-Veronica, CFCA writer/editor

We also have other letter-writing tips here: http://www.cfcausa.org/CFCA/WhySponsor/HowSponsorshipWorks/WritingLetters/LetterWritingTips.aspx

We’re thrilled that you’re taking this step of writing letters. Your support and encouragement are great gifts in your friend’s life!

~Shanxi, CFCA online content manager

Certainly! Our guidelines are a 9-inch by 12-inch or smaller envelope that weighs less than a pound and is less than 1 inch thick. We ask that you never send cash or checks directly, as this makes the package more likely to be stolen or tampered with before it reaches your friend. Thanks so much.

~Shanxi, CFCA online content manager

Thanks for your questions.

Our Hope for a Family sponsorship program provides the support and opportunities necessary to help sponsored children achieve their educational goals. Whether it is elementary school, middle school, high school, technical school or university, we support the students and help with their tuition for either school options.

CFCA does not own or run the schools that sponsored friends attend. Depending on the area and availability for enrollment, children attend either public or private schools.

Course options are different in every country and region; therefore, some children may have religious programs and some may not. However, this is not a requirement of our program.

Our role is to help the families with education costs, including paying tuition on time, providing uniforms, school supplies, funds for bus fare, etc.

We have many sponsored friends who have gone on to complete professional degrees and come back to serve in their communities. We believe these young people are the future leaders of their communities and their countries.

~Sponsor Services

Thanks,
Tom
Connecticut, USA

A great way to remember your friend on his birthday is to donate to our birthday fund. Your gift will be sent in its entirety, and 100 percent of contributions are distributed among our CFCA projects to ensure that all sponsored children and aging friends are remembered on these special occasions. The project staffs plan community-wide celebrations, which often include the entire family.

Sending a coloring book to your sponsored friend is a great idea for a gift and fits nicely into our suggested package guidelines. If you want to occasionally send a small gift to your friend, we ask that it fits in a 9-inch by 12-inch or smaller envelope, weighs less than a pound and is less than 1 inch thick. Any packages larger than this are usually not accepted because of high customs fees and the difficulty of delivering them.

For more information, check out our letter-writing FAQs on our website.

Hope this helps, and please let us know if you have any other questions.

~Shanxi, CFCA online content manager

Thanks so much for asking! You can write as often as you want. Most friends write to their sponsors twice a year, so there can be anywhere from four to six months between the time a letter is sent and received.

As a result of this extended time frame, your letters may cross in the mail. Questions asked in one letter may remain unanswered until subsequent letters are received.

If you are thinking of writing an eLetter from your online sponsorship account, you can send eLetters up to six times a year. You must be logged in to write an eLetter, though.

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.
~Shanxi, CFCA online content manager

You are certainly welcome to share your faith with your sponsored friend and to ask them about their own faith. Asking these kinds of questions in a respectful manner can foster an environment of understanding between various cultures and beliefs.

~Jordan K., Sponsor Services

Thanks!

-Lisa

Thanks so much for your sponsorship, and welcome to the CFCA community!

It’s great that you want to write to your sponsored friend once a month, but there are some practical limitations. It can take 8-10 weeks for your sponsored child to receive your letter, depending on obstacles such as translation time, unreliable mail systems and delivery to remote areas. As a result, your letters may cross in the mail.

One other aspect to keep in mind is that sponsored members are required to write a minimum of two letters per year. They can write more if they choose to, but it’s not required.

We now have an option where you can send eLetters to your sponsored friend (in addition to traditional letters sent through the mail). There is a limit, though, of six eLetters per calendar year. That limit may change in the future, but for now itís capped at six.

We’re thrilled that you took the time to write to us. Here are further tips on letter writing: http://www.cfcausa.org/WhySponsor/HowSponsorshipWorks/WritingLetters/LetterWritingTips.aspx

Thanks again!

~Shanxi, CFCA web editor and writer

Right now we don’t have any mission awareness trips planned for Brazil. If you would still like to visit your sponsored friend, however, we may be able to schedule an individual sponsor visit for you.

Hereís a list of frequently asked questions about individual sponsor visits.

For more information, please call us at 800.875.6564 or 913.384.6500, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central time, or email us at cfca_isv@cfcausa.org.

Thanks!
~Shanxi, CFCA web editor and writer

There are several reasons why we are unable to facilitate communication after a sponsored person leaves the program. We always want to protect the privacy and well-being of our sponsors and our sponsored. We also lose contact with the child or family when they leave the program. They may move away, have difficulty trying to send letters on their own or they may not have internet access.

