Sally Blundell looks into one of the most successful fund-raising tools. To set the record straight, World Vision does not do child sponsorship anymore. Nor does Christian Children's Fund or Save the Children Fund. Yes, certainly the first two talk about child sponsorship a lot - their massive marketing budgets focus on the one dollar a day, this child needs you kind of rhetoric, but that is as far as it goes. No child is singled out for extra benefits.
Sponsorship money is pooled and used for community purposes.
In late 1995 the Save the Children fund UK decided to phase out individual child sponsorship. When World Vision first began child sponsorship it focused on specific children - orphans on Korea to be precise. From there it spread to other countries, gradually widening its scope to try and meet the needs of families, then communities and now while area development programmes. That social welfare model is one we've moved right away from, because we felt there were bigger issues in the community. For World Vision child sponsorship is simply an effective way of raising money, and ensuring the needs of children are met - their keyline, says Colin Prentice, is 'the best way to help the child is to help the whole community'.