International Charities May Find It Hard to Attract ‘Child Sponsors’ Due to Recession

Typically a consistent source of revenue for the nonprofit groups that rely on them, “child sponsorships” may be suffering as a result of the recession, says a study conducted for World Vision, an international relief charity in Federal Way, Wash.

Donors who sponsor children generally provide monthly donations that pay for the young people’s food and education. In turn, they may receive letters from the children and updates on their progress.

One in five people surveyed in August said that, because of the economic climate, they were less likely to sponsor a child. More than half said they would be more likely to sign on to a sponsorship program if they had more money, according to the poll of more than 1,000 adults by Harris Interactive.

Lana Reda, vice president of donor engagement at World Vision, said that fewer people feel comfortable making a long-term commitment to a charity in a fragile economy.

“Americans have a great heart for those that are downtrodden,” she said. “But it takes discretionary income, as well as the ongoing ability to commit.”

Her charity has seen fewer people sign up to sponsor children. Support among repeat donors however, has remained strong, despite the recession, the charity says. The organization, which ranked No. 13 in last year’s Philanthropy 400, The Chronicle‘s annual survey of the American charities that raise the most in private donations, reported raising $728-million in 2007.

Seeking Data on Results

The study also found that donors want to know how their money is spent. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they might give more if they had greater knowledge of how their dollars were used, while 58 percent said they might do so if they knew their money was making a difference.

Respondents cited the following as the main benefits of sponsoring children: knowing they are helping a child (70 percent); knowing that they are helping a child’s community (61 percent); and promoting values among the donor’s own offspring (56 percent). Less important was establishing a personal tie to a child through a sponsorship program, cited by 40 percent of survey respondents.

The study found that the economy was causing people to rethink their giving. Seventy-five percent said they had changed their donations to all types of charitable causes.

Thirty-six percent said they were donating less money to charities, and 20 percent said they were doing less volunteer work. Ten percent, however, said they were giving more money.