Everyday opportunities
- Do you have friends or family who love children? People who are passionate about being with or working with children often welcome the opportunity to sponsor a child through Compassion.
- Chat with friends and family who enjoy volunteering. You have something in common – tell them about your role as a volunteer advocate with Compassion.
- Know someone who is interested in social justice issues? Let them know that sponsoring a child helps protect that child from potential threats. For example, sponsoring a child in Thailand means the local church will know and care for that child, reducing the risk of abduction and trafficking.
- Take advantage of “small talk” moments in your day, at the doctor’s office. Share Compassion with the receptionist or during your appointment. Small talk can lead to large opportunities.
- Share Compassion in your workplace. Post photos of your sponsored child at your desk. Have some child packs available in case anyone asks about sponsoring a child.
- Buying a birthday gift for the person who has everything? Consider purchasing a gift from our Gifts of Compassion catalogue. It’s a great way to introduce your friends to Compassion’s work with children and families living in poverty – and how they can take action.
- Do you enjoy reading? Ask if you can set up a Compassion table at a local bookstore. Or organize a book club and choose a book about poverty. You could use one of Wess Stafford’s books as a springboard to your discussions – Just a Minute, or Too Small to Ignore.
- Your children can draw pictures or write letters to your sponsored child. Sponsored children love receiving letters and your child will, too. He or she can share the letters at school.
- Create a scrapbook of the photos and letters you’ve received from your sponsor child. Show it off when people ask about Compassion. A scrapbook helps make your work as an advocate real and personal.
- Connect with other advocates in the area where you live. Plan a coffee night or bowling event. Brainstorm together to create even more advocacy opportunities.
Compassion trips and events
- If you’ve been on a trip with Compassion, organize an evening for friends to hear your stories about the experience. Or bring your trip photos to a coffee date and talk one-on-one.
- Plan a fundraiser to do even more for the children and families you met on your trip. One advocate helped raise money for a child development facility for the area she visited in the Philippines, for example.
- If you’ve met your sponsored child, share your stories, your photos and your heart.
- Plan a letter writing party. Provide coffee, drinks and dessert and enjoy writing letters to your sponsored children together. Encourage your guests to bring stickers and photographs to send with the letters.
- Enjoy dinner and a movie with friends and family. Maybe plan an ethnic menu along . Your Compassion representative can also provide a selection of movies about Compassion’s work.
Media Opportunities
- Write about your sponsored child on your blog or post photos on Facebook. You can also share photos of children waiting to be sponsored.
- If you’re hosting Compassion event in your community, ask your Compassion representative about media opportunities. We can help publicize the event in print, online or through radio or television.
Church and ministry opportunities
- Get involved with the youth group at your church. Hold a Fast4Them event: invite youth to go without food for a defined amount of time to fight hunger in the developing world. You can also incorporate a food drive into the event to benefit an organization close to home.
- Do a presentation about Compassion’s work through the children’s ministry at your church. Many churches host summer camps and vacation bible school events. Kids love to hear about their peers around the world. Ask your Compassion Representative for copies of Explorer magazine to distribute.
- Connect with churches in your area. Invite your local pastor, youth pastor or children’s ministry leader out for coffee and share Compassion’s ministry with them.
- Have you done a church presentation? Ask your pastor if you can set up a display table for a few weeks following your presentation to give church members more opportunity to sponsor children.
- Your church might let you create a permanent display or bulletin board in the fellowship or meeting area at your church. The mission and outreach program at your church might also provide opportunities for you to share Compassion.
- If you haven’t done a church presentation, Compassion Sunday resources are a great place to begin. Compassion can also help you arrange for one of our musical artists or speakers to visit your church.
- Ask if you can lead or be part of a small group Bible study that focuses on social justice or poverty. Make use of Compassion’s Bible study resource, Hope Lives.
- Ask if you can do a presentation about Compassion at an upcoming event with your church’s women’s group or men’s group.
Looking for even more ideas? Check out page 62 of your Advocate Network Training Guide or contact your Compassion Representative at 1-800-563-5437.
This post was written by Compassion Representative Stephanie Hoefnagels