Many UK charities offer SPONSOR A CHILD packages enabling UK donors to support children in need in the developing world.

Here we review four CHILD SPONSORSHIP charities:

SPONSOR A CHILD with SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES
SPONSOR A CHILD with PLAN
SPONSOR A CHILD with ACTIONAID
SPONSOR A CHILD with WORLDVISION

SPONSOR A CHILD with SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES
Minimum Monthly Child Sponsorship – £20
Child Sponsor Choice – 100+ countries

SOS differ from other programmes as the work is focused primarily on orphan or abandoned children. In addition, donors can choose to sponsor a child in over 100 different countries worldwide and select specific projects within each country. Sponsorship is used to provide families for orphan or abandoned children.

SPONSOR A CHILD with PLAN
Minimum Monthly Child Sponsorship - £12
Child Sponsor Choice – 5 regions

In contrast to SOS, Plan child sponsorship programmes focus on developing a community in which a child lives with their family. Plan work in around 50 countries worldwide and donors can select from 5 regions – Africa, Asia, South-east Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Sponsorship is used for education, healthcare and clean water systems.

SPONSOR A CHILD with ACTIONAID
Minimum Monthly Child Sponsorship - £15
Child Sponsor Choice – 30 countries

Actionaid’s work is similar to Plan with the child-focused community development programmes. ActionAid works in 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Central / South America. Donors can choose specific countries in which to sponsor a child and there is currently a choice of 30 countries.

SPONSOR A CHILD with WORLDVISION
Minimum Monthly Child Sponsorship - £18
Child Sponsor Choice – 100 countries

World Vision is an evangelical christian charity working in around 100 countries worldwide. Like Plan and ActionAid, their work is community focused.