A year into sponsorship with Compassion

It's been about a year since I decided to start sponsoring again with Compassion International.  So, where am I, a year into sponsoring?
I have zero Compassion kids.
Last week, I made the decision to end my partnership with Compassion, and funnel money toward other organizations that I was happy with.  This decision was not made lightly.  I thought about it after I received a "thank you" letter from Vincent, my little guy in Togo, that simply said "Thank you for the gift."  Um, it was a $100 family gift.  Maybe not a lot to Compassion, but Compassion's policies are clear.  Any gift in any amount entitles the sponsor to ask what was purchased with the gift money.  And, any gift over $60, entitles the sponsor to a picture of the child with said items.  So, I emailed Compassion to ask that an inquiry be put in for this gift.  This was the response I received initially:
"You are welcome to write back to Vincent and ask what he and his family purchased with the money you sent. It may take just as long for us to request the information from the field staff as it would to get a letter back from Vincent."

Wow. So I was supposed to write back to a 5 year old and ask him what he purchased with the $100 instead of Compassion asking the center to do its job? After an online rant on the "get satisfaction" part of Compassion's website, they did change their tune and agreed to put in an inquiry for me, but intimated that this was above and beyond what they should be doing in their response on that site.

Having had enough, I figured I'd tally up all of my inquiries and also count up how many inquires I'd asked for that I received pushback on from Compassion's customer service department.

I didn't count the 2 gifts I'd just submitted for 2 children's September birthdays. I tallied up everything else. I'd given 6 extra financial gifts in total. Of those gifts, I had to place 4 inquiries because I either hadn't heard anything after 6 months or I received a very generic "Thank you for the gifts". Of those 4 inquiries placed, I received pushback from Compassion's customer service department on 3 of them. Now, one of those financial gifts was for a correspondence child who I released almost exactly 6 months after I sent the gift. I still had not received a thank you for that gift from him, and that would have resulted in another inquiry had I not released all of my correspondence children. I did receive a letter from that child about a week before I released all of my correspondence children, and there was no mention of the gift in the letter. So really, it would have been 5 inquiries out of 6 financial gifts sent. Does that seem right or fair? Does that seem like Compassion is working to keep its word to sponsors? And, of those inquiries placed, I was initially told by Compassion staff that I could NOT place the inquiry on 3 of those inquiries.

And, let's be clear. I was not asking for anything Compassion hadn't promised its sponsors. I never asked for an inquiry to be placed before the 6 month mark. I wasn't demanding pictures for a $30 birthday gift. I was simply asking Compassion to follow its own guidelines.

During the past year, I also had to place 2 inquiries for kids who hadn't written in 6 months. Again, I received pushback from Compassion's staff on one of those inquiries. The staff member suggested I write to a 5 year old and ask her to write to me more. As if I don't put "I'm so excited to hear from you" in every letter I write to every child.

Compassion promises 6 letters per year to every sponsor, provided the sponsor is writing at least every other month. I've faithfully written once a month (or more) for the past year. My letter count for my kids I've had for about a year was as follows: Nayan wrote 6 letters, but one was the result of a gift inquiry. Archita wrote 4 letters. Vincent wrote 4 letters. Yeferson, who I had for 7 months, wrote 2 letters. Does anyone really think I would have received 4 letters in 5 months from him? It's clear to me and to most other Compassion sponsors that there is a huge problem with Compassion's correspondence. However, instead of customer service being understanding, and admitting "Yes, we are aware this is a problem, and we are working on it. We will submit this inquiry right away", they are giving sponsors pushback. Telling sponsors to wait 8 months after a gift has been received to get a response before they will submit an inquiry. Telling sponsors to simply "ask your child to write more" instead of submitting an inquiry.

I understand problems can arise in sponsorship programs, but the way Compassion has been handling their issues really makes me uncomfortable sending my money to them.




To compare, I've also had 2 World Vision kids for about a year (a couple weeks less than I've had my Compassion kids), and I've received 7 letters from Alphonsine and 8 letters from Willy. Marina, who I've had for 8 months, I've received 5 letters from. Heck, I've already received 2 letters from one of my Children International kids who I've only been sponsoring for 2 1/2 months! Also, with every gift I've sent to kids in other organizations, I've received a response well before 6 months, and it's always a detailed response, with a picture.

Based on all of that, and taking into consideration other sponsors' accounts of how Compassion has been dealing with them, I reluctantly decided to end all sponsorships with Compassion. It just didn't make sense to continue sending money to an organization that I had to fight with every time I sent a gift, and every time I didn't hear from my sponsored kids. And, amazingly, I felt so settled once I made that decision and sent that letter off to Compassion via email. In true Compassion form, I haven't heard anything back from them, and all my kids are still on my account as of this morning when the email I sent cancelling was on Thursday at 1pm, Colorado time.

