Infrastructure

FAQs

• What is Critical Needs?

  The effects of poverty are devastating and affect every area of a child's life. Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program sets the foundation for life-changing opportunities for every registered child. But every child will, at some point, require help beyond sponsorship's reach.

  Critical Needs provides the additional support necessary for Compassion assisted children to be released from poverty in Jesus' name. Through Critical Needs, supporters like you who are passionate about particular issues, such as safe water, or caring for mothers and babies, can help children most in need worldwide, or support specific projects in vulnerable communities. There are nine Critical Needs areas that you can choose to support, each area addressing an essential aspect of a child's health and development.  

  The nine Critical Needs are:

  • Water and Sanitation
  • Mums and Babies
  • Health
  • Education and Training
  • Infrastructure
  • Highly Vulnerable Children
  • Income Generation
  • Disaster Relief
  • Where Most Needed

  Because we believe that poverty is best addressed through the transformation of the individual child, Critical Needs provides support alongside Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program, not as stand-alone community development activities.

• How much does it cost to support Critical Needs?

  The recommended amount to give to one Critical Need is $12 per month. However, you can give any amount of your choosing through either options of one-off or monthly giving. The giving options are flexible, so you have the freedom to support the areas you are most passionate about through Critical Needs.

  You can:

  • Give to Critical Needs
• How does Critical Needs work with Child Sponsorship?

  Critical Needs and the Child Sponsorship Program work side-by-side to equip Compassion's local church partners with the resources to provide holistic support and long-term, customised solutions for children, their families and communities. While the Child Sponsorship Program connects one child with one sponsor, Critical Needs giving is not directed to one child, but provides essential support to thousands of Compassion registered children when they need it most. Every child will benefit from Critical Needs during their time in Compassion’s program, as sponsorship funds alone are not sufficient to cover the varied and often urgent needs of the children we support.

  You can choose to support children globally through Critical Needs or fund an entire project in a specific community. These projects are both reactive and proactive and could include water filters to provide safe water to a community, reconstruction of homes after natural disasters, or income generating activities for adolescents and children's caregivers. The right assistance is identified and provided by the local church in partnership with Compassion.

  You can:

  • Give to Critical Needs
  • Sponsor a child
• If I give to Critical Needs, where will my money go?

  You can choose to donate to one of nine Critical Needs areas: - Water and Sanitation - Health - Infrastructure - Mums and Babies - Disaster Relief - Education and Training - Income Generation - Highly Vulnerable Children - Where Most Needed

  Your donation goes towards addressing that area of need for children in our program globally. For example, should you give to Water and Sanitation, your donation could go towards providing water filters, water tanks or toilets in any of the over 25 countries where Compassion works. Funds are pooled so that children's most urgent needs are met first, as determined by local church partners who know each child and family in Compassion's program. You can also choose to support an entire Critical Needs project. Please contact us if you are interested in discussing this option further. 

  You can:

  • Give to Critical Needs
  • Sponsor a child
• What are the current ways of supporting Mums and Babies?

  You can support Mums and Babies in a number of ways, either with a once-only donation or ongoing support.

  Here are some of the ways you can choose to give:  

  • A once-off donation of your choice to Mums and Babies will support young families worldwide and provide emergency care for vulnerable children.

  • $12 per month, contributed to Compassion's Critical Needs alongside child sponsorship, supports Mums and Babies globally and provides emergency care for vulnerable children.

  • A $20 once-off donation for a Care for a New Mum Gift of Compassion™, which will be used where support is most needed.

  • A $40 once-off donation for a baby essentials kit through GIFTSOFCOMPASSION™ gives a mum all the necessary supplies to care for her newborn, such as blankets and soaps.

  • A $260 once-off donation for a Start of Life Bundle. This GIFTSOFCOMPASSION™ provides an expectant mum living in poverty with crucial ante and postnatal care.

  • $15,000 once-off donation through Gifts of Compassion™ will nurture a Mums and Babies survival project in a specific community and provide life-saving support to vulnerable mothers and their babies.