Sponsorship handbook

Welcome to this journey with your sponsored child and see the whole community grow 1. HOW YOUR SPONSORSHIP GIFT IS BEING TRANSLATED INTO THE LIFE OF YOUR CHILD?

Your regular sponsorship gift creates a better world for your child by tackling and changing the immediate environment in which your child lives. While there are certain basic needs that we try to meet in every community like education and good health, other areas of aid are dependent on the particular circumstances in which your child lives.

For instance, if your child's community is drought-ridden, World Vision India may be involved in several water projects. Some communities struggle with malnutrition, and in such communities, the emphasis would be on nutrition.

Similarly, the parents of a child without a regular income may be provided with skills-training programmes, while parents with jobs may be assisted in upgrading their skills.

By living within the impoverished community, World Vision India staff identifies the needs of the community and then, in accordance with the need, generate tailor-made programmes that are long-term and sustainable.

2. DOES YOUR CONTRIBUTION GO DIRECTLY TO THE CHILD?

The contributions of all sponsors are pooled in together and these contributions help provide long-term resources that bring about a change in the environment of the child, thereby creating a better world for the child and his or her family.

The child or the family does not receive the contribution directly as that would not help them or their community sustain themselves once World Vision India moves out of their community.

The idea is to leave behind a better India, not just for the one child whom you are sponsoring but also for the entire community and the generations to follow.

3. DURATION OF SPONSORSHIP

If sponsored children pursue higher education through college, technical or even professional courses, they will continue to remain under the Child Sponsorship programme.

Sometimes, your sponsored child's family could migrate to an area that does not come under our purview. If this happens, we are forced to drop the child from sponsorship list. We will inform you of the change and suggest a new child for you.

A normal World Vision Area Development Programme (ADP) will last for 15 years. By this time, the community is empowered to be self-reliant and can carry forward the progress that has been initiated among them through World Vision India.

The duration of our programmes could extend if the need continues to be great and there are issues to be resolved further.

4. SPONSORING A CHILD WHO LIVES WITH PARENTS

World Vision India helps children whose parents live below the poverty line. The parent's income is often insufficient to sustain the family, let alone provide for the education and well-being of their children. Hence, we recognize the community and family as integral to the child's well-being. World Vision India adopts an inclusive approach.

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Through the children who are sponsored, the entire community is helped to move forward.

GIFTING DETAILS 1. CHILD SPONSORSHIP

Child sponsorship gift is subject to changes depending on economic fluctuations/cost of living, etc. World Vision India does not cut corners. Instead, we are committed to excellence - to giving sponsored children the very best.

Our commitment to maintaining excellence in the face of rising costs could mean that we sometimes have to revise the sponsorship rate. There may be exception to rules to those who cannot switch to new rates.

Depending on your comfort level, sponsorship gifts can be made on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual basis. There have been many instances when sponsors have gifted a large sum for the next 10 years or for all of the child's schooling years.

While this is convenient, you must be aware that there are chances that the child you start with may not continue for ten years. Should such a situation arise, we will intimate you, offer another child and transfer the balance amount to the new child.

2. SPONSORING A CHILD WITH DISABILITY

You can also sponsor a child with disabilities for Rs. 1600 per month, by writing to us at indiasponsors@wvi.org. Through your support, a child with disabilities will receive appropriate special care apart from normal sponsorship benefits that will enable the child to rise above the circumstances and build hope for a promising future.

3. MODES OF GIVING

There are several options available. You can choose the one that is most comfortable for you. 

Cheque / DD - favouring World Vision India, payable at Chennai

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Credit Card authorization (for resident Indians only)

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ACH (Automated Clearing House)

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Online payment / Online Standing Instruction through http://www.worldvision.in/autopay

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Cash, if you can hand it over in person at World Vision India National Office in Chennai.

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Pickup on request at the channels of contact given below.

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Bank transfer

World Vision India Donor Engagement Division 16, VOC Main Road, Kodambakkam, Chennai 600 024.

