FAQs

 

Who is ChildFund?

Perhaps you haven’t heard of ChildFund before. That’s understandable because we prefer not to spend a lot of time or money promoting ourselves.

What you should know is we have 70 years experience working with children in crisis situations. We’re based in 54 countries around the world, and last year helped 11 million children and families in need regardless of their religion, gender, creed or national origin. Our own New Zealand Government uses ChildFund to deliver best-practice development projects in high need areas, and we have a Project Monitoring Unit to make sure your donation gets through and achieves the very best results.

In plain simple words, you can be certain your help through ChildFund WILL save children’s lives.

What does ChildFund do?

From experience we know the best way to help a child is through their parents and community leaders who take responsibility for each child’s development ensuring your child’s greatest needs are met.

Through Sponsorship every community’s status is continuously monitored to ensure improvements in health, education, nutrition and child development. This ensures that our projects are delivering positive changes that are sustainable over the long term.

Micro-enterprise development programmes involving income-generating activities are often available to parents to help them earn a living to benefit their children and to help lift them out of the cycle of poverty.

Your money goes directly towards basic improvements such as drilling a well, building a school, employing a teacher, immunisation of children, feeding programs, and prevention programs to protect against illnesses such as malaria and diarrhoea.

Today, New Zealanders sponsor tens of thousands of children around the world, ensuring the suffering of millions of children has been reduce, and for their one child a brighter future.

How does child sponsorship work?

As a sponsor, you give a monthly donation. This money does not go directly to the child or even their family. It funds the projects that are most needed in the community they live. So you help not only the child you are sponsoring but also their family and other poor people in the area. 100 per cent of additional gift money goes straight to the child.

How much does child sponsorship cost?

Sponsorship costs $44 a month – that works out as the price of less than half a cup of coffee a day.
$40 goes to Child Sponsorship. ChildFund is committed to sending at least 80% out of every Child Sponsorship dollar you donate goes directly overseas to help your child. No more than 20% is retained in New Zealand to help us run our small New Zealand based office. $4 goes to ChildFund’s Future Fund. Our ChildFund Future Fund is retained here in New Zealand to ensure the consistent delivery of our quality programs, developing additional programs in new countries, helping to find more child sponsors for children in need and educating New Zealanders about eradicating poverty.

How long will child sponsorship last?

Sometimes sponsorship ends when we complete our work within a community. On other occasions, sponsorship comes to an end when children finish at a project or the family move to find better work opportunities. This means that the duration of your support can vary a great deal, although three years is usually the minimum, and seven to eight years the norm.

What happens after child sponsorship?

When sponsorship ends, we will contact you to let you know how you can continue to help the community where the child you are sponsoring lives, as well as other poor people in need.

What happens if I cannot continue as a sponsor?

If your circumstances change and you can no longer sponsor a child, we will understand. We will, however, need to find another sponsor for the child as soon as we can. We are always especially grateful if you have a friend or work colleague who could take over your sponsorship.

Can I decide on the gender, nationality and age of my child?

Unless you make a specific request, we will send you the details of the child and community in greatest need of your support. So if you would prefer to sponsor a child of a specific gender, age or nationality, please call 0800 808 822 and we'll do our best to help.

Can I send my child a letter?

The power of the written word is of particular strength in the relationship that develops between the sponsored child and their ChildFund sponsor. These children receive so little in life that a letter is truly cherished and can help form a lasting relationship. Short and simple letters are best, as they are easier for the project team to translate and for the child to appreciate. Tell your child about family, pets, hobbies, favourite sports, work, our country and our culture. Also include photos and pictures if you like. Then ask the child some questions, so you can learn about their family and culture. Please don't be offended if it takes 2-3 months for a reply to come, the letters often have a lengthy journey to travel before it gets read and then answered. But it is worth the wait, because it means so much to your child.

Can I give gifts to the child I sponsor?

If you'd like, you can have your own gift delivered. However due to customs duties and the risk of gifts getting lost or stolen, this is done via a monetary payment to ChildFund. We then arrange for your preferred gift, such as books, clothing or toys, to be purchased through the local office and given to the child. Just give our Sponsor Support Team a call on 0800 808 822 and we can arrange everything.

Does ChildFund help all children?

ChildFund works where the need is greatest irrespective of religion, gender or creed.

Why do I receive communication from CCF and Christian Children's Fund?

ChildFund used to be Christian Children's Fund and more recently CCF. As an international agency we have embarked on the change to ChildFund that will take up to five years internationally to complete. For this reason you may still get correspondence from your child and their national office on Christian Children's Fund and CCF material. As a private nonsectarian organization our new name more closely reflects what we do which is to provide help to children in need regardless of their race, religion, or gender. We respect the cultural heritage, personal pride and dignity of the families that we assist.

ChildFund Official Blog

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