Sponsor a Child Today

Around the world, children are suffering amid complex and overlapping crises.

Children are malnourished in many countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Ethiopia and Somalia and South Sudan. In winter, children in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Jordan live in tents, where, without proper winter clothing, boots and blankets, they struggle to survive the cold.

For all of them, the clock is ticking.

When children are suffering halfway around the world, it’s hard to know how to help. Do you donate to an organization like UNICEF, which seeks to solve the problems all children face, or do you look for a charity that allows you to sponsor one specific child?

Child sponsorship organizations take a different approach

Some child sponsorship programs allow donors to make monthly funding commitments to support individual children, with whom they may correspond and even visit to see the impact of their support. For people who want to know they've made a contribution toward improving the life of one particular child, the idea of child sponsorship can be quite compelling. 

However, although child sponsorship programs have been around since the 1930s, a 2017 national study of 1,000 American charity supporters by Grey Matter Research and Opinions 4 Good, found that only 24 percent of respondents truly understood what it means to sponsor a child.

“Most donors are aware of sponsorship and generally positive toward it, but there is not a lot of real familiarity with how it works,” says Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research. “The interest is there, but so are doubts or concerns.”

What does it mean to sponsor a child?

What it means to sponsor a child depends on the organization. Many organizations offer information about specific children who need help — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a supporter's monthly donation actually goes to a specific child's family. 

Sometimes organizations give donors a chance to get to know children in the communities where they work. But sometimes those children are unofficial ambassadors, not direct recipients of donor support.

Some organizations have found that they can do much more good by pooling sponsor funds and attacking the problems children face with long-term, sustainable solutions. This is UNICEF's approach.

UNICEF offers an alternative to child sponsorship

What’s the best way to sponsor a child? After more than 80 years working to save and protect children around the world, UNICEF has found that the most effective way to help one child in a community is to help all children in need.

With a presence in over 190 countries and territories, UNICEF has helped save more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization by providing health care, immunizations, safe water, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more to communities at scale.

It’s that approach that has allowed UNICEF to address inequity at its root and deliver what all children need to survive and thrive.

Year after year, UNICEF and partners make a lifesaving difference for millions of children, by:

• treating millions of children for severe acute malnutrition (SAM)

• vaccinating millions of children to protect them from measles, polio and other preventable diseases

• connecting out-of-school children with early learning, primary and secondary education opportunities 

• improving access to safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene 

• helping families survive crises with cash transfer programs

• reaching children traumatized by war with mental health and psychosocial support
• reaching children who live under the threat of landmines and other explosive weapons with prevention and survivor assistance

How much does it cost to become a child sponsor with UNICEF USA?

UNICEF works from the top down, partnering with governments to help shape policies and programs while making connections in communities to put them into action.

That access, combined with the ability to ship supplies anywhere in the world within 72 hours, ensures UNICEF can leverage resources and deliver supplies quickly and efficiently to make donor support really count.

That means donors can rest assured knowing that UNICEF will provide children with the best lifesaving supplies and programs money can buy. Some examples of how far UNICEF can make your support go:

• $30 = 100 bars of soap to support family health and hygiene: Regular handwashing is vital to preventing the spread of infection and helping children keep their hands clean while they are at school or visiting UNICEF child-friendly spaces.

• $30 = 50 measles vaccine doses to immunize 25 children: Measles is highly contagious and is a leading cause of death among children. The measles vaccine is one of the most successful public health interventions in human history, but lapses in immunization coverage lead to avoidable outbreaks. 
• $60 = two-month supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food: RUTF is a lifesaving treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition. A two-month supply of RUTF packets — which are easy to administer at home and require no refrigeration or mixing with water — is enough to bring a listless child back to good health.
• $210 = daily essentials for displaced children: Children displaced by war or climate shocks are often forced to leave everything behind. This bundle provides warm blankets, a first aid kit, lifesaving therapeutic food and more. 

What's the best way to help children through UNICEF USA?

The single most effective way you can help UNICEF fight for every child, everywhere, is by becoming a UNICEF USA monthly donor.

Even a small monthly gift can make a huge difference in children's lives, keeping to keep UNICEF programs going month after month, and helping to ensure UNICEF is on the ground before, during and after a crisis. 

Monthly donors receive:

• a dedicated team to answer questions via email or phone

• a quarterly newsletter with updates on children UNICEF is helping with donor support 

• monthly statements detailing giving to date plus annual statements to make tax time easier

• access to an easy-to-use donor portal that simplifies the process of modifying gift amounts, updating payment methods and making other changes — including the timing of donations with the option to cancel at any point 

Save a child. Become a monthly donor now

FAQs about sponsoring a child 

What is child sponsorship? 

Child sponsorship is a giving model where donors make recurring contributions connected to a specific child, community or program. Some child sponsorship programs allow donors to correspond with a child, while others pool monthly gifts to support services that benefit children across a broader community. 

Can I sponsor a child in need through UNICEF USA? 

UNICEF USA does not use a traditional one-to-one child sponsorship model to support children in need. Instead, monthly donations to UNICEF USA directly support UNICEF programs that reach children around the world at scale with the health care, nutrition, education, safe water and emergency relief and protection they need to survive and thrive. 

How is UNICEF USA different from child sponsorship programs? 

Many child sponsorship programs focus donor support around an individual child or community representative. UNICEF USA’s monthly giving model supports UNICEF’s broader work for children, helping fund programs that can reach families across entire communities and respond quickly when emergencies happen.