I recently spoke with a sponsor, and she shared her thoughts and feelings about the CFCA Hope for a Family program. When she began her sponsorship, she felt very close to her sponsored child, but as her child grew up, she began to view the relationship as more of a mentor program ñ designed to help others help themselves. Iíve thought about this statement recently, and feel that it expresses the heart of what CFCA aims to achieve with all of our sponsored families.

If you have any further questions or comments, we would love to speak with you. Please feel free to contact Sponsor Services at 800.875.6564 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time, or by email at mail@cfcausa.org.

Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.

~Veronica from Sponsor Services

I’m new to CFCA sponsorship and I would like to know if you allow a furthering of the friendship between the sponsor and his/her friend after leaving the program? I also understand that there are legitimate reasons why there is a need for protection of privacy for both parties. Have you considered that an extraordinary friendship can exist outside of program rules?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Christmas gifts vary from project to project, but theyíre all chosen with love and thought by the local CFCA staff in your sponsored childís area.

Through the Christmas fund, all of the sponsored members will receive a gift on behalf of their sponsor. All sponsors can donate to these funds, which are distributed equally among all of the sponsored members. We distribute the funds equally so that no child feels left out if their sponsor was unable to contribute. Each project uses the Christmas fund donations to purchase items for the sponsored friends.

You can learn more about Christmas gifts for your sponsored friend on our website.

To find out what your child receives, go to https://www.cfcausa.org/Login.aspx to manage your sponsorship account online. Once you are logged in, there should be a link to your sponsored childís project.

Click on the link to see any specific benefits listed under the Christmas section. (If you have any questions related to your online account, a Sponsor Services representative at 1-800-875-6564 will be more than happy to assist you.)

Thanks,
Veronica from Sponsor Services

Si tiene preguntas adicionales, favor de contactar a nuestros coordinadores de viajes de concientizaciÛn misionera a trips@cfcausa.org.

Gracias y que Dios lo bendiga.

Because of legal liability, cost and the difficulty of getting permission to travel outside their country, CFCA does not allow sponsors to bring sponsored friends to the United States. Such a trip would also bring their lack into more prominence and might also incite jealousy among their peers.

Instead, CFCA offers mission awareness trips and individual sponsor visits. These give sponsors the opportunity to meet their sponsored friends and to experience the culture and climate their friends live in.

Thank you,

Jordan
Sponsor Services

Congratulations on becoming a sponsor through CFCA! We appreciate your commitment and goodwill to bring hope for a family.

After you send in your first payment, you will receive a receipt in the mail. This receipt will list your next due date for your sponsorship. If you signed up for automatic payments, you will always receive an automatic payment confirmation letter in the mail, notifying you that you signed up for CFCAís automatic payment plan.

If you are not sure the automatic payment will be reoccurring, feel free to contact Sponsor Services toll free at 1-800-875-6564 or e-mail us at mail@cfcausa.org. Sponsor Services will be happy to assist you and answer any questions you might have. Thank you for your commitment to the children and aging we serve!

~Sponsor Services

I just signed up for a sponsorship at the end of May. Will I be charged again at the end of June or at the beginning of June? How do I know if I’ve signed up for automatic payments?

Thanks,
Liz

Kia ora from a fellow Kiwi! I was born in New Zealand and spent my childhood there.

It is possible for non-U.S. residents to sponsor through CFCA. We ask that non-U.S. sponsors make their contributions through a major credit card in U.S. dollars. It is also important to keep in mind that your contributions will not be tax-deductible.

Cheers, and thanks for asking!
~Shanxi, CFCA web editor and writer, along with Ashley from Sponsor Services

Thank you for your recent comment. We appreciate your care and concern for your special friend. Through the CFCA Hope for a Family program, we strive to empower the sponsored members and their families. Our goal is for them to become self-sufficient, and be able to sustain a good quality standard of living.

In order for the sponsored members to empower themselves, the project offers many special workshops and livelihood programs. Through these workshops and training courses, the project is able to educate the sponsored members on the ways in which they can earn extra income and provide for their family. The sponsored members work hard to learn these new skills, and the end result leaves them feeling a sense of pride, confidence and a deeper respect for themselves.

External donations can have a positive impact on these initiatives in some cases, but in other cases external help can create negative unintended consequences. CFCA understands and appreciates our sponsors and how they make these donations to help their sponsored family.

