Your session will time out at [00:00]. If you would like to sponsor [Child Name], please complete your transaction as soon as possible.Unfortunately your session timed out at [00:00] and since that time [Child Name] was sponsored by another person. Please visit the Sponsor a Child page to find another child.
Yes, Gifts of Compassion donations are tax-deductible. A charitable tax receipt for all donations made in a calendar year (excluding donations made through Text to Give or an online fundraiser, which are receipted separately) will be issued no later than February 28th of the following year.
Funds raised from the Gifts of Compassion catalogue are used to support Compassion’s Response Programs. Should excess funds be raised in a particular area, we will meet other urgent needs as they arise.
For each gift you order, you will receive a gift card for you to personalize for your friends and loved ones that explains how the gift you have purchased will benefit an individual or family living in poverty.
Our Supporter Services team is available to help serve you with these inquiries. They can be reached by phone at 1.800.563.5437 8am-5pm EST, through live chat on our website or at info@compassion.ca
You can send a family gift online through your My Compassion account or by contacting our office directly. You can send a family gift of $40-$1,200 CAD up to two times per year (gift limit is cumulative). Families often use gifts to buy livestock, items to repair the home, food, clothing, or bedding. Your financial gift to your sponsored child is greatly appreciated as it brings joy and help to ease the struggles of poverty.
Compassion’s holistic child development program activities take place at church-based child development centres. Sometimes activities take place in the church building or the church may have another facility designated for the child development centre. Each centre is within a 30-minute walk of the homes of the children it serves.
Program activities vary in detail according to the culture, environment, or needs of the area where the individual centres are located. However, there are common elements in all Compassion child development centres which ensure that all Compassion-assisted children are given the greatest opportunity to be released from spiritual, economic, social, emotional and physical poverty.
Each child development centre:
Meets on a regular basis.
Uses the facilities of the local church partner through which the program operates.
Provides a programmed curriculum of activities for registered and sponsored children.
Has a committee which provides local accountability and support.
Has a director employed by the church to manage the day-to-day activities.
Employs staff and volunteers selected by the local church.
Operates under Compassion International’s carefully monitored standards and guidelines.
Provides reasonable levels of safety for children relative to the realities of the surrounding community.
You can change your automatic withdrawal information through the Payment Methods section of your My Compassion account or by calling our office. Thank you for supporting Compassion.
You can send a birthday gift onlineor by contacting our office. Birthday gifts can be between $15 and $150 CAD. Your financial gift to your sponsored child is greatly appreciated as it brings joy and help to ease the struggles of poverty.
No less than 80 percent of your donation goes to ministry activities, including all expenses that occur within the country your sponsored child is from, which directly benefit sponsored children. Children and families do not receive cash but instead are recipients of goods and services, carefully designed, delivered or purchased according to their needs. Independent and internal audits of our work are conducted to ensure donor support is being used efficiently and with integrity.
Compassion Canada’s financial statements are available online at Financial Statements .
Though you and your spouse may sponsor together, My Compassion is set up so that each spouse has his or her own account rather than a shared one. This allows each spouse to manage their preferences individually. If you have any comments or suggestions on this feature, please connectwith our office.
In areas where there are thousands of families needing help and only places for a few hundred children to be enrolled at the Compassion centre, the local staff may limit sponsorship to one child per family. However, in some areas, up to three children per family may attend the project. You are welcome to contact Compassion Canada to ask if your sponsored child’s siblings are already registered with Compassion, and if so, whether they are still awaiting sponsorship.
To graduate from Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program, sponsored children need to have at least completed primary school, a vocational training course and possibly secondary education as well. The expected age at which children may complete the program varies from country to country depending on the education system, but will be between 16 years and 22 years. A child may leave the program earlier if their family moves from the area, if the home situation improves, or if the family chooses to withdraw their child from the program. Every teenager with Compassion has a plan for their future, including their likely date for finishing the program. You are welcome to write to your older sponsored child asking about what is contained in their copy of ‘My Plan for Tomorrow’.
Yes, we can remove your spouse’s name from the sponsorship but we will require written or verbal permission from your spouse to do so. Please contact our office by phone or by email to get this change process started.
Christmas is one of the most special times of the year for sponsored children. For many, Christmas is the only time they receive gifts. The Christmas Gift Fund provides an age-appropriate Christmas gift for every child registered with Compassion. These gifts include clothing, blankets and bed-linen, toiletries, practical items and, of course, a range of toys. Funds are pooled internationally and equally distributed amongst all Compassion-assisted children, including those who do not yet have a sponsor. Compassion Canada suggests sponsors contribute an amount of $25 per child to this fund. Each sponsor has the opportunity to send a special Christmas card to the child they sponsor, which can be written online through your My Compassionaccount or sent via mail.
Compassion exposure trips are an exciting opportunity for you to have a safe yet rich cultural experience while allowing you to see our work firsthand and visit your sponsored child. When we’re travelling to your sponsored child’s country, you will receive a personal invitation by email to travel with us and see for yourself how your sponsorship is impacting your child’s life. We promise, when you return from this adventure, you will never look at the world the same way.
Check your My Compassion account to see if we have the correct email address on file for you.
You can easily donate to Compassion Canada through internet banking. Just like adding a payee for paying bills, search for Compassion Canada and use your supporter number as the account number. Your supporter number will start with an “8-,” and be followed by 8 digits.
Depending on the bank you may need to omit the “8” or the dash. If your donation is for anything other than sponsorship—such as Urgent Needs, Christmas Gift Fund, etc.—please provide instructions in the notes section.
Presently, we work with Royal Bank, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Canadian Western Bank, Citizens Bank and Credit Unions located in the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
If you are fluent in the language your child speaks, please feel free to write to them using that language. Otherwise, please write in English. Please include an English version of the letter as well, as all letters are scanned at our headquarters in accordance with our child protection policy before they are couriered weekly to our country offices. Writing in your child’s language will mean one less letter for the Compassion staff to translate. However, it will not speed your letter to your child as we are unable to separate individual letters from the packages. Unfortunately, it is not possible to arrange for your letters not to be translated into English as our colleagues across the world deal with hundreds of letters everyday and are unable to single out individual letters. However, you will also receive the original letter written in their language, which you will be able to enjoy reading.
