God with Compassion in 2006 after he retired, and now he is 70 years old. Chuwit receives only 30 letters per week but every letter is filled with quality.

“I take night time to translate, and I can do seven or eight letters. I spend at least 30 minutes to translate one letter. Every letter I write by hand because I think handwriting is more valuable and it creates a human touch between sponsors and children.

“Translating for me is not just a translation. I see myself as a matchmaker who will make both sponsors and children love each other.”

Chuwit spends hours searching for difficult words, such as medical, traditional or cultural terms. He even makes phone calls to specialists for advice. For cultural differences, it is a challenge for Chuwit to find the words that best explain the meaning in English. He wants to ensure that sponsors who live across the world understand the Thai context correctly.

On the last day before Chuwit brings letters back to the office, he reads through the translations at least five or six times. He will do everything to ensure that the translated letters carry the meaning and feeling the children want to express to their sponsors.

“My concern about child letters is I don’t understand what the children meant to say. They write confused sentences.”

Warunee Klinsukon is another translator who faces the same problem.

“There are some letters where the child’s handwriting is difficult to read. Also there are some words I cannot find in the dictionary. I have to take hours to find the closest meaning in various sources.”

Warunee was a former Compassion staff member who worked in Sponsor and Donor Services, and now she is a freelancer. She is in her 30s and has been helping translate with Compassion for six years. She translates 60 to 70 letters each week and uses both handwriting and typing. She spends 30 minutes for writing and 15 minutes for typing, but printing out the letters takes more time.

She has to be careful before printing them, making sure that the letters are in the same order as she set the translation on her computer. Another concern is page setting. The printer must not print over the child’s handwriting, and she has to make sure that the translation is in the provided box.

“I haven’t thought about stopping translating letters. There is a time I am tired, but I still have fun with the letters. I often see myself becoming emotional while reading and translating child letters. They bring a smile on my face and sometimes I am sad and even cry.

“A letter is a relationship between child, sponsor, translator, Compassion and God. God is the one who makes children get sponsored and have a chance to write letters to sponsors. I am happy to be a part of this ministry.”

The major errors that are found in translation are incorrect gender pronouns, printing wrong letters caused by technical problems, interpreting wrong meanings or not translating word by word, but shortening some messages, which translators think seem less important.

When the translators return the translated letters back to the office, staff check the quality of the translation and give feedback to translators for future improvement on translation.

Every Friday afternoon, about 2,500 letters travel to Compassion’s Global Ministry Center in Colorado, on their way to the mail boxes of Compassion sponsors.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I recently spoke with a sponsor about gift giving. I explained that he could send a monetary gift for his child, and one of the program staff would take his child to the market and help them purchase what they would like.

The sponsor replied, “So you actually have staff in her community? Someone close by that can take her to the market?”

You may laugh, but this is a common question. Our purpose and mission may be well understood (to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name), but new and veteran sponsors alike have trouble understanding what our program looks like once implemented in a community.

When your sponsored child attends the child development center, or CDC, he or she is actually visiting a local church with whom we have partnered. This partnership is what sets us apart from other sponsorship organizations. Our desire is to support the church to complete its God-given mission (Matthew 16:18). We believe that this partnership is a strategic catalyst for community change – starting with changing one child’s life.

We depend on the church in your sponsored child’s community to carry out our program. We, with the help of sponsors and donors, provide them with finances, guidance and accountability in order to make the program a success. According to the needs in their community, church leaders establish guidelines for what they will provide to the children registered at their center.

These guidelines are established according to our standards of holistic child development, individual child attention, use of a national or Compassion-approved curriculum to meet our desired outcomes, a commitment to a one-to-one sponsorship (one child to one sponsor), meeting a time requirement for engagement with the children, and adhering to an attendance standard.

To ensure that the program is effective and funds are used wisely, the church is audited, at minimum, once every 30 months. Each CDC is visited by a Compassion staff member from the field office a minimum of three times per year.