Other Contact details: Toll Free Number: 1-800-425-4550 Ph: 044-2480 7070, 044-4228 7070 Fax: 044-2480 7242, 4228 7242 E-mail: indiasponsors@wvi.org

With every contribution, please ensure that you mention your name, your partner ID and the ID number of your sponsored child. Here's what will happen if you fail to mention these important data: We will enter in the amount under the "Anonymous" account section. This means that we will not be able to send you a receipt as we do not know who has sent the amount and to which child.

Only when you get back to us for a receipt would we be able to credit the amount under your name. You can avoid delays and confusion by clearly indicating: (1) Your full name (2) Your Partner ID (3) Your sponsored Child's ID number.

Also, please ensure that you send in your contributions under the same name that you registered with us. If there is a change, please let us know so that we can correct our records.

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH BY MAIL

4. YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD VISION INDIA IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE

Your contributions are eligible for tax benefit under section 80G of the Income Tax Act. You can avail tax benefits by presenting receipts from World Vision India. Receipts for all contributions will be available on our website on 'My World page' from where you can download and take prints.

5. SENDING EXTRA GIFTS

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If you are interested in giving an extra gift either to your child or to the child's community, you can send either cash gifts or gifts-in-kind. Please specify the purpose of the gift.

However, we would request you to be aware that your sponsored child is not alone in his/her community, but constantly in touch with other children. So, we encourage you to try and send gifts that can be shared with other children in the community. The reason we encourage this is to prevent feelings of resentment, jealousy, neglect and self-pity among other children.

The standard involved in processing gifts consumes both man-hours and money. To strike a right balance between saving time and money and still helping children, we process only gifts that are Rs. 500 and above specifically for your child. Any gift less than Rs. 500 will be credited into the general pool which will ultimately profit a wide range of benefits for children in our communities. This implies that amounts less than Rs. 500 will not be given to the specified children.

STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR SPONSORED CHILD 1. WRITING TO YOUR SPONSORED CHILD

While writing to your sponsored child is not a compulsion, it is certainly a very rewarding experience and helps strengthen your relationship. If you do not know the local language of your child, you can write in English. Our staff in the field will translate your letter to the child.

When you write, your child will surely respond—you will receive both the original letter and the translation. If the child is too young to write, our staff will talk to the child and write to you a gist of what the child wants to convey.

2. CONTENT OF MAILS TO SPONSORED CHILD

Ask your child about his/her family, likes and dislikes, school, friends, hobbies, ambitions, etc. Send words of encouragement and reassurance. If you have children of your own, encourage them to write too. Always bear in mind the age of the child, and try to adapt to the child's level of understanding.

3. THE WAY TO CORRESPOND WITH YOUR SPONSORED CHILD

All correspondence, whether it is your contribution, your letter to the child, or enquiries related to your child, should be addressed to the Donor Engagement Division of World Vision India. Please be sure to include your Partner ID or your child ID in every communication. This will ensure that your mails are quickly handled.

For administrative purpose, please route all mail through our office in Chennai. We keep your address in strict confidence.

Contact address for correspondence: World Vision India, Donor Engagement Division 16, VOC Main Road, Kodambakkam, Chennai 600 024

4. DELAYED RESPONSE TO LETTERS

We are trying our best to ensure that you receive a reply to your mail within two months.

However, unlike urban India, we face various challenges on the field.

Very often, the projects we work in are spread over many villages, each of which lie almost 15-20 kms apart.

There is no conveyance between these villages and roads are rocky, so staff will have to travel on foot. Finally, after reaching the village, they might find that the child has gone away to visit relatives, in which case, the letter will have to be postponed for the next visit.

If you have not received a reply in two months time, do get in touch with our customer service staff.

5. VISITING YOUR SPONSORED CHILD

World Vision India encourages sponsors to visit their sponsored children. 10 days' advance notice is required to help the field staff to fit your plans into their schedule. However, it will be ideal if you get acquainted with your child for a period of three months before your first visit.

Certain policies are laid out by World Vision with regard to the safety of children under our care. Hence, the visitor is required to show proper identity, sign child protection policy and visit the child in the presence of the child's parents, etc.

Please contact World Vision India office in Chennai to coordinate the visit and to clarify any queries relating to the visit.

6. OTHER INFORMATION YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO

World Vision India will also send out a magazine 'Jeevan Sparsh' that walks you through child sponsorship in an Area Development Programme.

