Frequently Asked Questions

Sponsorship plus Urgent Needs provides funds for additional benefits for sponsored children, their families and communities that cannot be provided by child sponsorship funds alone. While sponsorship funds provide activities which directly benefit your sponsored child, the extra $10 from Sponsorship plus Urgent needs is used to fund initiatives and programs which sow further into the lives of Compassion assisted children, their families and communities.

As Compassion raises more funds for these activities, we will be able to assist more sponsored children with these additional benefits.

Some of these include:

• Emergency medical care
• HIV and AIDS Initiative – includes education on prevention as well as care
• Education and training programs for parents of sponsored children
• Partner church development – including church partner staff training

You can easily donate to Compassion Canada through internet banking. Just like adding a payee for paying bills, search for Compassion Canada and use your supporter number as the account number. Your supporter number will start with an “8-,” and be followed by 8 digits.

Depending on the bank you may need to omit the “8” or the dash. If your donation is for anything other than sponsorship—such as Urgent Needs, Christmas Gift Fund, etc.—please provide instructions in the notes section.

Presently, we work with Royal Bank, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Canadian Western Bank, Citizens Bank and Credit Unions located in the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Alternatively, you can make a donation by credit card through our secure website.

Yes, we have a Gifts of Compassion catalogue.

Our office would also be happy to provide you with paper copies of the catalogue, please contact us with your request.

Yes, Gifts of Compassion donations are tax-deductible. A charitable tax receipt for all donations made in a calendar year (excluding donations made through Text to Give or an online fundraiser, which are receipted separately) will be issued no later than February 28th of the following year.

In addition to your monthly sponsorship donation and encouraging letters, you may wish to send gifts to your sponsored child. We are delighted when sponsors decide to provide additional support. We do not mail parcels because delivery in developing countries is unreliable and expensive, but you are able to send paper items like stickers, posters and colouring pages.

We also provide an opportunity to send a monetary gift. The options are: Birthday Gift, General Gift, Family Gift or Child Development Centre Gift. Child Development Centre staff assist children and their families to ensure funds are used appropriately and to discuss how to best use the gift to benefit the child and family. If you have a specific gift in mind, we will forward your suggestion, but ultimately the child or their family will make the final decision.

Send your child a gift online.

Child sponsorship provides a holistic development program for children in Compassion’s ministry. But at times there are other factors that can have a significant impact on a child’s life. This additional $10 donation to the Urgent Needs Fund helps to address those unforeseen circumstances.

This donation does not go directly to your sponsored child, but is available to help all sponsored children and their families around the world as needed. This could include—but is not limited to—emergency medical care, disaster relief and reconstruction, income-generation training and other critical interventions. These initiatives combine with the benefits of child sponsorship to break the cycle of poverty.

You can set up a monthly donation to the Urgent Needs Fund online at any time.

Yes, it is possible for a group to sponsor one child. We have a few options to make donations simpler.

Depending on donation preferences and the group type, there may be different options for how this is set up. Please contact our office to walk through the sponsorship set-up for groups.

For each gift you order, you will receive a gift card for you to personalize for your friends and loved ones that explains how the gift you have purchased will benefit an individual or family living in poverty.

While gifts can be ordered year-round, if you require gift cards for Christmas, we recommend you make your order by December 15th. Digital versions of the cards tied to each gift are available at any time for download through the website. Please allow at least 10 business days for your card to arrive.

Funds raised from the Gifts of Compassion catalogue are used to support Compassion’s Response Programs. Should excess funds be raised in a particular area, we will meet other urgent needs as they arise.

No less than eighty percent of your donation will be directed to Compassion’s Response programs. No more than 20 percent is used for fundraising initiatives and administration. Compassion assisted children and their families receive no cash. Benefits are always in the form of goods and services, carefully designed, delivered and purchased according to the children’s individual needs. We encourage you to check out our financial statement for more details.