Frequently Asked Questions

You are a valued part of this ministry, and the relationship you have with your sponsored child is cherished. However, we understand there may be circumstances that prevent you from continuing your sponsorship and we are here to serve you.

To cancel your sponsorship or to learn more regarding some financial options that may allow you to continue your relationship with your sponsored child, please email us at info@compassion.ca or call us at 1-800-563-5437.

Sponsorship costs $47 CAD per month per sponsored child. Sponsorship provides children with different learning opportunities, healthcare and social activities, including:

• Christian Teaching & Discipleship
• Bibles
• Access to Education & Literacy Training
• School Supplies
• Regular Health Checkups & Hygiene Supplies
• Dental Screenings
• Life Skills Training
• Vocational Training
• Nutritional Supplements
• Education on Proper Nutrition

Compassion’s local church partners tailor the program to address the specific needs of their communities to ensure that children have the greatest opportunity to reach their God-given potential.Together, you and the church are ensuring that the gospel is shared, people are discipled, lives are changed, communities are transformed and poverty ends

To graduate from Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program, sponsored children need to have at least completed primary school, a vocational training course and possibly secondary education as well. The expected age at which children may complete the program varies from country to country depending on the education system, but will be between 16 years and 22 years. A child may leave the program earlier if their family moves from the area, if the home situation improves, or if the family chooses to withdraw their child from the program. Every teenager with Compassion has a plan for their future, including their likely date for finishing the program. You are welcome to write to your older sponsored child asking about what is contained in their copy of ‘My Plan for Tomorrow’.

For more details on the process, check out this article: When do you graduate from Compassion’s program? 

Children and families receive no cash. Benefits are only ever in the form of goods and services, carefully designed, delivered or purchased according to their needs.

Note: Child and family gifts (donations) are allocated exclusively to the child / family you are supporting. The Compassion centre staff will involve the family in purchasing gifts that are appropriate and meet specific needs.

If you are interested in learning more about how Compassion Canada handles finances, click here.

Looks can be deceiving. The photographs do not show the conditions in which these children live or the hunger and abuse many experience. Compassion believes in maintaining the dignity of the poor. For this reason, as much as we are able, we try to ensure the children are photographed in clean clothes.

Learn more about why your sponsor child may not “look poor”. 

All contributions of $10 or more to Compassion Canada are tax-deductible in Canada. To be eligible for a receipt, all year-end gifts and donations to Compassion must be received by December 31st. Compassion receipts for income tax purposes are issued by February 28th of the following year. Receipts can be sent by mail or are accessible through your My Compassion account.

Compassion Canada’s CRA Business number is 11887-1516 RR0001

You can find your supporter number on most correspondence you receive from Compassion Canada, as well as in your My Compassion account. It starts with “8-”, and is followed by 8 digits.

You can also call the Contact Centre at 1-800-563-5437 and we would be happy to provide it over the phone.

In the event a sponsor misses a monthly donation, Compassion has a fund that covers the sponsorship cost. We realize that credit card changes and other financial complications are an inconvenient reality for many of us. Our goal is to ensure children receive the same benefits and attend the program as usual while we try to contact the sponsor to resolve the missed donation. Please note, Compassion cannot cover a sponsorship indefinitely and if we were unable to contact the current sponsor, we would have to find a new sponsor for the child.

You can update your financial information through our secure website.

Compassion deeply appreciates the faithful emotional and financial support you give to your sponsored child. In today’s uncertain economic times your support and commitment become even more critical as our sponsored children and their families living in extreme poverty are hit even harder by the global recession and food crisis. Because we understand that sometimes personal or financial circumstances can make that monthly financial commitment very difficult for you, Compassion has various options available to assist you that can be customized according to your individual needs and financial circumstances. If you are experiencing difficulties and feel you might benefit from one of our options for sponsorship assistance or you would like to find out more, please contact our office..

In areas where there are thousands of families needing help and only places for a few hundred children to be enrolled at the Compassion centre, the local staff may limit sponsorship to one child per family. However, in some areas, up to three children per family may attend the project. You are welcome to contact Compassion Canada to ask if your sponsored child’s siblings are already registered with Compassion, and if so, whether they are still awaiting sponsorship.