Currently we partner with more than 5,000 churches worldwide, serving about 1.2 million children through our Child Sponsorship Program, and more than 21,000 mothers and babies through our Child Survival Program.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

They’re not.

Although I am disappointed, I know the reason his siblings are not enrolled. Sponsors call the contact center to ask this same question, and I explain why —  although in this situation, I must explain to myself why.

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 child registered per family tends to be the limit.

When the needs of the community limit the registration to one child per family, the other family members still benefit indirectly.

For the parents, one child registered is one less child that they have to worry about financially. They also have the opportunity to attend different educational events hosted by the child development center.

The siblings get to attend events that are planned for the entire family and they learn indirectly from their registered sibling. Also, the entire family benefits when the registered child’s sponsor sends a family gift.

I sent a gift to Hezekiah’s family last fall. Although I am not able to sponsor one of his siblings, the picture I received shows that his family is also involved and benefiting from our program.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Many sponsors have the misconception that Compassion runs schools. We do not. However, we do facilitate a holistic child development program that complements and supplements the school systems in the countries we works in.

My country’s (Kenya) education system has been heavily influenced by the British system. Students have eight years of primary school, four years of high school, and four years in an undergraduate program at a university.

It is a requirement for all Compassion-assisted children, regardless of country, to attend the normal school system while they participate in activities at their child development centers. In Kenya, the Compassion programs are most commonly conducted on Saturdays. Because public schoool runs Monday through Friday, the children are easily available for the center activities.

The purpose of our sponsorship program is to help children to become “responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.” Our Implementing Church Partners (ICPs) are encouraged to be creative in the ways they administer the program, but we also provide age-graded curriculum to help each church partner minister to their children consistently.

The age-graded curriculum is based on the outcomes we hope to see in children in the four facets of development: spiritual, physical, cognitive and socio-emotional.

The spiritual domain of the activities at child development centers includes praise and worship, testimonies from children, various presentations such as memory verses, short sermons, and prayers. The implementers ensure that children are actively involved and are exhibiting understanding of the Bible and the essence of prayer and service. During special occasions, the implementers invite outside facilitators.

Our public school system has designated days for pastoral programs. Certain teachers or the school chaplain take the students through devotion that lasts for about half an hour. Each student attends devotion, depending on his or her faith.

In our sponsorship program, the physical well-being of the children is addressed through various activities depending on the resources available at the development center. Soccer is a popular sport for boys, while volleyball and netball are popular with girls. Some church partners have swings, table tennis and board games that engage the kids during breaks.

In the physical realm, the most significant difference from the schooling system is that we provide medical intervention for the sponsored children. The health of the child is monitored on a regular basis through health screenings. Public schools tend to offer first-aid intervention, while the parent/guardian takes care of any other expenses incurred at the local health facility.

In addition, public schools rarely offer nutritional supplements to children with deficiencies. We, on the other hand, provide nutrition education as well as nutritious food during program days.

Social-emotional interaction is paramount for the well-being of every child, especially children growing up in  dangerous environments. Compassion-assisted children are given opportunities to interact in a more meaningful way than in a school. The activities provided are a fertile ground for enhancing one’s self-esteem and dignity.

Our children are encouraged to interact from a biblical perspective, and high standards of morality are advocated. The curriculum taught at the development centers lays a good foundation for self-awareness and reflection. It helps the children to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and how to best cultivate their God-given gifts.

The concept of stewardship is taught, helping them to be aware of their responsibility to the community. Vocational Bible studies, youth camps and seminars, drama clubs, and other creative arts, picnics, and inter-partner competitions offer opportunities to practice what they have learned.

Our goal of leading children along the path of economic independence compels implementers to help children complete the various stages of education. The unfortunate thing about public school systems is the difficulty of trying to update the curriculum to fit emerging trends. Much of the material is very dated and not relevant to children’s daily challenges.