Letters from Kenya!

This week I received letters from my plant a book kids, who I guess I have to start calling my His Hands Support Ministries kids or my Galilee kids, etc.  HHSM is a mouthful!
Early in the week, I went ahead and set up my recurring sponsorship payments for my 2 girls, Elizabeth at Galilee Primary School, and Naomi at Waddington High School.  Once I got their letters, I was so happy that I decided to give HHSM a try.
Elizabeth wrote me 2 letters, and in one, she wrote "I love you so much, that I don't want to hear that you are hurt".  SO SWEET.
Naomi, who is 16, wrote me 5 full notebook pages!!  She also enclosed another page with a drawing and explanation of Kenya's flag.  I loved reading all of Naomi's writings.  She enjoys swimming, reading, and traveling, and hangs out with friends on her breaks from school.
I am so glad I went out of my comfort zone to sponsor an older student.  I already feel very connected to Naomi as I've gotten so much information from her letters.
I've written response letters to both girls so far, but I'm waiting to mail them out.  School is closed for a portion of August, so I want to wait until I know they will be there to receive them.

Awesome letter haul day!

Today, I received 3 letters in the mail!  That's pretty much the most letters I've ever received in one day.  You'd think, with as many children as I sponsor, that I'd have days where more letters have been received, but nope, 3 is the high.
Anyway, I received TWO letters from this cute, Ruerhene, my Children International child in the Philippines.

Both letters were written by her mother, Catherine.  The first thanked me for sponsoring Ruerhene, and gave me some general information about her.  She is in kindergarten at the local public elementary school, and she likes to sing and dance and play with Barbies.  The second letter thanked me for my letter, and commented on it, which was nice.  I often wonder if some of my other sponsored children even read the letters I write.  I'm excited that Ruerhene's mother is the one writing.  I get the best letters from Willy, my sponsored boy in Rwanda (through World Vision), and I suspect it is also because his mother writes the letters.  I'm looking forward to a great letter writing relationship with Ruerhene!

I also received one letter from this little guy, Yeferson, my Compassion child in Guatemala.

It was the "When I grow up" template.  Yeferson wants to be a doctor when he grows up to heal his mother.  So sweet!  He also had a cough, and needed to go to the hospital!  I will have to ask Compassion if everything is alright with his family.  I hope his mother's illness, and his illness are not serious.

Rethinking cancelling my plant a book kids

I've been thinking a lot about my decision to cancel my Plant A Book kids (Elizabeth, Naomi, and Reagan) due to my nervousness about the changeover from Plant a Book to His Hands Support Ministries.  I really feel a connection to Elizabeth and Naomi, and the fees are not expensive.

Last night, I think I came to a partial decision.  There are only 6 more payments left in 2014.  So, for Elizabeth, since she is at the primary school, that would be $12.50*6, so $75.  Not a ton of money.  Now, Naomi is at the high school, so her sponsorship is $20 each month, so to finish out the year for Naomi would cost $120.  Not super expensive, either.  Reagan is part of a group sponsorship, and to finish his year out, would only cost another $12.50, which is nothing.
So I've kind of decided that I should finish out 2014 with these kids, and then, in December, make the decision based on how I feel the last 6 months of sponsorship went.  If I end up unhappy, I will have time to say goodbye to my kids and let them know what is going on, and it will have cost me $207.  I think I am willing to risk that money, even with the bad reviews that this woman has received on how she handled the sponsorship program years ago.
So, I'm heavily leaning toward that decision for now.  Unless I get other information that sways me to cancel, I will likely follow through with these sponsorships for the remainder of 2014, and then make my decision.

Changes, changes!

Well, I made the decision to release my 4 correspondent kids through Compassion.  It honestly was not making any sense for me to keep them.  I wasn't hearing from them, and I dreaded writing to them.  There was no relationship there, not even with the 2 I had since September.
So what this means is that now I have 4 fewer kids to write to, so if I want to pick up more sponsorships, I can do so without worrying about how many kids I am writing to.

Also, I received the news that Plant a Book is shutting down its sponsorship program, and transferring all sponsorships to His Hands Support Ministries.  There are numerous reasons I don't support this.  The person put in charge of the sponsorship program has a horrible history with running sponsorship programs, and the new organization that graciously accepted the responsibility of taking over the sponsorship program seems way too large and spread too thin, as it is run strictly by volunteers.  It makes me nervous, and I can't send money to an organization that makes me nervous about the way they run things.  It's sad, as I really felt a connection to Elizabeth, and was starting to feel a connection to Naomi, my older girl.  Of course, that also means I will have to withdraw my participation in the group sponsorship of Reagan, a boy 4 of us were sponsoring through Plant a Book.

In other news, I have been hearing frequently from my 2 kids in East India through Compassion.  I am so pleased that their correspondence has picked up, I really feel as though I am getting to know them!