Money raised through the Ambassador Network provides significant financial resources to support some of our most important but difficult to fund work.

In 2008, the Network raised £1.6 million to support our priority areas of work. These areas include:

• Countries where our child sponsorship programmes are not viable because of instability, for example Liberia
• Countries experiencing conflict, for example the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Communities coping with extreme and widespread poverty, such as that experienced by some of Brazil's 4.8 million landless farmers

Your investment could also support our Strategic Crisis Fund - the vital pot of money that enables us to react quickly to emergencies such as cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. Ambassadors also help fund longer term work to rebuild lives after emergencies subside, ensuring communities are better prepared for future disasters.

Ambassadors help us to work on many levels to affect change and tackle the root causes of poverty. For example, not only providing a seed bank to help a poor community improve their food security, but also campaigning to demand equal and fair trade rules from governments.

Some Ambassadors giving significantly more do chose to give to specific priority projects.