Our curriculum is customized and targeted to the children in their various environments. In case the child does not continue to secondary education, vocational skills are available both at the development center and in a few institutions that can help the child become economically self- supporting. The young people learn income-generating activities, such as soap making, mat weaving, tailoring, cookery and beadwork.

Community service helps children experience the joy of giving back. The young ones in the sponsorship program are encouraged to engage in community cleanups on designated days. More often than not, they help clean the church premises for Sunday services. They also clean their own classrooms, and plant and water flowers and trees within the church compound. Older kids sometimes visit the sick and elderly in the hospital to pray for and encourage them.

Public school systems generally don’t provide for such opportunities, as the main focus is academics. The children also receive more attention at their development centers, as the teacher-student ratio in Kenya’s public schools can be as high as 1 to 80.

Compassion also offers holiday programs to the children. The usual school holidays in Kenya take place in April, August and December. The monthlong breaks separate the school terms, providing opportunities for children to rest and spend time with their families.

However, the competitiveness of the schooling system has forced many schools to conduct holiday sessions that offer specialized training. The schools then continue with the normal curriculum and children have to pay an extra admission fee, exam fee and catering fee.

During this same time, the majority of Compassion Kenya’s child development centers conduct remedial classes for their children for free. Holiday sessions at the development centers continue to supplement what takes place in school. An added advantage is the provision of textbooks and an environment in which to study.

Normally, remedial classes last about two weeks of the holiday. Part-time teachers collaborate   with the child development workers to help students, especially those in upper primary school and candidates waiting to take their exams. Over and above class work, these students are engaged in the normal Saturday program activities and are provided with nutritious meals during the day.

During normal school days, many children attend the development center in the evenings for group learning and review. With the help of part-time teachers, they review past papers to test their knowledge and become familiar with the most critical topics.

Most children we serve attend government schools; however, some of our church partners do run their own schools. These schools are not affiliated with Compassion, but are the property of the church partners. In these circumstances, we run our own program parallel to what takes place in the school. This way, the children benefit from both the school activities as well as the sponsorship program.

In these situations, most of the Compassion-assisted children usually attend the church school. It is important for the school and the sponsorship program to work together to maximize instruction.

While the school program incorporates both the Compassion-assisted and non-assisted children and focuses mainly on academics, the sponsorship program concentrates on holistic child development.

School activities are usually funded primarily through school fees paid by individual pupils through their guardians and other donors. On the contrary, our sponsorship program depends largely on donor funding and minimal contributions from parents.

In the event a child’s parent is unable to sustain a school fee payment, the child no longer benefits from the program offered by the school. But our program continues to offer services to the assisted children and their families without attaching monetary requirements to it.

While typical school systems in the developed world don’t serve children’s non-academic needs, we not only address the academic but also the socio-emotional and physical, and most important, we bring the children the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Our model focuses on the child’s here and now, as well as the future. This perspective is different from most schools. Schooling systems do a great job of engaging children and molding their way of thinking, preparing them for the “world out there,” but we prepare children to deal with their daily struggles, as well as focus on the envisioned future.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Working in the contact center, I speak to many sponsors who ask for directions for sending a package to their sponsored child. Regrettably, packages can’t be sent. However, you can send a monetary gift – an option many sponsors I speak with are unaware of.

We do not accept packages, primarily because of customs and duty costs. In most cases, the cost of shipping and duty would exceed the value of the gift. Also, the risk of theft or loss of the package while in route is very high.

We send all of our mail through customs as “documents.” There isn’t a fee for shipping a document. However, if customs opens one of our boxes of letters and finds a piece of jewelry, they will hold that entire box of letters until they receive the customs fee for that item. This can cause letters to be unnecessarily held for long periods of time.

Each day, we receive items that we are unable to ship. Our correspondence team is in charge of contacting you to see if you would like the item returned or donated to a local charity. Doing this is quite a task as these items tend pile up fairly quickly.

