We have been given an amazing privilege to be a part of these childrens lives. Did I understand you correctly that you have never received third party letters from us about your childs center or church? I get entirely too much mail and the money used to produce and send it could be better spent on the children. Internal and independent audits are regularly conducted for our offices in the field and here in Colorado Springs. However, releasing children from poverty is the core of what we do and this is why we aim to be the best stewards of your generosity. I am a beneficiary of Compassion International and I categorically believe its not a sham as my sponsor paid for my education right from secondary school through college.I am now working and am preparing to sponsor a child myself to give back to the society. If someone has been burned before, they look for faults in everything the letters from the child they sponsor, the pictures we send them, the way we use the funds we receive. The local Christian Churches are partnered with Compassion and most of the monitoring and supervision is done through the Priest and a couple of local Compassion employees. Im sure. I am not so naive to think that everyone in these organisations is motivated out of selfless motives and I get angry at myself for not holding the leaders of these organisations to a higher standard. Now its his birthday and I dont want to put in the card what Im sending if he is not going to get it. When learning to hear from God, you have to take risks and I know God will make all things right, even if I made the wrong choice, because he is good and he looks at our heart & our intentions. Please let me know document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to receive a regular newsletter from Compassion with inspirational stories, poverty news and more. May the Lord, as only He can, provide you with the grace, peace, and wisdom to face whatever is in front of you. Here is a link to all of our alumni blogs, What if I dont write to my sponsored child? I know that was not your intention and I do apologize for the misdirection of your funds. Im sorry if your kiddos dont answer your questions. They say these letters are from our sponsored child, but with what I received, thats not possible. It is a Xerox copy! It is an honor to have you in our Compassion family! Please rest assured that Josiane is the one who receives your letters and answers them. We sincerely look forward to earning your trust and proving our hearts for serving our sponsors and children with excellence. Inoussas last letter was processed on February 5, so I will set a calendar alert to send his inquiry tomorrow. For example, he said that he finished the first semester of College and that he was on vacation with his family. Of course, there are so many factors that could explain why your letters seem impersonal and we couldnt possibly include every scenario in that blog post. In my junior year of high school, I went to 722 in Atlanta and Lewi Giggleo gave his testimony and recommendation of Compassion and outside the conference hall I became a sponsor. Since this is a very generous gift we want sponsors to be able to see how the gift was spent. Im sorry if there was any confusion in the information you received. This has been very successful so far! Feel free to visit our website (https://www.compassion.com/donate-to-charity.htm) to learn more about Compassion and our different giving opportunities. Thank you for the role you play as a caregiver and nurturer of those who are sick. Essentially all these organisations are just multinational begging organisations and we , the sponsors, pay the top beggars a lot of money to beg for money from us. They are better dressed, better educated, happy, and yet these were all rescued from terrible circumstances. Hi, Keep asking her questions. Our hope is that this new process will help to build a stronger relationship between sponsors and their children, since the time it takes for a letter to be received will be drastically reduced. I have sponsored a total of 11 children with Compassion. What I can say is that Feed My Starving Children may do it differently than we do, but we are all trying to do the same thing bring children out of poverty and I am thankful that they are there too and are doing the best possible job that they can. Lisa, I am deeply sorry for the concerns you have that have caused you to doubt the integrity of Compassion. The 10% administrative fee is only on child, birthday, or family gifts. Therefore, it is common to see older children in younger grade levels. Mrs. Johnston, I am deeply sorry to hear of your concerns about receiving the same letter twice from one of your sweet children :(. I would be happy to check on the thank you letter for the gift you had sent last October. I find the presumptouis and pride and attitudes in some of these[you] sponsors almost, appalling honestly. But they're children!! * My child was in prison without his mother. Compassion chooses to send dollars to the Implementing Church Partners for our programs that impact children. How many sponsors does it take to support one child through the process? As for repeated details, Im sure I repeat things too. Are they sometimes simplistic? Did you ever write to this child? The date on the letter is 3/09/16! Thank you all I loved reading all your stories, God bless all of you and especially the childrenJesus loves them all. Again, because taking pictures is costly with everything involved from taking the picture to getting it to you and would take much staff time when they have many duties throughout the day along with carrying on project activities, we cannot do it for every letter that is sent. With months in between being able to view letters, it is sometimes difficult to remember what you have and havent shared with your children. I have not heard from my child in a while and when I do it is so generic it could be from anyone. Other Income $7M. Trying to invade these families with video chats etc would be very STRANGE on so many levels!!! I have had wonderful and not wonderful experiences with other sponsorship organizations but Compassion has been consistently first-rate. He