7. HERE IS WHAT YOU RECEIVE FROM YOUR CHILD

Within one month of start of your sponsorship, you will receive a letter from the child that you are sponsoring. Through this letter, the child introduces himself/herself personally to you. If the child is too young to compose a letter of its own, World Vision India staff in the field, who are in touch with the children on the field, will write on behalf of the child. They will also include a scribble from the child for that 'personal touch'.

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We will send you an annual update of the child along with his/her latest photograph. The annual update gives information on the child and the developments happening in the community as a result of Child Sponsorship.

Every year around New Year time, your child will send you a greeting card, wishing you season's greetings.

This card will also have age-specific scribble or signature of the child.

If you do not receive any of them, kindly write to us at indiasponsors@wvi.org

FAQs 1. AM I THE ONLY SPONSOR FOR MY CHILD? Yes, you are the only sponsor for the child who has been assigned to you. You will receive the picture, story and other details of your sponsored child and you can keep in touch with him/her through letters or personal visits.

2. CAN I SPONSOR MORE THAN ONE CHILD? Yes, you can! There are thousands of children in our programmes who are waiting for someone to sponsor them. Hence, there is no restriction on how many children one can sponsor. When you become a child sponsor, we will assign a unique number to you, known as partner ID. Likewise, for each sponsored child, there is a unique ten-digit ID number. For multiple sponsorships, your partner ID will remain the same. Please be sure to quote this number in all your communication with World Vision India.

3. DOES WORLD VISION SPONSOR ORPHANS? IF SO, CAN I LEGALLY ADOPT A CHILD? World Vision India does not work on the model of an orphanage. However, if there are needy orphans or semi-orphans (children with only one living parent) in the area that it works, World Vision India would definitely make it a matter of priority to reach out to these children.

However, World Vision India is not an adoption agency. You may approach an authorized adoption agency if you wish to adopt a child.

4. IS WORLD VISION INDIA INVOLVED IN CONVERSION?

No, by policy and practice, World Vision India is not involved in conversion. World Vision India provides for physical needs unconditionally, irrespective of the community member’s faith, religion, caste or creed. World Vision India does not coerce anybody into changing his or her faith. We respect people of all faiths, religions and cultural identities.

World Vision India’s work among the poor is modeled on the teachings of Jesus Christ who loves all humanity, without any reservations, and our staff try their best to mirror the sacrificial love of Christ in their personal lives.

5. ARE THERE ANY OTHER WAYS IN WHICH I CAN HELP? CAN I HELP THE PROJECT?

Yes, there are always other ways in which you can help. Financially, you can support the project by contributing to the pressing needs in your child’s community.

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You can also help by speaking to your friends, relatives and acquaintances about child

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sponsorship and persuade them to sponsor a child. If you are employed, you can urge your company to partner with World Vision India on bigger projects and give us an opportunity to set up stalls.

If your company is involved in manufacturing consumer products, stationary, medicines or anything else that children and families would benefit from, you can gift them in our area development programmes.

6. IF YOU ARE A CHILD-FOCUSED ORGANISATION, WHY DO YOU FOCUS SO MUCH ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?

World Vision India believes that the best way to impact a child’s life is to change the world in which the child lives, that is to change the immediate environment and context, which the child faces on a daily basis. After all, it is a well-known fact that a child’s environment shapes his/her life.

Providing material benefits alone to the sponsored child is only too easy! However, we do not take this approach because we believe that it does not foster a healthy attitude either in the sponsored child or among the children around your child.

Experience over the last sixty years has also taught us that by focusing only on the child, we would only be creating a group of children who are alienated from their family and indigenous community. The best way to look at your child is as being an agent of transformation. Sponsored children within a community take the whole community forward. Through their sponsorship, their family and neighborhoods improve!

Development work within their community is triggered off because you chose to sponsor them!

7. HOW BIG IS WORLD VISION INDIA?

World Vision India is a part of World Vision international partnership that works in almost 100 countries. In India, World Vision India works in 25 states and union territories, partnering with more than 6252 communities to bring a developed India.