I understand that it’s disappointing not to be able to pick out your child’s gift and send it directly. Putting the thought, time and effort into sending a gift conveys love and sometimes “just” sending money seems impersonal. But if you’re willing to spend the money to purchase items here in the U.S., won’t you consider forwarding the money to your sponsored child? The money you send helps stimulate the economy in your child’s community, instead of here in the U.S.

Why should I give a gift?

The simplest answer I can give you is that it blesses your sponsored child and the child’s family and is a way to meet the needs in their lives. Monetary gifts to your sponsored children mean new outfits, their first pair of shoes, or the beginning of an income-generating business for the family.

Last fall, I sent a family gift to my sponsored child, Angela, in Bolivia. Incredibly, she and her family were able to buy so much with what I sent. With $75 American dollars, they were able to purchase a blue jean jacket, undergarments, a wool poncho, a jacket, a skirt, school materials, shoes for several members of her family, food supplies and a backpack for Angela’s brother, Jose.

The child development center staff even sent a picture of Angela with her family and everything they bought. Letters acknowledging the gift are sent every time a gift is received, but not everyone receive pictures.

If you send a gift of more than $60 you should receive a picture of your sponsored child posing with what was purchased. However, not all child development centers have the capability to send pictures.

I want to send a gift to my sponsored child. How does it work?

After we close our books for the month, our finance department receives a list of all the gifts given during that month. For most countries, we convert the gift into the country’s currency and transfer the funds to the country office’s bank. Some of our offices will either have their bank make the exchange from U.S. dollars to the local currency, or they will just use U.S. dollars.

Once the country office receives the money, a staff member transfers the funds to the respective child development centers. Some centers receive the money by check and some receive it directly transferred into a bank account. This entire process can take two to three months.

After the center staff receive the money, they set up a meeting with your sponsored child. In the meeting the staff member informs the child of your gift and discusses what some of the child’s and family’s needs are.

Next, your child signs for the gift to acknowledge that it was received. They then head to the market where the staff member helps your child purchase the items.

One hundred percent of what you give is used to make the purchase.

Finally, your sponsored child will write you a letter letting you know what was purchased and possibly include a picture, depending on the amount of the gift and your child’s center.

If you do not receive a letter within six months of sending your gift, please contact us. We will contact our country office for more information.

What kind of gifts can I send?

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.

A birthday gift will be just that – a birthday gift for your child. When you send a family gift, the child and his or her family decide together what to purchase. A general gift can be sent for any reason and can used by the child or family to purchase what is needed at that time.

You also have the option of donating any amount, we typically suggest $20, to the Christmas Gift Program on your sponsored child’s behalf.

Although other gifts can be given any time of year, we request that gifts to the Christmas Gift Program be given by October 31, 2010 to ensure that the gifts are delivered by Christmas.

Wow! This is so great, Shaina! I am going to send a gift every month.

That’s actually not the best idea. Your sponsored child’s family most likely lives on less than $2 a day and a monetary gift will mean quite a bit to them. To help avoid creating a sense of dependence on your gifts we discourage doing this. Also, monthly gifts can lead to jealousy within the community and put your sponsored child and family at risk.

I really want to send my child a gift, but I can send only $5 this month.

The cost associated with processing the monetary gifts means we can’t accept gifts for less than $10. I encourage you to set your $5 aside, join it with another one of its $5 friends the following month, and then send the gift to us.

When I was little, I had the cutest teddy bear. I really want my sponsored child to have the same thing.

While you are welcome to suggest what you would like your sponsored child to purchase, the child makes the final decision regarding what is purchased. If your sponsored child is too young to make the decision on their own, the child’s family will help with the decision.

So do you have to send a gift to your child?

No. Does it bless them and their family incredibly? Yes. Emphatically, yes.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Picture this: You’re in El Salvador in the middle of summer visiting a newly opened child development center. There is a long line of mothers, fathers and children waiting to be registered for our sponsorship program.

You complete the enrollment paperwork for 4-year old Susie and ask her to go have her picture taken. Because she has never seen a camera before, she gets very nervous and a little scared when standing in front of the photographer. Her picture comes out with her looking unhappy.