did ask for a chicken but I have not heard if he got it. Unfortunately, criminals sometimes prey on that generosity. I recieved a letter about promoting Compassion at my church. Compassion strives to be an organization of integrity in all areas. I cant imagine the financial and emotional burden you are feeling right now. We provide holistic child development in the four areas of development cognitive, physical, economic, and spiritual. Im going to pass along this feedback so that we can assist this representative with training to call the sponsor back when things like this happen. When children are registered into our program, the parents often times dont know the exact birth date of their child as birthdays are not as important in other cultures as they are here in the US. Compassion calls this "child development through child sponsorship." I completely understand your eager desire to hear from her, and I can imagine its been extremely difficult to go through this pandemic without any letters. I have personally traveled to Sonsonate, El Salvador and met my sponsor child! Every financial process undergoes intensive and continual scrutiny to ensure that funds are properly received, tracked, and managed. Thank you so much for taking on this crucial role as a correspondent for Edith! If you never sent it in, nothing further will need to be done. Our statement on stewardship says the following: The ministry of Compassion belongs to the children, our Implementing Church Partners, our sponsors and donors, our Supporting Church Partners and ultimately to God. I had one child who never said much of anything. I guess the next best thing for non profit is an organization that actually provides proof each and every day, that will be the company that eliminates Compassion. Recently we received a letter informing us he has leukemia and is in the hospital getting weekly treatments. This fund is used to purchase gifts for all children in Compassions program. Hi Christopher, In the email and via phone I was told the updated one is the correct one,but no explanation was given as to how something like this could happen. They cant force you to stay as a sponsor, besides with the apparent anger in your email they are probably better off without you. Hope that helps yours and anyone else who is having trust issues regarding misuse of a pronoun in relation to their childs gender. Thank you Darren Bailey for your honest sharing! My child was in the 4th grade 5 years ago. Thank you again for your comment and for your heart for these children! For those searchingI wouldnt tell anyone to cancel. I am beginning to really wonder if it is all keeping some people in lovely homes in Colorado and paying for recreational activities. Thank you so much for your wonderfuly encouraging comment! Its directly taking from the poor which is sad to me. After receiving that email I logged into my account and OHHHHH look, a letter from my child is in translation dated two days prior..Ummmmmmm I log in everyday waiting for a letter, that certainly wasnt there two days ago or yesterday. The letters continued to show that the children writing them had not seen my letters and knew nothing about me. Some do not start school until a later age or may even have to skip attending school altogether due to family circumstances. I think I was able to get one last letter in before the system changed and now every online letter Ive written since then is still in translation. Guardian Headline src url https assets.guim.co.uk static frontend fonts guardian headline noalts not hinted GHGuardianHeadline Light.woff2 http3 true format woff2 url https assets.guim.co.uk static frontend fonts guardian headline latin1 not hinted GHGuardianHeadline Light.woff http3 true format woff. She is receiving your letters and your hand-made items. The only exception to this is our Christmas fund. Debra, I am truly so sorry that your generous Christmas gift to Susi and her family was not processed the way you had clearly requested it to be. Our records do indicate that your boy is living with his mother but its possible that she went away for work and so he is staying with his grandmother or that his situation has changed and he is there permanently. Enjoyed your posts, These children also communicate verbally;letter writing tends to be a foreign concept to most of them. I want to encourage you that your child is very real and that you truly are making an incredible difference in his life. Compassion International Senior Accountant Remote 30d+ Social Shares. However, we are so thankful to know you are still praying for your sweet child, which is one of the best ways to help anyhow. Rather the money is used exactly for what you designated it for. I like that every kid gets a gift and the only way this is possible is for all of the money to be pooled together. Thankfully, God opened up doors for us to update our systems and make our letter process more digital. For example, Compassion. C Compassion International Letter Writing Ideas Compassion International Fraud Alert Fraud Alert Fraud Alert Compassion International values the support of its donors, who give generously to help children in need. I currently sponsor a lot of kids through Compassion. Out of concern I asked Compassion UK about her. I was so happy. We sincerely look forward to earning your trust and proving our hearts for serving our sponsors and children with excellence. We sent an inquiry last week to make sure everything is alright with Pamela and ask her to write back as soon as possible. Sadly, many children feel timid or have a lack of confidence when it comes to writing. This is disheartening. Granted, before joining Compassion, I had my doubts, hearing about other so-called sponsorship organizations using vast amounts of money for illegal activities. We sincerely look forward to earning your trust and proving our hearts for serving our sponsors and children with excellence. Please Google us and see what people are saying about us, check out what watchdog organizations say about us, read the third party research on the integrity and efficacy of our program, if you are able, visit your child and see where your money is going first hand. (You can read a little bit more about why I love Compassion International here).. Id encourage you to highlight a question about those in your next letter! If you want to cancel your child sponsorship, you should contact the Compassion International customer service at (800) 336-7676. On your site all it says is maybe supplemental food and learning about God. Have a blessed day. However, the beauty of how Compassion works, approaches these aspects on the basis of three fundamentals: Child Focused - chil I think that it is worthwhile. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns. God is ultimately the one who touches us and provides for us. Please know we take financial integrity very seriously to ensure we are caring for our beneficiaries the best we possibly can. Thank you so much for being an amazing sponsor to these two over the last four years! One of my kids always buys goats no matter how much or to whom i send it (family vs child gift). I am privileged and blessed to do this for Him. Karen, I am so sorry to hear that our CEOs salary has deterred you from sponsoring and impacting the life of a child. And now do to the new horrible writing system, we are even less able to send things. When I lived in Egypt I was told no one celebrates birthdays. But boy I sure wish she was able to communicate with me. The children in our projects may or may not stay in the program until they reach this age. You mentioned that your compensation is to attract top talent. Please know that you are in my prayers. Not one mark, from writing, to drawing, was even the slightest bit off. Mindy, I appreciate your care and support for Alanael during this difficult time in his life. During that time, I have sponsored as many as 8 children at once. We have been sponsoring children through Compassion since 2013. That is all. Their pages under My Sponsorships are often several years out of date. The only possible reason would be to make the organization look more realistic. Please rest assured that your words are powerful and encouraging to your boy and our staff are trained to help him understand your letter if there might be confusion or misunderstanding. We counsel the child and family on using the money wisely and make sure that the use of the gift is developmentally appropriate for the child (i.e. About the website: In at least one instance, parental information remained unchanged three and four years after a parent had died. You are correct that if you send a gift of $60 or more, a picture of the child will be taken and sent to you, as well. I want to double check on something. We will be in contact with you as soon as we receive a response within 6-8 weeks. Did you read the responses at all? Some time later my now-husband raised the same concerns I had, without knowing mine. ? Experience has shown us the power of a letter is tremendous, and for an impoverished child to know that someone from across the globe cares about them can make the difference that helps release that child from poverty. We want to ensure you feel strong in your faith with us so that you can continue sponsoring. How much you wanna bet she spends more money on sponsored children than you do and you supposedly work for the company. In regards to monetary gifts that you send to Leo, if it is a birthday, child, or family gift, Leo or his family will always receive the gift. Regardless, we do want to thank you for your many years of support! . If you have specific questions for him, I encourage you to continue asking them :). So we do still send some communications via mail. Founded in 1952 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Compassion International is a child-sponsoring charitable organization that was originally known as the Everett Swanson Evangelistic Association. But in the future, youll see responses from him to the letters youve been writing. She never forgot that, and last month in her letter to me she reminded me of my advice to her sheto me then I feel such a priviledged girl to have someone who loves me and took me into your life and helps me you told me you would be proud of me if I got a good education. Now Ive been a sponsor for 6 1/2 years and dont regret a day of it! Regrettably, our processing team is experiencing a significant backlog which has caused a delay in taking care of new sponsorships. Oh hey! ? Our center staff do an excellent job teaching the children to write letters; however, the children in our programs primarily communicate verbally. But you would not believe the difference it makes when the Child has so little. We understand that some may feel uneasy about the salaries of our upper management and board of directors. I have received the most precious gift children can share with others and that gift is LOVE!! Two are now out of the program and we have another 2 that chose to leave the program on their own. I am disappointed to know that you cant do paperless statements. We meet as staff to pray for our supporters several times a month. Hi Christie, and as compassion says its the Lords money so why panic if you know its going directly to a child in need. Because of this difference, I am sending an inquiry to our field office is Rwanda. JS Embed. He should now be going on 13. We are so thankful that you are a part of the Compassion family. 