You can change your automatic withdrawal information through the Payment Methods section of your My Compassion account or by calling our office. Thank you for supporting Compassion.

Compassion’s holistic child development program activities take place at church-based child development centres. Sometimes activities take place in the church building or the church may have another facility designated for the child development centre. Each centre is within a 30-minute walk of the homes of the children it serves.

Program activities vary in detail according to the culture, environment, or needs of the area where the individual centres are located. However, there are common elements in all Compassion child development centres which ensure that all Compassion-assisted children are given the greatest opportunity to be released from spiritual, economic, social, emotional and physical poverty.

Each child development centre:

Meets on a regular basis.
Uses the facilities of the local church partner through which the program operates.
Provides a programmed curriculum of activities for registered and sponsored children.
Has a committee which provides local accountability and support.
Has a director employed by the church to manage the day-to-day activities.
Employs staff and volunteers selected by the local church.
Operates under Compassion International’s carefully monitored standards and guidelines.
Provides reasonable levels of safety for children relative to the realities of the surrounding community.

Donations can be made by pre-authorized withdrawal (bank account or credit card), internet banking, telephone banking, Interac online, cheque or money order. These withdrawals can be made monthly or annually. Pre-authorized donations are safe, easy and convenient. Pre-authorized withdrawal from your bank account is our preferred method of payment, as it saves Compassion hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in transaction fees. Automatic withdrawals can be setup by calling our office or by mailing in your information to us at Compassion Canada, PO Box 5591, London ON, N6A 5G8. Cheques made out to Compassion Canada will be accepted, as will money orders. Unfortunately deposits can not be made directly into Compassion’s bank account.

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.

No less than 80 percent of your donation goes to ministry activities, including all expenses that occur within the country your sponsored child is from,  which directly benefit sponsored children. Children and families do not receive cash but instead are recipients of goods and services, carefully designed, delivered or purchased according to their needs. Independent and internal audits of our work are conducted to ensure donor support is being used efficiently and with integrity.

Compassion Canada’s financial statements are available online at Financial Statements .

If you could sum up our ministry in a phrase, it would be “holistic child development.”

We want to see children grow and flourish in all areas of their life – spiritual, physical, cognitive and social-emotional. Through sponsorship we can help make that happen. Each child is linked with one sponsor that contributes $41 a month to ensure that their sponsored child receives healthcare, education, food, clothing, vocational training, social, emotional and spiritual care. These benefits are provided through activities run through the church-based child development centre.

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.

Within your My Compassion account you can track the status of your gift (on the “Gifts” tab available on your sponsored child’s record).

Once the gift has been delivered, you should receive a follow-up letter from your sponsored child acknowledging your gift and how the gift money was used. Please remember that each letter may take a few months to come through for translation and delivery. Please check the date of your child’s letter to work out whether he or she would have received your gift before they last wrote back to you. Many times, the children aren’t writing to you on the same day that they receive your gift, rather they reply on a scheduled day when all the children at the centre write to their sponsors.

If you are in doubt whether your sponsored child has received your gift, you are welcome to write and ask or contact our office.

Our three distinctives make us who we are: We are Christ-centred, child-focused and church-based. We partner exclusively with local churches to implement our programs, because we believe the Church is the most effective in reaching its neighbours. Our holistic child development program is focused on developing children in every aspect of life—physical, social-emotional, cognitive and spiritual. And we do it all in Jesus’ name! We believe that transformed people will transform families, communities and nations, which is why we give children the opportunity to be rooted in Christian community at a local church, where they experience God’s transforming love and have the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Learn more about what makes Compassion different from other organizations.

Compassion’s child development ministry is not based on material handouts. We facilitate individual child development by providing learning opportunities that a child may not encounter in another situation. Learning is central to Compassion’s mission-we provide life skills that foster each child’s success. Learning opportunities also are provided for parents, which enables them to improve their parenting skills and provide for their families. Therefore we do not allow extra money to be given every month, but there are several opportunities over the year for you to bless your sponsored child and family with a special monetary gift.

To give a child, family or project gift online click here or connect with our office directly.