Next, you meet Carlos, who is 8. When you send him to have his photo taken, he is so hot and tired that he doesn’t smile for the picture.

Then, at the end of the day you notice Maria standing at the end of the line with her parents. Her outfit looks very familiar. You realize that you have seen that outfit on many little girls. When Maria finally gets to the front of the line, you ask her about her beautiful dress. She says that she borrowed it from a friend so she could look pretty in her picture.

There are so many circumstances when picture-taking day comes around … and we are, after all, working with children who get tired, cry and have limited energy.

Fast-forward two years. It’s time for that same development center to update the pictures of the children enrolled in the program. With nearly 200 kids and just as many photos to take, things get a little out of hand for you.

You’re taking Alex’s picture and in the rush of the afternoon accidentally transpose his child number on your notes. The child number next to Alex’s picture is actually Hector’s number (you are human, after all).

Here in Colorado, we receive all the photo updates, upload “Hector’s” new photo to his file, print a copy, and mail it to Hector’s sponsor.

After about two weeks, Hector’s sponsor calls — the new picture looks nothing her child. She’s right, and after I review the pictures in Hector’s file, I agree and contact the country office to fix the issue.

Some of our mistakes have created really funny pictures, and we laugh at them, but most are handled without error.

I know it can be disappointing to receive a photo without a smile anywhere to be seen, but please remember that even though you can’t see it, it’s there. Here’s the proof. And no matter what the picture looks like, it’s the child in that picture that matters most.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

With programs in 26 countries, many people wonder how we maintain the excellence and good stewardship of our operations around the world. In addition to annual external audits, we ensure the highest integrity in our programs through internal auditing.

Internal auditing, both in the development centers and country offices, is designed to determine how well our operations are running and to identify weaknesses that are causing goals and objectives to go unmet.

The first type of audit is known as a Center/Partnership Audit. Its primary purpose is to ensure that development centers are complying with our standards.

“These are conducted by a Partnership Auditor who resides in the country office,” says Walt Hintz, Compassion’s Field Audit Manager. There are about 50 Partnership Auditors worldwide. Partnership Auditors look at both financial and operational issues.

The center audits cover areas such as management, structure, budget, Christian development, finances and program communications. The focus is to make sure that the kids are communicating with their sponsors, that they are attending the centers, that funds are being used for their intended purposes, and that the program is being implemented the way it should be.

The first step of the auditing process is planning. The Partnership Auditors coordinate the auditing schedule with the Partnership Facilitators (who are the link between the country offices and the child development centers) and the directors of each center.

Before any audit takes place, the Partnership Auditors review past information from each center. This includes previous auditing results, Monthly Financial Reports, and Complementary Intervention (CIV) Fund proposals and reports. The Partnership Auditors assess this information before arriving at the center so that they can have a clear understanding of the potential risks and issues.

Finally, the Partnership Auditors may interview country office staff, such as the accountant, the CIV administrator, and the communications staff who have experience working with the center, prior to visiting the center. Then it’s time to visit the centers.

On average, a Partnership Auditor spends eight to ten hours in each center. While there, the auditor conducts interviews with the teachers and students and goes through financial records, child attendance records, child files and organizational documents.

A typical risk auditors look to assess involves proper documentation of expenses. Many of the countries we work with are cash societies, and receipts are not typically given. Center workers often have to ask the vendor to hand write a receipt, and it is up to the auditor to emphasize the importance of proper financial documentation to the center leaders.

After the audit takes place, the auditor communicates the findings with the center leadership, the Partnership Facilitator and the Country Management Team. Communicating the risk areas will ultimately lead to improving the partnership between Compassion and the local church.

Post audit, the auditor conducts an exit meeting to discuss the findings from the audit with the church partner and the Partnership Facilitator who is responsible for the relationship between the center and the country office.

During this meeting, the Partnership Facilitator and Partnership Auditor will document “Action Items,” — the important issues that need to be dealt with — and rate the items according to the level of risk. The Partnership Facilitator will work with the Implementing Church Partner to develop a plan to address the risk areas.

