How to Sponsor a Child in India
India, the second most populous country, also is among the fastest-growing developing countries, according to SOS Children's Villages. Despite that fact, about a quarter of the population lives below the income poverty level and 47 percent of children under 3 suffer from malnutrition. Your sponsorship can provide much-needed support for a child in India.
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Instructions
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Decide how much you can afford to donate. Since most organizations through which you can sponsor a child work on a monthly donation basis, you'll want to evaluate how much you can afford to donate each month. if it seems like you don't have much in your budget to spare, put the donation into perspective by looking at how much you spend daily or weekly on luxury items such as coffee or trips to restaurants or movies. You'd be surprised how quickly those things add up, and how easily you could transfer some of these funds to a worthy cause such as sponsoring a child.
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Compare charities. There are a number of helpful agencies through which you can sponsor a child, including Compassion, World Vision, Save the Children and the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. Thoroughly research each charity to find out how it conducts its child sponsorship programs, what countries it works with, how donated money is used and other important details. Many sites will allow you to view the charity's financial statements as well, to give you a better idea of how the charity operates, and help you decide if you feel comfortable and confident about donating to it.
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Weed out scams. Although most charities are legitimate, there are scam operations working under the guise of charities in order to take donors' money. And even among the reputable charities, some are undeniably more helpful than others to the causes that they represent. Look at CharityNavigator.org, CharityWatch.org, or Give.org to view ratings and important details about different charitable organizations. Through these sites and others like them, you can learn which charities are authentic, as well as which use their donors' money in the wisest fashion.
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Sign up for sponsorship. You should be allowed to select what country you'd like to sponsor a child from; some sites even allow you to browse pictures of children and select a specific little girl or boy. After you have made your selection, you will make your first monetary donation; the methods vary from site to site and can include options like automatic monthly payments or lump yearly sums. Depending on the program, you will receive information and ongoing updates about your child. You may write to your child or send periodic gifts, and might even receive correspondence back.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have kids, involve them in making the decision to sponsor a child or even a family. This experience can be an excellent way to teach them about charity and compassion, while demonstrating the power they have to do good in the world.
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