Find a child to sponsor Learn more
World Vision is a Christian organisation that engages people to work towards eliminating poverty and its causes.
More than 60 years of experience has taught us that the best way to change a child’s life is to transform their world. When a child’s community is stable and productive, the people around them can provide for their long-term wellbeing.
You can help make this life-changing work possible. When you sponsor a child, you’re joining a community of generous Australians committed to bringing lasting change to children living in poverty.
As a child sponsor, you can help change lives for $48 per month. You partner with us as we work with communities to develop and carry out projects to improve children’s wellbeing in the long term. Projects typically take place over 15 years or more.
Depending on needs in the child’s area, sponsorship projects may focus on:
Access to education, classroom repairs, school supplies and training for teachers and parents provides a child with opportunities for a better future.
Access to safe water through well-drilling, pumps and training in hygiene and sanitation decreases child mortality and frees up time for education instead of water collection.
Going beyond food distribution to a focus on creating sustainable food supplies through agricultural programs and nutritional training ensures that children are well-nourished and healthy.
Good health is the foundation of a child’s life. Access to essential services, vaccinations, medical clinics and training in disease prevention provides stronger health, for children and their communities.
Microloans, business training and a variety of skills training enable families to provide for their children’s needs.
World Vision Child Sponsorship changes children’s lives by transforming the area where they live. Using your donations, we identify the causes of children’s poverty and vulnerability and create development projects to address them.
You’ll hear from your sponsored child within the first six months of sponsorship. Then you can get to know each other through letters and cards if you would like to. It’s part of the joy of child sponsorship!
In your child’s community, we partner with individuals and groups to understand their needs, goals and resources – and find long-term solutions to overcome poverty and improve children’s wellbeing.
Your sponsorship donations support projects and activities designed to meet local needs and transform the world where your sponsored child lives. We’ll send you progress reports about the change you’re helping to make possible.
We adapt plans as we begin to see change in children’s lives – so that the community continues to meet its goals. As more local people get involved, they take increasing ownership of their success.
As a child sponsor, you’ll hear how you’re supporting work that helps prepare and equip your sponsored child’s community to continue its own development activities, without World Vision’s assistance.
As we prepare to leave, and your sponsorship draws to a close, it’s time to celebrate! Thanks to support from Australians like you, families enjoy better living conditions and are empowered with knowledge and skills to create a brighter future for their children.
You’ll receive a welcome pack with your sponsored child’s details, photo and information about their community.
We’ll call you to answer any questions you may have.
Your sponsored child will send you a letter (within 12 weeks). We’ll give you tips and hints for writing back.
You’ll get access to My World Vision online – see photos and videos from your sponsored child and their community, send an e-letter, easily update your personal details and view tax statements.
You’ll see video and photo updates about your sponsored child.
Look forward to a response from your sponsored child when you send a letter.
We’ll send you community updates so you can see the progress you’re supporting.
Consider visiting your sponsored child – it’s a life-changing experience!
You’ll be kept in the loop with emails about child sponsorship and other World Vision news.
On special occasions, including birthdays and Christmas, we’ll make it easy for you to send a card. (Sponsored children love to hear from their sponsors!)
Your sponsored child will send you a message at Christmas.
You’ll receive annual progress reports about your sponsored child’s health and education and community achievements you’ve supported.
And we’ll send you an annual tax statement in July detailing your donations in the past financial year.
Every community is different – what you receive and its timing may vary depending on your sponsored child’s unique context. If you write to your sponsored child, we recommend you allow at least three months between letters for delivery and response.
When you begin your child sponsorship, please review these guidelines for safe online sharing.
When you sponsor a child, you can help to change their world. World Vision’s Child Sponsorship Program helps children living in disadvantaged regions to escape poverty.
Experience has taught us that the best way to change a child’s life is to transform the world in which they live – their family, their community and the local area.
As a child sponsor, you partner with us as we work with local families, community groups and governments in breaking the cycle of poverty and creating long-term change. Using your donations, we identify the causes of the child’s poverty and vulnerability, and create development projects designed to address them.
Our goal is that all children in the community will benefit from our work, which can include improved healthcare, education, water, sanitation and food. There are so many wonderful stories of sponsored children who’ve grown up healthy and happy – thanks to generous people like you.
The selection of children for sponsorship is a respectful process that happens in partnership with their community.
We work with community representatives to identify the local areas where the needs are greatest and the community then chooses children from those areas for sponsorship. Sponsored children are chosen from the most vulnerable families and being sponsored often gives them increased visibility and importance in the community.
Participation in all World Vision programs is voluntary, and sponsored children and their families choose to be a part of the program. We always respect the rights of families to make decisions about this.
Your sponsored child, along with other children in their community, benefits from the changes made possible by your donations.
Supporters often tell us that the best part of sponsoring children is seeing the real difference they are making in a child's life. And the best place to see this change unfold is My World Vision – your personal window into your sponsored child’s world.
Writing to your sponsored child is also a great way to learn more about them and the difference you are helping to make in their community.
Most sponsored children love to receive letters and cards from their sponsors. It can be a great source of encouragement for them to know that someone far away cares about them and their future.
There are three ways to correspond and build a connection with your sponsored child:
1. Send a greeting card or letter supplied by World Vision. To make it easy to keep in touch, several times a year you’ll be given the opportunity to send them a card or letter – including at Christmas and for their birthday. 2. Send an eLetter to your sponsored child via the My World Vision website. It’s a quick and easy way to write to your sponsored child. Your eLetter will be sent to the World Vision office in your sponsored child’s country. It will be printed, translated and passed on to your sponsored child. You’ll receive your response via regular print post. 3. Write a letter or card and post it to your sponsored child. Many sponsors send a letter, card or postcard directly to their sponsored child's country. You can do this any time. Information and guidelines on writing to your sponsored child can be viewed here.
Your sponsored child and their family are part of a World Vision program that takes place in a defined area – usually home to around 20,000 people or more. We call this an Area Development Program (ADP).
To start an ADP, first an area is identified where children and families are suffering because of poverty. We work with community representatives to identify local areas that have the greatest need.
Afterwards, the decision to commence a sponsorship program is made with the community. An assessment is carried out by local World Vision staff alongside community representatives, local authorities and other non-government organisations in the area.
Before we commence a sponsorship program, the following things must be in place:
We work with the local people to help them develop and carry out projects to improve children’s wellbeing in the long term. That’s where your support as a child sponsor can make such a difference – supporting projects and activities that can transform the world where your sponsored child lives.
"Having a connection to a child, family and community in another part of the world is so special … it will truly enrich your life."
– Emma LovellSponsors Kamala from Nepal
"Having a connection to a child, family and community in another part of the world is so special… it will truly enrich your life."
"Having witnessed this firsthand, we know what we were receiving in the mail about Giddiness was indeed true, and that our small amount of funds sent each month improved four local villages."
– Tracy and Murray McCallumSponsor Giddiness from Tanzania
"I love how we’re going out of our way to help people who aren’t as lucky as us … I’ve realised how lucky I am."
– Anna PlaistoweFamily Sponsors Sopheak from Cambodia