Afterward, a the completed audit report will be sent to the Country Director, the Partnership Facilitator, and Program Implementation Manager.

Our corporate standard is that 60 percent of centers must be audited each year with no more than 30 months between audits. This audit frequency prevents centers from going unaudited for more than two-and-a-half years. Also, it ensures that higher risk centers will be visited more frequently.

In between audits, the centers are frequently communicated with and visited by the Partnership Facilitators to ensure all is well.

Similar to the Partnership Audits, the second category of internal audits is the Country Office Audit.

Country Office Audits are holistic reviews of the operations and administration of our country offices. In order to improve business processes, these audits cover areas such as organizational management, human resources, payroll, financial reporting and program communications.

Typically, this includes four to eight center visits, and unlike center audits, these visits look for larger trends that reveal management, country or process issues.

Country Office Audits are conducted by four Senior Field Auditors, who are responsible for performing audits within a geographic area.

Like the Partnership Audits, the Country Office Audits are primarily risk based. Country offices are audited approximately every 24 months.

Once in the field, the auditor has an initial meeting with the Country Management Team (CMT) of that country office. This is followed by a series of individual interviews and center visits. For a period of about two weeks, the auditor conducts interviews and reviews documentation in both the country office and the centers.

Based on what the Field Auditor finds, certain issues will become “Action Items.” At the conclusion of the audit, the Auditor provides a list of these action items to the country office and the CMT during the exit meeting. The office staff determine how to address and resolve those items. The plan is then approved and it comes back to our Global Ministry Center in Colorado for filing. Internal Audit staff receive updates as the plans are completed.

Most issues are resolved within 90 days. Sometimes, action items are dealt with immediately, and sometimes complex issues may take years. Even though the issues range in severity, the vast majority of issues are considered low risk. Very few are considered high risk.

In the end, our goal in internally auditing both our centers and country offices is to uphold our core values and provide accountability for the goals and objectives we have set out to achieve.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

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 have heard it too many times.

Working in the contact center, sponsors and donors call me and want to know if we — if Compassion — is trustworthy or if it’s a scam. These conversations are difficult because I cannot convince that person — through one phone call — to trust us, to trust Compassion.

If someone has been “burned” before, they look for faults in everything — the letters from their sponsored child, the pictures we send them, the way we use the funds we receive.

I have heard questions like “Is my child even real,” and “How do I know that the funds are actually getting to the child?”

I really don’t blame anyone for asking these questions. Were I on the other end of the phone, I’d be asking the same things.

For those of you wondering, here are my thoughts:

We, as Christians, are called to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. Here at Compassion, we are very passionate about ensuring we are.

Internal and independent audits are regularly conducted for our offices in the field and here in Colorado Springs. Every financial process undergoes intensive and continual scrutiny to ensure that funds are properly received, tracked, and managed. We want our program to be effective, so we monitor the child development centers to make sure they are making a difference in the lives of the children we serve.

Our goal is that the children in our program follow Jesus Christ in faith and deed, support themselves and share with others in need, are responsible members of their families, churches, communities and nations; and maintain their own physical well-being by the time they complete our Child Sponsorship Program. We have put measures in place to make sure that these goals are being accomplished.

Is Compassion a trustworthy organization?

Yes, I think so — but don’t just take my word for it. If you are a sponsor with Compassion and have thought about this before, I encourage you to check out Charity Navigator’s review of Compassion.

Not only did we receive the highest rating of four stars last year, but we received it for the previous seven years as well. Chris mentioned that in a blog post last week, “How is My Money Used Each Month?”

The question of trustworthiness goes beyond financial accountability. Regrettably, there aren’t any independent rating agencies that I’m aware of that grade organizations on how trustworthy they are. But here are some other resources for you to review if you want more information:

• What does it mean for an organization to “live with integrity”?
• Compassion International’s profile at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
• Compassion International meets the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates