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Sponsor a child

Stand alongside the Church to see a child released from poverty.

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Why your child sponsorship support is effective

In a world that’s filled with injustice, it’s easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed. That’s why at Compassion our answer is simple: begin with a child. For £32 a month, bring lasting change to a vulnerable child in poverty. Provide:

  • Protection from threats like gangs, trafficking and child marriage

  • Educational support, including help to stay in school longer

  • Confidence, self-esteem and the hope for a better future

Empower one child to overcome physical, spiritual and emotional poverty, for good.

Ensure one child receives nutritional support, regular check-ups and the support of their local church community.

Give one child living in poverty the educational support they need for a brighter future.

Why choose Compassion UK for sponsoring a child?

The longstanding project-based, child development programme you’ll give your sponsored child access to in the future is highly effective.

Independent research into the project-based programme shows Compassion-sponsored children stay in school longer and are more likely to grow up to be employed and become leaders in their churches and communities.

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Protects Children & Youth

Sponsorship helps protect children and youth from threats like gangs, trafficking and child marriage.

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Supports Health & Well-Being

Sponsorship supports children’s health and well-being.

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Promotes Long-Term Education

Sponsorship helps children stay in school longer.

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Inspires Hope

Sponsorship inspires hope and helps children believe in a future free from poverty.

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Makes a Spiritual Difference

Sponsorship makes a meaningful spiritual difference, showing God’s love through their local church and sponsor.

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Community Change-Makers

Sponsorship equips children and youth to be change-makers in their communities.

Excellent stewardship

As a registered charity, we’re committed to excellent stewardship and are registered with the Fundraising Regulator. We conduct regular internal and external audits in our field offices and in the UK.

Typically, for every pound given in child sponsorship donations:

  • 88p spent on charitable activities (8p support costs)

  • 12p spent on fundraising and finding the next sponsor.

Trusted charity since 1952

Compassion is a leading authority in Christian holistic child development.

Direct child sponsorship

The child you choose to sponsor today will directly receive the benefit of your sponsorship support.

Church-driven

We run our child sponsorship programmes exclusively in partnership with local churches staffed by local people who fully understand their local communities.

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What will your child sponsorship donations actually change?

You'll help the child you support reach their God-given potential by giving them access to:

  • School resources and uniforms to help defeat illiteracy and provide critical skills.

  • Medical check-ups to fight back against disease and keep children healthy. Access to medical care

  • Nutritional meals and additional nutritional support where needed.

  • Christ-centred guidance through the local church to overcome fear and hopelessness.

  • Vocational training to equip them for the future.

  • Recreational activities to improve self-confidence, social and emotional skills.

  • A one-to-one relationship with you their only sponsor, with letters translated into their native language to bring hope and positive change.


This creates a powerful ripple effect into the child’s family and child’s community.

How child sponsorship works

1. Our church partners reach the children in the greatest need

1. Our church partners reach the children in the greatest need.

Staff who know their communities inside-out identify the children most in need of sponsorship support.
2. We start searching for a sponsor, like, you

2. We start searching for a sponsor, like, you

Once registered in the Compassion Programme, we look for a sponsor to support each child.
3. One Compassion sponsor starts to empower one child

3. One Compassion sponsor starts to empower one child

You sponsor a child directly! Your donations will immediately begin to equip the child you support in every area of their lives and improve their well-being.
4. Letters provide vital encouragement

4. Letters provide vital encouragement

Sponsors provide encouragement to the child they support through the exchange of letters. What’s more they often receive uplifting messages and prayers in return.
A group of children, young boys and girls, possibly brothers and sisters, siblings, sit together closely in a large group of seven kids, smiling, happy, laughing, outside a poor, low income, poverty, falling apart, peeling old painted blue house, shack, home, boarded building.

5. The cycle of poverty is broken

Alongside a local church, you help bring lasting change. Formerly sponsored children (known as Compassion graduates) are empowered to live free from poverty and bring change to their family and whole community.

What can you expect when you sponsor a child?

We’ll provide you with everything you need to encourage the child you support as they grow and develop.

myCompassion hub

Compassion UK App and myCompassion to build connection

Use the free Compassion UK App or myCompassion online account to write letters and view photos and information about the child you support.

Welcome journey and photo

When you sponsor a child today, you'll be able to follow a welcome journey detailing more information about the child you're supporting. Plus, you'll have the option to be sent a physical photo of the child or young person you sponsor
Reading a letter on myCompassion

Encouraging letters and drawings

Receiving personal letters and drawings from the child you sponsor will give you an insight into the child’s life and their culture and community. Have the privilege of speaking encouragement into their life.
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Project updates from the local community

Once a year, you’ll receive an update from the project the child you support attends. Learn more about the impact your sponsorship is making in the wider community.
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New photos of the child you support

Photo updates of the child or young person you sponsor will show you how they’re growing and thriving. You’ll also receive news about what they’re learning at their project.

The opportunity to visit and meet

Where possible, Compassion offers you the chance to visit the child you support either on a group trip or individual visit. Make treasured memories and be inspired by how the local church is bringing hope to the whole community.

Child sponsorship testimonials

Join 86,000 others who are changing lives within Compassion UK.

Compassion child sponsorship is a beautiful way of connecting us to our global neighbour and reminding us that loving the poor is at the core of the gospel.

Andy Hawthorne | Founder & CEO, The Message Trust

We would encourage anybody to sponsor, it's so easy to spend money on coffees, magazines and treats without really thinking about it. But for the same cost each month you could change a child's life and make a real difference, not only to them but their whole family.

Paul and Linda Coleman, Norwich

We had the opportunity when we went out to the Dominican Republic to go to our sponsored child’s Compassion project. I remember asking the project administrator, can I see Darwin’s sponsorship file. He pulled it down from the rack and there it was - two pencils, so much, half a pound of rice, so much, two pairs of socks, so much.

David Woods, Surrey

How to sponsor a child

Begin your child sponsorship journey today by finding a child on our website who is waiting for a sponsor.
You may also be interested in the following guides:

Your Child Sponsorship FAQs

Many answers can be found right here in our frequently asked questions.