However, these donations can impede the familyís path toward self-sufficiency. ëHand-outí charity can create dependency and diminish a familyís initiative. In some cases, the family is provided with a loan to start a business from the sponsor, but without the proper training and planning, the business might fail and the family will fall right back into the clutches of poverty.

CFCA offers sponsors the option of sending an inquiry to local project staff to help assess whether they believe a livelihood donation to a particular sponsored childís family would be beneficial.

A donation to the livelihood programs would be the best way to help your child and childís family succeed in everyday life. These programs help develop the livelihood of the families, and your donation would be very beneficial to your childís project.

If you have any questions, please contact Sponsor Services at 800-875-6564 or email mail@cfcausa.org.

~Sponsor Services

A quick overview of CFCA can be found at our website under the About Us section. We currently work in 22 countries, serving more than 300,000 children, youth and aging persons around the world. (You can see the countries on our interactive map.)

Beyond our Hope for a Family sponsorship program, we also have special funds helping families in specific ways. These include the birthday and Christmas celebration funds, disaster assistance and food assistance funds, livelihood programs and scholarships for deserving youth to continue their education.

Thanks again, and let us know how your speech goes!

Shanxi Omoniyi,
web editor and writer,
CFCA

In 2010, we had a little more than 29,000 new sponsorships. Most of them were the result of new sponsors stepping forward to support a child or aging friend, but some of them came from existing sponsors who signed up for additional sponsorships.

With almost half the world’s children living in poverty, many need our help. Our goal for 2011 is to have 37,000 new sponsorships – 8,000 more than last year.

It’s wonderful to hear that you’re sharing your experience with friends and family; that’s how we get many of our sponsorships. Keep up the great work!

Sincerely,
Shanxi Omoniyi, web editor and writer

It is understandable that your co-workers would have these types of questions, and we would be happy to answer them for you. CFCA has 94.2 percent of our funds going directly towards program support. We were given an A+ by the American Institute of Philanthropy, and we are highly rated by the Better Business Bureau and other accredited charities.

If your co-workers are interested to learn a more detailed report of our finances, they can visit our website at http://www.hopeforafamily.org where we have our 990 and 990T IRS forms available for viewing.

In addition, the sponsored members are required to write a minimum of two letters each year to their sponsors, and we will send a new photo of the sponsored member every year as well. This helps some of our sponsors put a face to the person they are supporting.

We also have mission awareness trips that our sponsors can attend. On these trips, you will be able to meet and talk with your sponsored friend, as well as share and partake in new and exciting cultural experiences.

If you or your co-workers have any additional questions, please feel free to call Sponsor Services at 1-800-875-6564 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central.

Thank you, and have a blessed day.
~Sponsor Services

Thank you!

Claudia, Sponsor Services

Claudia,

Sponsor Services

Thank you so much for supporting your sponsored friends! You can definitely donate to the Christmas fund online at http://www.cfcausa.org/GetInvolved/Donate/SpecialFunds.aspx?FundID=3.

After you check out, there should be a screen that asks whether you’re already a sponsor with us, at which point you can still enter your ID information.

Thanks again, and God bless!

Sincerely,
Shanxi Omoniyi
Web editor and writer
CFCA

In regards to sponsorship, CFCA does not end child sponsorship at any specific age, and we allow children to remain sponsored as long as they are attending school. Many children in developing countries are not able to start school until they are older.

If the project has college or vocational schools available in the area, we encourage sponsored children to continue their education. We make every effort to keep children in the sponsorship program to facilitate access to higher education.

If you correspond with your sponsored friend, it may be helpful to ask about their educational plans through a letter. If at any time your child discontinues his studies or leaves the program, we will inform you and ask if you’d like to continue with a new child.

You are also not under any obligation to continue, and if at any time you feel that you need to end the sponsorship, you can contact us and let us know of your decision.

Thank you for your care and concern, and please feel free to contact us with any further questions or concerns. Have a blessed day.

Sincerely,
Veronica
Sponsor Services

Thank you for your question. In fiscal year 2009, total program support represents 94.2 percent of CFCA expenses, and includes both project funding (87.8 percent) and U.S.-based program support services to the projects and our sponsors (6.4 percent). Fundraising costs are 2.8 percent of expenses, with the remaining 3 percent used to fund general and administrative costs.

You can find more information about our financial stewardship report and charity ratings at http://www.cfcausa.org/aboutus/accountability.html.

Thanks!
Shanxi Omoniyi, web editor/writer
Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA)