HOW MUCH DOES SPONSORING A CHILD COST?
It only costs about a dollar per day—$35 per month—to sponsor a child and help them reach their full potential. Your contribution is truly life-changing for a child.
Sign up to sponsor a child today.
WHAT DOES MY MONTHLY GIFT PROVIDE FOR MY SPONSORED CHILD?
As a child sponsor, you provide the critical essentials for a child: food, clothing, shelter and medical care. However, your gift does much more—ensuring that a child grows up in a family surrounded by a loving parent and siblings. Children living in our SOS Children’s Villages families benefit from more than 70 years of expertise caring for vulnerable children, including trauma support for children coming from difficult circumstances. Your sponsored child also receives a quality education and a tailored development plan so they can reach their full potential.
Additionally, your sponsorship gift strengthens the child’s greater community. We have devoted decades to building lasting relationships with children, families and communities around the world. SOS Children’s Villages schools and medical clinics provide for children in our families as well as other children and families in the area. Additionally, vocational programs teach job skills to children, youth and adults from SOS Children’s Villages families and the surrounding community so they can earn an income and eventually become self-reliant.
HOW OFTEN WILL I RECEIVE AN UPDATE ABOUT MY SPONSORED CHILD?
After signing up to sponsor a child, you will receive a welcome package containing your first photo of your sponsored child, details about their background and interests, information about their life in the village and stories about how we help children and families in their country. Each year, we’ll mail you two updates about your sponsored child, including a new photo to see how they are growing and a progress report so you can learn how you’re helping them thrive.
CAN I WRITE/SEND GIFTS TO MY SPONSORED CHILD?
We are currently discouraging sponsors from sending physical mail to their sponsored children, as it is a health and safety concern for the children in our care. If you are interested in sending a scanned letter, card, photo or email to your sponsored child, you can reach out to our sponsorship team at sponsors@sos-usa.org and request the email address of a sponsorship coordinator in your child’s country. Our international colleague should be able to pass along your letter to your sponsored child.
When sending photos or letters to a religiously or socially conservative country, the subjects should be modest. While you’re welcome to invite your sponsored child to write back, please understand that the ability to respond may be limited due to his or her age, education level or competing priorities.
HOW CAN I GIVE A SPECIAL MONETARY GIFT TO MY SPONSORED CHILD?
Many sponsors choose to give an additional gift to their sponsored child for an occasion such as their birthday or the holiday season. If you are interested in giving your sponsored child a gift for a special occasion, consider giving a monetary gift toward the child’s independence fund! These donations are held in a savings account until your sponsored child transitions to independent living in young adulthood. They might use these funds to continue their education, start a small business, purchase a home or rent an apartment.
To give a special gift online via credit card, visit our secure donation form here. If you are interested in making a special gift by check, please include your sponsored child’s name or ID number in the memo and address the check to:
SOS Children’s Villages USA
Attn: Sponsorship Team
1620 I Street NW, Suite 220
Washington, DC 20006
CAN I VISIT THE VILLAGE AND MY SPONSORED CHILD?
While we hope to facilitate village visits again in the future, most of our villages are not currently allowing visitors due to health and safety concerns. The top priority of SOS Children’s Villages is to ensure the health and safety of the children in our care. Though we are always thrilled to hear about the interest our sponsors have in visiting their sponsored children, visits from international travelers may not be in the best interest of the children’s well-being at this time.
CAN I POST ABOUT MY SPONSORED CHILD ONLINE?
You are a key stakeholder in ensuring that sensitive information about your sponsored child is not shared with third parties outside of your family and friends. We kindly ask that you do not post pictures or information about your sponsored child on social media or anywhere else online.
HOW LONG WILL MY SPONSORSHIP LAST?
Our work to support children and families is long-term. For this reason, your sponsorship will continue until you contact us to end your support.
Children may also leave the care of SOS Children’s Villages for a variety of reasons. When possible and in the best interest of the child, SOS Children’s Villages works with local authorities to reunite children with their families.
However, most children will remain in our care until they are between the ages of 18-23, in accordance with both their individual development and the social and cultural norms of their community.
We will notify you immediately if your sponsored child leaves the care of SOS Children’s Villages. At that time, you will have the opportunity to sponsor another child in need, often within the same village.