Compassion International, Inc.

Our mission is to release children from their educational, social, economic, physical and spiritual poverty so that they can envision and live out a different future for themselves, their families and their communities.

We believe releasing children from poverty is a lasting, permanent change accomplished by directly engaging each child as a complete person, and by pursuing a holistic approach to child development that addresses their educational, social, economic, physical and spiritual needs from birth to young adulthood. We take a long-term approach that goes far beyond simple involvement and financial support. Our goal is to see children thrive and become fulfilled adults, contributing to their communities.

Holistic child development means we begin, in some cases, with prenatal care and go all the way through educational and leadership opportunities for young adults. It means we take a long-term approach to what we do and go beyond simple involvement in the lives of the children and families we serve. All of our child development programs provide opportunities that encourage healthy development in five areas — education, spiritual, physical, social and economic.

Child Sponsorship.
Through monthly financial support, prayer and letter writing, sponsors invest directly in the lives of children living in extreme poverty.
The children attend church-based child development centers where they receive life-changing opportunities that would otherwise be out of their reach, and which build on, add to and extend their school lessons.
Child sponsorship offers:
• ongoing Christian training through a local church.
• educational opportunities to defeat illiteracy.
• key life skills training and vocational programs to provide a brighter future.
• health care to prevent and fight disease and sickness.
• supplements to protect against malnutrition.
• recreational activities to development self-confidence and social skills.
• protection from crime, violence and danger.

Child Survival
Babies in poverty are too often the victims of infant mortality. Millions of children around the world die within their first year of life due to a lack of resources, delivery complications, malnutrition, and preventable diseases. This should not be happening.
Compassion's Survival initiative focuses on promoting development and survival of the most vulnerable babies, while also providing education and support for the mother or primary caregiver. The mission of Survival is to ensure that the critical needs of babies and mothers are being met immediately.
We do this through:
• HOME-BASED CARE, where mothers are visited monthly in their homes by a Survival specialist, who offers education in prenatal care and early child-rearing as well as one-on-one biblical mentoring with parents.
• GROUP-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES that combat isolation through a supportive community of mothers. Parents can receive basic education and income-generation training to combat long-term poverty.
• ADVOCACY FOR MOMS that provides and secures funding for medical treatments, ensures mothers are treated fairly by local services and arranges for birth attendants to assist mothers during childbirth.
• SURVIVAL CENTERS, where staff help coordinate outreach and care and offer a safe place for new mothers to learn and grow, all while monitoring and supporting healthy child development.

Youth Development:
Compassion's Youth Development Program equips youth ages 12 and older with customized training and educational paths according to their own unique potential, talents and purpose. Students may receive assistance with formal education needs, non-formal education opportunities and income generation training.

Critical Interventions:
Critical interventions are programs and resources that meet urgent and critical needs Compassion children face that sponsorship donations alone can't cover – needs like disaster relief, lack of clean water, extra medical bills, technical and vocational education, unsponsored children, and much more.

Compassion International started in 1952 with outreach to children living in poverty in Korea. Over these many decades. Our organization has grown to include a presence in 27 countries and more than 8,500 church partners. More than 3,300 staff members all over the world ensure that Compassion's large global footprint is achieving our mission of releasing children from poverty. Additionally, Compassion International has more than 1.2 million global sponsors who make sure the 2.2 million children, students, babies and mothers engaged in our programs are known, loved and protected.

In addition, Compassion has 14 global partners who support our worldwide efforts, providing sponsorship opportunities in more than a dozen countries outside of the United States.

In summary, our capabilities are an expansive and solid global footprint, a large and dedicated staff, community trust & support, and an ever-growing number of global sponsors.

In the more than 65 years that Compassion has existed, over two million children have benefitted from Compassion's programs.

Most importantly, we know sponsored children are being released from poverty. In 2016, we reported that 42,336 sponsored Compassion students were enrolled in university or vocational training, given them the education and skills needed to generate income capabilities for life.

On a broader scale, we also know from quantifiable research, that our model of one-to-one child sponsorship is working. Independent research conducted by Dr. Bruce Wydick, a professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, along with two colleagues, concluded that our Child Sponsorship Program has large and statistically significant impacts on the educational, employment and leadership outcomes of children. The peer-reviewed research was published in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Political Economy—one of the most prestigious economics journals in the world.

Here are just a few of their findings:

Employment
The research found that former Compassion sponsored children were more likely to have salaried/white-collar jobs than their non-sponsored peers.
• 14 to 18 percent more likely to have salaried employment
• roughly 35 percent more likely to secure white-collar employment as adults

Leadership
The research found that former Compassion sponsored children were more likely to be leaders in their communities and churches.
• 30 to 75 percent more likely to become community leaders as adults than their non-sponsored peers
• 40 to 70 percent more likely to become church leaders as adults than their non-sponsored peers
And Compassion sponsorship increases the probability that a child becomes a teacher by 63 percent.

Education
An extra year of schooling can have long-lasting impact on a child's future employment possibilities. The research found that former Compassion sponsored children stay in school longer than their non-sponsored peers: 1 to 1.5 years longer. In Uganda, the numbers are much higher—2.4 years.
Former Compassion sponsored children were:
• 27 to 40 percent more likely to finish secondary education than those who were not enrolled in the child sponsorship program.
• 50 to 80 percent more likely to complete a university education than non-sponsored children.