FAQ

Child Sponsorship FAQ

1. What is World Vision Child Sponsorship? How do sponsored children benefit from the programme?: Child Sponsorship offers a way to understand and respond to the needs of poor children around the world. The pooled contributions of child sponsors help provide children in need with access to a sustainable living environment, education opportunities, and a chance to develop their potential and pursue their dreams! In the one to one child-sponsor relationship, the lives of sponsors and sponsored children can be blessed and transformed.

To tackle the root causes of poverty requires more than a single solution. World Vision will assess the needs of identified communities and work with them to lay out an approximately 15-year Area Programme (AP) that focuses on things like: health, education, water, livelihoods and child protection. Community members will be mobilised and empowered to play an active role during the development process, so that in the long-run, they will be able to sustain the progress and enjoy a better living.
2. How much of the HK$270 actually goes to my sponsored child?: Development isn't just about giving because that might encourage unhealthy dependence. The ultimate goal should be to help community achieve self-reliance. Therefore, instead of supporting a single child and his/her family, your monthly sponsorship donations will be combined with other sponsors' donations to support the overall community development, bringing sustainable and long-term improvement rather than meeting individual needs.

For example, instead of buying water for children, we work with community to build and maintain water facilities so that they can enjoy water sustainably.

Your sponsored child will benefit from the entire community development through areas including health, education, water, livelihoods and child protection.
3. What countries are covered by World Vision Child Sponsorship?: Today, World Vision Hong Kong's Child Sponsorship is supporting over 100 Area Programmes in more than 20 countries around the world, transforming the lives of over 180,000 sponsored children.
4. How does a child get sponsored?: With the help of community leaders and villagers, World Vision identifies the most vulnerable and needy children in the area and fully explains how Child Sponsorship works. When a child is sponsored, his/her brothers and sisters, and all the children and families of the community will also enjoy the benefits. For example, everyone can enjoy clean drinking water and medical care with a new well and a health clinic in a sponsored child's community.
5. Will a child be sponsored by more than one person?: No. World Vision will only match one sponsor with one child.
6. What is the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored children of the same community?: As a child-focused organisation, World Vision strives to ensure the well-being of children and help them flourish and experience fullness of life. Through Child Sponsorship, World Vision works with local community to lay out and implement suitable programmes for the long term benefits of all members. Therefore, every child within the same community will benefit from the Area Programme.

The major difference between sponsored and non-sponsored children is that in the one to one child-sponsor relationship, sponsored children feel supported, loved and valued by their sponsors. There exists a mutual life transformation. In addition, World Vision staff visit sponsored children regularly, monitoring their progress in terms of growth, health and education in order to provide appropriate help. Sponsors will also receive annual reports about their children's progress.
7. Why do the children sometimes appear well dressed in their photos?: A single photo can't fully reflect their needs. When families of sponsored children know the photos will be sent to sponsors, they will make sure their children look their best for photo-taking, even if it means borrowing clothes from neighbours or relatives. This also reflects their respect for the sponsors.
8. For how long do I sponsor a child? Can I discontinue my sponsorship?: The duration varies according to the progress of the Area Programme, which typically lasts for around 15 years. However, changes in a child's circumstances may also affect the duration. For instance, your sponsorship will end when your child finishes school, gets married, moves out of the community*, or when his/her family has achieved a better living. In these cases, we will give you a written notification and transfer your sponsorship to another child in need. Please contact us should you prefer other arrangements.

*Some sponsored children may leave the community temporarily for specific reasons. To avoid losing their sponsorship, World Vision's field staff will monitor their situations for six months and notify the child sponsor when their status can be confirmed. Donations received during the period will be used to support the development projects in the child's community.

Under any circumstances that you would like to discontinue your sponsorship, please contact our Donor Services Department for sponsorship termination. We will try to find another sponsor for the child as soon as possible. In this case, we hope you will become a sponsor again one day as your sponsorship is very important to sponsored children.

"Little Sponsor" FAQ

9. Can I sign my two children up for the Little Sponsor programme to co-sponsor one child?: Yes.
10. If two children co-sponsor a child under the Little Sponsor programme, how will the "month of birth" be matched?: We only collect the "month of birth" of the first Little Sponsor on the registration form. We will therefore match a sponsored child born in the same month of the year accordingly.
11. If two children sign up for the Little Sponsor programme, will they both receive a notification by email for them to invite their friends to donate instead of giving birthday gifts?: As we only collect the data of the first Little Sponsor, only he/she will receive the email starting from 2020.

If both your children would like to receive the invitation email, you may consider signing each of them up for the Little Sponsor programme separately. You may also contact our Donor Services Department at 2394-2394 for gift donation fundraising page.

Connect with my child

12. As a child sponsor, what will I receive from World Vision or my sponsored child?

When you become a child sponsor, we will send you an information kit about your sponsored child, including his/her photo and basic personal details. Later, you will receive an introduction letter from your sponsored child. After a year of sponsorship, an annual progress report with your child's recent photo, growth progress, and community development updates will be sent to you.

13. Does my sponsored child write back?

Yes. Children are delighted to hear from their sponsors and will write back. Since most children live in remote areas where postal systems are not well developed, and the translation, verification and delivery of letters are all handled by our office, it may take three to four months for your sponsored child's letter to reach your hands.

