Sponsoring children

Peter Heywood — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:01:43 +0000

I've been a donor to Plan International for more than a decade - and the fact that I still give money to them demonstrates that I think they do a good job.

To start off with, I really liked the idea of being assigned a child to support, even if I knew this was just a way of pulling at my heart strings. There's something about getting a photo of your child, and hearing how he/she is getting on every now and again that takes things to a personal level.

Over time, though, it started to grate on me. I knew it was somewhat of a deception, and I couldn't help thinking of how much money Plan International was devoting to keeping it going. Not much if you believe the "less than one percent" figure cited in the Intelligent Giving profile, but as the note next to this figure states, admin cost statistics are practically meaningless.

I guess the way to look at this is that it's probably a very effective way of getting people to give, and I should have just played along with it. I did for the seven year period that you commit to sponsor a child. After that, I bumped up my monthly contribution to Plan International but told them that I didn't want to have a child assigned to me. I feel a lot better about it now.

Peter Heywood, Intelligent Giving

Plan International UK

admin — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:44:43 +0100

Plan International UK

A NEW WAY TO SPONSOR CHILDREN

"Child sponsorship" used to be a dirty word because it helped a single child - and not, crucially, its local community. But Plan is aware of this and its child-sponsorship schemes are designed to get whole villages to be self-supporting within 12 years - while maintaining the idea of sponsorship to keep donors happy. The annual report is suitably professional and shows a rare commitment to accountability and transparency.

Read the charity's reply

QUALITY OF REPORTING What is this?	84%
How much info does the charity want to share? This score, taken from our search for 43 key points in the annual report, gives the answer. Top mark is 100%. Anything over 70% is a good effort.
SIZE OF CHARITY... What is this?	Large
We only profile the largest charities in England & Wales, and our sizes are relative to the largest and smallest among them. So where we describe a charity as 'Small', it is still much larger than the national average.
HIGHEST SALARY What is this?	£80k to £99k
Taken from the vague bandings given in annual reports; note that 'Under £60k' could be £9k or £59k. Nonetheless the number of bars should roughly correlate with the 'Size of charity' bars.
RESERVES WOULD LAST... What is this?	0 months
If income dried up, how long could work continue? 3-12 months is normal. Less may be precarious. 12+ months may be over-cautious (or if very high, may represent the value of the charity's property).
ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY What is this?	Unknown
We asked the charity if it has an ethical investment policy. If yes, it gets an angel. Those with no policy but which don't invest in tobacco/arms get a halo. Those without investments, or who didn't respond, appear neutral. Those with stakes in arms/tobacco get a fallen angel.

But don't take our word for it...

The charity replies

Plan UK's policy, reviewed annually by the Trustees, is to maintain working capital sufficient to cover its anticipated needs - currently we consider two months prudent. As a Child Sponsorship agency we are able to predict a large proportion of total monthly income with a high degree of confidence and greater reserves are considered unnecessary. We rely on our sponsors and do not want to hold on to their money any longer than we have to - it is important to get their contributions to the field, where they are needed, as soon as possible.

We take no cut
visit the charity's donation page

Reviewed: 2007-07-03 Accounts ending: 2007-06-30

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IN SHORT

Who/what it helps

Poor children and their communities

Where

Worldwide

Providing

Education
Campaigning
Development projects
Emergency relief

IF YOU LIKE THIS CHARITY
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VITAL STATISTICS

ANNUAL EXPENDITURE

£38,891,000

What is this?

Of all the charities we profile...
- Less than £1m is tiny
- £1m to £5m is small
- £6m to £10m is medium
- £11m to £50m is large
- Above that is very rare

SPENT ON CHARITABLE WORK

84%

The rest usually goes into raising more income. A little covers legal requirements.

Intelligent Giving - Plan International UK - Comments

Sponsoring children

Plan International UK

Plan International UK

A NEW WAY TO SPONSOR CHILDREN

QUALITY OF REPORTING

SIZE OF CHARITY...

HIGHEST SALARY

RESERVES WOULD LAST...

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

But don't take our word for it...

IN SHORT

Who/what it helps

Where

Providing

IF YOU LIKE THIS CHARITYYOU MIGHT LIKE...

VITAL STATISTICS

IF YOU LIKE THIS CHARITY
YOU MIGHT LIKE...