1. How does child sponsorship work in schools?
2. How much does sponsorship cost?
3. How do we make our sponsorship payments?
4. As a sponsoring school, what will we receive?
5. Can we decide on the nationality of our child?
6. How long does sponsorship last?
7. Why does sponsorship end?
8. Can we change the contact name of our school during sponsorship?

9. What happens if we cannot continue as a sponsoring school?
10. Can we write to our sponsored child?
11. As a school, how do we write to our sponsored child?
12. What happens to messages we send?
13. Will our sponsored child be singled out in the community?
14. Can we send gifts?
15. How does ActionAid child sponsorship support the curriculum?
16. I have more questions…

Your school is your sponsored child’s only sponsor. Your donation will go to help your sponsored child and the people who matter to them most – their family, friends and neighbours. We’ve learnt over 35 years that the way to bring about lasting change is to help the whole community – so you can be sure that your donation is being spent in the best possible way.

Your school’s one-to-one relationship with your sponsored child means that you have a unique insight into the change your pupils are helping to create. Through the special messages from your sponsored child and reports from the whole community, you and your pupils will be able to see the transformation in their lives first-hand.

And with the opportunity to write to your sponsored child, you and your pupils have the chance to build an incredible relationship.

Sponsorship costs a minimum of £180 a year. 80p of each pound you give goes straight overseas to help tackle poverty. 20p is used on priority activities, such as responding to emergencies, campaigning for and with poor people in the UK and finding new sponsors.

Of the 80p that goes overseas, 70 per cent is spent directly in your sponsored child’s community. 20 per cent is spent on projects at a national or regional level that deliver change for all poor people or help where a sponsorship programme can’t be run – such as in areas of conflict. Up to 10 per cent is spent on administering sponsorship in your sponsored child’s country.

Many schools hold fundraising events to pay for child sponsorship, so paying termly or annually may be a better option than making monthly payments. We will be happy to work with you to organise a payment method that suits you. Contact us on 01460 23 8080 or email janball@actionaid.org.uk.

Your school will receive a photograph of your sponsored child and two messages from him/her a year. Each message comes with a short update from the field worker, letting you know how your schools’ sponsored child is doing.

You’ll also get two reports from the community each year. These let you know how your school’s money is being spent and how you and your pupils are helping to change lives.

To support you in implementing child sponsorship in your school you will receive a school’s guide to being a great child sponsor, packed with curriculum guidance, case studies and teaching tips, as well as online lesson ideas, a sample school newsletter and a school development plan. You’ll also get a free ActionAid teacher talk once a year and free resources to support fundraising in school, such as balloons, stickers and badges.

And, we’ll send you a termly e-newsletter full of new ideas for fundraising or building child sponsorship into your classroom activities.

As a sponsoring school you may wish simply to sponsor a child wherever the need is greatest. However, if your school has a link to a particular country, or your pupils are studying a particular topic, just give us a call on 01460 23 8080 and we’ll do our best to help match your school with a child from that country.

There’s no set time, but it’s fair to say lasting change doesn’t occur overnight. As a sponsoring school, the idea is that you will see a child through their formative years, and help them as they grow up. This means making a long-term commitment to a child and their community. Five years is usually the minimum.

Sponsorship can come to an end for a variety of reasons: a child grows up, finishes school or perhaps a community no longer needs our help.

Yes.  Just give us a call on 01460 238 080  and we’ll be happy to help.

We hope you’ll be able to continue as a sponsoring school, but please get in touch if for any reason you are having difficulty. There are other ways your school can help that don’t involve the same commitment.

Please, please write to your sponsored child – the more creative the messages the better! Children love receiving letters, drawings or cards from their ‘friends overseas’ and they certainly have fun writing back. For those that are unable to read or understand English, someone will be able to read your pupils’ messages to them, translating where necessary.

It’s important to be sensitive to different cultural backgrounds, so please steer away from anything that shows an over-abundant lifestyle, or anything inappropriate, such as people in beachwear. Also, you and your pupils can keep personal information, like your school address, safe by just using your supporter reference number.

If your school chooses not to write, don’t worry – you’ll still hear regularly from your sponsored child.

On the back of the little booklet that contains details about your sponsored child, along with their photo, you’ll find the address of the country programme office. Please send messages to your sponsored child to that address.

At the moment ActionAid cannot process and distribute digital messages to sponsored children, as many of the communities we work with live in isolated, rural areas without electricity. But there are many other creative ways to communicate as a class with your sponsored child. Your school’s guide to being a sponsor will contain several suggestions and tips on this.

Whenever you and your pupils write to your sponsored child please include your supporter reference number and child reference number. This makes sure your school’s messages get to the right child as soon as possible.

Some schools choose to send photos of their pupils, which are very welcome. We ask that you check your school’s policy first and ensure that you have obtained photographic consent for each individual photographed.

When your messages reach your sponsored child’s community we take care to share them with all the children in the community so that none are singled out.

If your child attends school, the messages may be translated and shared in class and then displayed for a little while before being given to your sponsored child for them to keep. If your sponsored child doesn’t yet attend school then the messages will be shared in a special meeting.

Children love to get messages from sponsoring schools and we know that many children keep their messages for many years.

No. We’re very careful to make sure that sponsorship is fair for all children in the community.

Sponsored children don’t get any special treatment. Any messages your school sends are shared with the community before being given to your sponsored child to keep. And when your sponsored child writes their message to your pupils, we make sure that no child is left out.

We also ask you to not send gifts to your sponsored child as these can single out children, so we’ve set up a special Gift Fund which will buy presents for all the children in the community.

We have set up a special Gift Fund your school can donate to, which funds presents for all the children in a sponsored child’s community to enjoy. By giving a gift to the Gift Fund your school could help equip a playground or buy sports equipment to enable the whole community to join in a celebration. We set up the Gift Fund so that one child isn’t singled out unfairly by receiving a gift and we ask that, if your school would like to send a gift, you use the Gift Fund rather than sending one through the post.

Child sponsorship is an excellent way to build the global dimension within your school and supports a range of curriculum areas. For example, writing and receiving messages from your sponsored child can support work in Literacy; finding out about your sponsored child’s interests and country can support work in Geography; exploring issues relating to your child’s situation can support work in Citizenship; and planning and running fundraising events can support work in Maths, as well as helping pupils to develop skills like team work and project management.

If you have more questions we’d be delighted to answer them. Please call Jan Ball and her team in Somerset on 01460 23 8080 or email janball@actionaid.org.uk