You can give your sponsored child a monetary gift through Compassion. When you give a direct financial gift, the staff from the local child development centre will talk with them and their family and purchase a gift they need. Where possible, gifts are bought within the community to help support the local economy.

You can give:

Christmas Fund: We recommend giving a minimum of $30 per sponsored child annually to the Christmas Fund. Donations are pooled so that a gift can be purchased for each Compassion assisted child. Ten per cent of donations to Compassion's Christmas Gift Fund is allocated to administration and fundraising.

Child gifts: A minimum of $20 to a maximum of $150 can be given up to two times per year. We recommend one of these be a birthday gift.

Birthday gifts: A minimum of $20 to a maximum of $150 can be given once annually. We recommend giving the gift two months before the child's birthday occurs, to allow plenty of time for them to receive it by their special day.

Family gifts: A minimum of $35 to a maximum of $1,500 in total can be given annually. These gifts can be given once-off, or up to four times per year to assist your sponsored child's family.

Child centre gifts: A minimum of $70 to a maximum of $20,000 in total can be given annually. These can be given once-off, or up to four times per year, to assist a child development centre to purchase equipment or other items to enhance the quality of the program for the children.

Final gifts: A one-off gift of between $20 and $4,000 may be given during a child's final year in the Child Sponsorship Program. This can help set the child up for the future.

You can include these gifts with your automatic payments. Apart from the Christmas Fund, 100 per cent of your monetary donation is given to your sponsored child, their family or a child development centre in goods or services.

For many families living in poverty, receiving a gift from their child's sponsor has the potential to radically change their circumstances. If you would like to communicate to your sponsored child your intention to give a gift, we recommended you wait until the gift has been sent to avoid severe disappointment for the family if circumstances change. You can be assured that their greatest need will be determined through personal consultations between our child development staff and the sponsored child's family, to ensure your gift can have the greatest impact.

We understand that many supporters would like to be able to choose a gift for their sponsored child, but unfortunately we can't send overseas parcels because of possible theft, high custom charges for our country offices and postage costs. Instead, purchasing gifts through the local child development centre staff in your child's country ensures your gift matches your child's needs and cultural sensitivities and helps support the local economy.

You can:

Give a gift
Learn more about how Compassion gift giving works