14. Are there any tips for writing letters to sponsored children?

All children love being cared for. Your correspondence to them can help them feel your love. You can ask your sponsored child about his/her hobbies, family and school life, etc. in the letters. When writing to your child, consider their environment and culture, and avoid sensitive issues like wealth, politics and religions.

Please visit here to know more about the tips for making correspondence.

15. Can I visit my sponsored child?

Yes. World Vision organises supporter tours regularly for donors to see our work and understand community needs, and for sponsors to visit their sponsored children in the country where they live. For details, please click here.

You can also visit your sponsored child by yourself. Since most sponsored children live in remote areas with limited communications, please contact our Donor Services Department at least three months before departure to allow better visit arrangements with the field office.

To ensure the privacy and safety of sponsors and sponsored children, all sponsors are required to sign an agreement to comply with our Visitors' Guidelines.
Please contact our Donor Service Officer for enquiries.

16. Can I send a parcel or cash to my sponsored child?

Your greetings and support to your sponsored child, as expressed in letters, are already the best gift of all! If you would like to send gifts to your child, small gifts such as stationery, bookmarks, and postcards are suggested. However, please do not send cash or expensive gifts, e.g. watches, electronic goods, jewellery, cash and food, because this may create jealousy and unnecessary conflicts amongst children and their friends and relatives. Also, many developing countries have import restrictions and impose high tax on these goods. (Points to note when sending gifts)

In fact, your monthly donation has already provided your child with essential necessities through the Area Programme.

About my donations and others

17. Are my donations eligible for tax deductions? Do I get a receipt for each donation?

Yes. World Vision Hong Kong is a tax-exempt charity of the HKSAR Government, so your donations are tax-deductible. To encourage charitable donations, the HKSAR Government exempts up to 35% of assessable income or profits on approved charitable donations.

With our official receipts, child sponsors in Macau can also enjoy tax deductions according to the tax ordinance of the Macau SAR Government.

Receipts are issued for all donations. In order to reduce administration costs and better utilise our resources, an annual receipt listing the total donations in the past fiscal year will be issued to Hong Kong and Macau child sponsors in every April and January respectively.

18. How can I donate? Which donation method can best reduce World Vision's administration costs?

You can use direct debit, credit cards, Unionpay, PPS (Payment by Phone Service), crossed cheques, our online donation service, or you can visit our office in person to make your donations.

Direct debit is the most effective donation method to help reduce our administration costs, followed by credit cards.

19. What practical aid can my donation bring?

Every 60 seconds..... a hungry child is fed...... a family gets water..... a family receives the tools to overcome poverty.

The above is based on an average of 7 million children receiving food assistance per year. [ World Vision Food Programmes Master Report 2016-2020];
based on an average of 3.86 million people per year can access clean water. [ World Vision WASH Annual Review (2016-2020)]; and
based on 566,003 new households being supported by VisionFund in 2020.

Over the last 10 years, 89% of the severely malnourished children we treated made a full recovery.

The above is based on 497,087 children who treated for severe acute malnutrition. [ World Vision CMAM Database (2010-2020)]

Together we have impacted the lives of over 200 million vulnerable children by tackling the root causes of poverty.

The above is based on 5-year-data (2016-2020) reflecting families and children benefiting directly and indirectly from both development and humanitarian emergency programmes. This is combined with the number of children where World Vision has contributed to multiple policies addressing causes of vulnerability for children with evidence of at least one of them being implemented.

Child Protection

20. Can I share my sponsored child's information through social media or other channels?

We welcome all sponsors to share the joy of sponsorship and encourage more people to become child sponsors. However, please take note of the following to protect your sponsored child's safety and privacy:

The child must be adequately clothed in the shared photos
Family name, sponsorship ID or location/address of the child should NOT be disclosed
Uploaded child photos should NOT be geo-tagged to the precise locations of sponsored child
Storage and transmission of the child's personal information using internet, mobile devices, or other electronic means should be password-protected

21. Can I contact my sponsored child via social media or other means?

Due to child protection concerns, we do not recommend sponsors to directly contact their sponsored children via social media or other channels of communication. As there can be immense linguistic, religious and cultural differences between your sponsored child's community and ours, please contact your sponsored child through World Vision in order to prevent miscommunication.

22. What should I do if I suspect that some children in programme are abused?

World Vision has zero tolerance towards incidents of violence, including sexual exploitation or abuse, against children in the communities we serve. You play an important role in helping us keep your child and any other children safe. In case you have concerns either about the conduct of our employees or of any abuse of children or other vulnerable groups in our operations, please report via:
1) Call: World Vision Hong Kong at (852) 2394 2394
2) Email: World Vision Hong Kong at [email protected], OR
3) Website: World Vision's confidential Integrity and Protection Hotline at http://worldvision.ethicspoint.com
We maintain appropriate confidentiality for individuals in safeguarding incidents by keeping personal data strictly confidential and protected accordingly.
You may read more about how World Vision safeguard child and adult beneficiaries by visiting:
https://www.worldvision.org.hk/en/safeguarding

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