300,000 plus as annual salary for ANYONE leading a nonprofit charity is unconscionable in the minds of many who sacrifice to give their 38.00 every month. I completely understand your desire for more personable and unique letters from your sweet boy in Bolivia. Now Im off to prepare a new birthday letter with his correct age to celebrate his new double digit number. Im starting to think that this is a scam. If we had received a letter with an explanation like this along with our new pictures, we couldve avoided a lot of confusion. Compassion International is the world's leading authority in holistic child development through sponsorship. Mindy, I am so sorry for the confusion and frustration in regards to the letters from your child and your experience with our representatives. I cannot afford the $3,000.00+ price to visit for a meal, then fly all the way back home. Please let us know if theres anything that we can do for you, or any questions we can answer for you. Thank you!!! It doesnt make sense that my sponsored child would have written the very same thing in both letters. Dont get me wrong, it makes my day when they arrive and they are all over my refrigerator. This is common, especially in families with more than one child. I personally have been working in one of the field Offices in Uganda and do attest that Compassion International is highly credible, transparent and 99% genuine. Far removed from children I see stood against a tree, or up against a wall looking like theyre about to be shot. Private Donations $1.1B. Does the tutor need a tutor? As you can see hes gotten taller and has matured in his features. Overall, I dont think a Christian-based holistic child development organization would fare well in Givewells evaluation process, simply because Compassion deals in outcomes that arent easily quantifiable increasing childrens self-esteem, quality of life, education, stability within the family, overall child safety, protection from abuse/child trafficking/gangs, spiritual development, etc. You can visit our website at https://www.compassion.com/about/financial.htm and view our tax documents that lists the specific information on our Upper management and Board of Directors salaries. We want to use the technology available to be able to send letters with quality and efficiency. Their smiles are natural and genuine. (And for those of you who are wondering no, I dont work for Compassion. Total Revenue $1.1B. As for your letters being different each time, ive learned over the years that it completely depends on the rep helping them. I know you gave that gift from the heart hoping to be a blessing to her entire family and felt as though Compassion did not listen to your request. The more often you write, the more often you should also receive letters from Farel. We want to protect our supporters and vendors from such scams. Exact same letter, writing, and drawing, apparently from our sponsored child. In a previous post it was said that 10% of all gifts is used for processing and something else, but here it says the child receives 100%. Either Im sponsoring a fake child or someone in admin messed up. Thank you so much for your love and care for each of them! As the children get older, they will begin to add more personal details to their letters and learn how to engage with their sponsor more. I know you are speaking from your situation but not everyone has a lot of money. I certainly apologize for any misunderstanding or confusion in regards to the time frame of receiving an acknowledgement for the gifts you sent and if this information was not communicated to you. They may not know how to express themselves to you in a letter, but you never know how impactful your letters are to them. I appreciate and understand your desire to use your money wisely, and I am sorry that the way we pay our staff does not line up with the way you want funds to be used. They couldnt support me anymore when I reached college age. I always noticed that the handwriting was somewhat different, but thought he was getting older and perhaps his penmanship was improving. I am praying for everyone who decides to become a sponsor, as well as your sponsored child(ren)- YES, it does take trust, but remain hopeful and firm in your belief that you were called to this ministry. We understand that you are giving selflessly out of the goodness of your heart and that is why stewardship is so important and integrity is a high priority for Compassion. Will Compassion give us an address so we can locate this child and take gifts to him and his family? As Christians, we understand that every $38 we receive is really the Lords and He has called us to steward it wisely. Autoplay. We are committed to send at least 80% of sponsors donations to the childrens care. We are working towards that. Yes, donations made to Compassion are tax deductible. It is hard to write letter after letter and never hear back. Many children are behind in their schooling because their parents could not afford to send them to school. I just spoke with you over the phone regarding these concerns and your kiddos. We are proud to say that for every dollar you send 82 cents goes directly to programs that benefit your child specifically. The Compassion development centers often help enhance what the child is learning in school and they focuses on the most important areas of growth while promoting life skills. You mighty man of God, the Lord bless you, hoping this letter finds you well is not the language of a kid. 1. ; ; Throughout the years, Compassion has consistently averaged more than 80 percent of total expenditures being used for program activities, with less than 20 percent being used for fundraising and administration. outside of the US) the date 3/09/16 actually means 3rd September 2016. I am pleased and thankful to see Compassion International on their 30 Shining Light Ministries list each year. You can watch her story at http://www.missionsinaction.tv/episode3.php and also However, other children dont have any interest in writing to their sponsor, or they do when theyre younger but then lose interest as they become older. Sarah, we are so sorry to hear your sponsorship experience was not what you hoped. The only thing Im struggling with now is that I have a sponsor child, Edith who I do not sponsor financially but through writing letters. For example, when I ask how theyre doing in school, I get, Fine, or Well., I know there are limits on the kinds of things anyone other than the child would tell us, so as not to rob them of dignity or violate their privacy. Hell be thrilled to hear from you and get to know you. Her reply, it may have gotten lost in the mail. I am so sorry to hear that you have mistrust with Compassion due to these letter errors. I do absolutely believe these are written by my children. I would even encourage you to ask your child if they are able to write on their own. Hey sponsors. They were less than a hundred miles away. Don't forget! We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding the letter writing process.
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