World Vision India works through Area Development Programme (ADP) model. Clusters of villages in a state are clubbed together as an ADP and a number of ADPs are, in turn, supervised by a Programme Monitoring Office (PMO). There are seven such PMOs—Bhopal, Chennai, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur and Ranchi.

8. CAN I CONTINUE MY SPONSORSHIP IF I MOVE OUT OF THE COUNTRY?

Distance is no barrier to continue your sponsorship! All we need to have is your new address and other contact details such a phone/mobile numbers and e-mail IDs. Should you need any guidance in continuation of your sponsorship gifting, please refer to ‘gifting details’. Make sure the World Vision India magazine Jeevan Sparsh and other correspondence moves with you. Please inform us of any change in your address, along with your partner ID.

9. CAN I SEND USED CLOTHES?

On principle we do not encourage sponsors to send used clothes. We are open to receive gifts-in-kind, provided that they have not been pre-owned or used.

10. CAN I DISCONTINUE MY SPONSORSHIP ANYTIME?

Sometimes, sponsors may not be in a position to continue sponsorship for various reasons.

If you are facing a temporary setback and want to suspend sponsorship for a short period of time until you recover, we understand completely.

Please feel free to call our customer service team and we will keep the child on hold for you.

But if you are sure that you cannot continue to sponsor the child, please do let us know immediately and we will look for another sponsor for the child.

11. FOR HOW LONG WILL MY CHILD CONTINUE WITH ME?

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Most often, sponsors continue to sponsor a child until the child is able to stand on his/her own feet. However, there are certain circumstances under which World Vision terminates the sponsorship.

For instance, with World Vision’s economic development assistance, some families become self-sufficient and so withdraw their children from the sponsorship programme.

Or, some sponsored children’s families will decide to relocate to an area away from World Vision’s purview and so we are forced to drop the children from the sponsorship programme. In all cases, we will inform the sponsors about the changes and transfer the sponsorship to other children in need.

12. DOES MY SPONSORED CHILD ATTEND SCHOOL? World Vision India ensures that every child has access to education. If your child is too small, he/she may be attending an anganwadi in the area. In areas where these facilities are not available, World Vision India engages the community and local government in setting up the needed facilities.

For older children who have missed the opportunity to attend school at the appropriate age, World Vision India sends them to a bridge school and prepares them to move into formal schools. If however, they find it hard to cope with academics, World Vision India recognizes their specific aptitudes and sends them to a suitable vocational training that will ultimately help them earn a living.

13. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY SPONSORED CHILD CONTACTS ME THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA SITES?

As a child-focused organisation, World Vision India recognises that social media has brought new types and levels of risks to children. While World Vision India cannot control the use of technology and social media, at World Vision India, we strive to ensure that children and their families are protected from any potential physical or emotional abuse resulting from inappropriate and unsafe internet and social media use, including the sharing of private information about a child and their family.

We encourage you to develop a meaningful relationship with your sponsored child in a way that is safe, secure and fulfilling for both of you. We also want to ensure that the content sent to the child is appropriate and culturally sensitive. Because of this, we ask you, our sponsors, to not engage in direct, unmonitored communication with your sponsored child or family.

This includes direct contact through the internet or social media (e.g. Instant Messaging, Facebook, Skype, etc.). Please note that World Vision India does not allow unplanned visits to your sponsored child's residence or community, under any circumstance. World Vision India would be more than happy to organise a visit for our sponsors to meet their sponsored children.

In order to ensure your child's security, we request you to not post your sponsored child's last name or specific location and contact details on the internet or social media sites.

For example, it would be nice if you could share the fact you have joined your sponsored child in his/her life journey through World Vision India's child sponsorship programme.

But, please refrain from posting personal information or contact details of your sponsored child on your social networks And because we value your privacy and security as a sponsor, sponsored children and families are discouraged from contacting you without World Vision India's knowledge as well. An important reason why we do not allow direct correspondence despite its seeming benefits is that a family member or someone who knows the child could go online, create an account and pretend to be the child and make demands for money, etc.

In light of these concerns, we request you to report any unfacilitated contact initiated by your sponsored child or their family to World Vision India for both their security and yours at indiawebsponsors@wvi.org

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Visit http://bit.ly/wvchildprotection to know more about World Vision India's child protection policy.