Category Archives: Ask Sponsor Services

Jul 9 2012

How do I know my money’s going to benefit my sponsored friend?

Posted on by
Reply

Ask Sponsor ServicesQ. How do I know my money’s going to benefit my sponsored friend?

A. Great question. It’s important that you fully evaluate any charity you consider partnering with, and we’re happy to answer any questions about CFCA you might have.

At CFCA, we’re proud of our outstanding ratings from charity evaluators. We receive an A+ from CharityWatch, their highest rating possible.

Charity Navigator says we perform as well as or better than most charities in our cause. We also meet all 20 rigorous standards established by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. Read more

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
Jun 5 2012

What about my sponsored child’s additional educational expenses?

Posted on by
Reply

Ask Sponsor ServicesQ. How can I help support additional educational expenses of my sponsored child?

A. CFCA encourages sponsored children and youth to strive to achieve their educational goals. For a growing number of sponsored youth, this means pursuing a college education or vocational training.

Normal monthly sponsorship benefits, however, are not always enough to cover the entire educational expenses, and the sponsored member’s family may not be able to make up the difference.

If you are interested in helping your sponsored friend with additional educational expenses beyond the monthly sponsorship amount, you can make special contributions by establishing an education fund for your sponsored friend.

If your sponsored friend still has a few years before reaching higher education or vocational training but you would like to start planning for the future now, you can make additional contributions to a future education fund for your sponsored child.

Contributions to this fund are held at CFCA until your sponsored friend is ready to begin college or vocational training.

For more information, or to set up an education fund for your sponsored child, please email mail@cfcausa.org or call Sponsor Services at (800) 875-6564 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time.

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
May 21 2012

3 best (and worst) gifts to send to sponsored children, aging friends

Posted on by
10

Writing letters and sharing photos are wonderful ways to build a strong friendship between you and your sponsored friend!

We so appreciate our sponsors who take the time to get to know their sponsored children and aging friends through correspondence.

Rosana helps CFCA sponsored child Auner write letter to sponsor

Rosana, right, helps Auner, a child sponsored through CFCA, write a letter to his sponsor. Rosana is a mothers group leader in Guatemala.

To improve your sponsorship experience, we’ve outlined the 3 best (and worst) gifts you can send in the mail.

Best gifts to send

1) Letters

Whether it’s a brief note asking about their family, how they’re doing in school or just saying, “I’m thinking of you,” a letter can mean the world to a child whose mother is sick, to a youth struggling to finish school, or to an elderly person who yearns for companionship. (Writer’s block? See some of our letter-writing tips to get you started.)

No matter how simple, these letters and notes help let your friend know there’s someone far away who cares and wants them to succeed in life.

Note: You can now send eLetters, which are messages sent to your friend through your CFCA online account. (You must be logged in to your online account before sending an eLetter.)

2) Cards

Birthday cards, holiday cards, friendship cards … There’s a reason why cards have endured even in today’s digital age, and that’s because they’re so personal!

Another option, if you and your sponsored friend speak the same language, is to send a recordable greeting card and let your friend meet you through a recorded message.

3) Photos

When you began sponsoring, you were given a photo of your sponsored friend. Just as you enjoy knowing to whom you’re writing, your friend would love to have a photo of you or your family.

Sending a photo allows your friend to get to know you a little better. As you place your friend’s photo on the fridge or elsewhere in your home, know that your friend’s family will have your photo in a special place, too.

Worst gifts to send Read more

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
Apr 24 2012

Should I connect with my former sponsored child on Facebook?

Posted on by
Reply

Ask Sponsor ServicesQ. I recently received a Facebook friend request from my former sponsored child. Should I accept it?

A. While we can’t prevent a former sponsored child from trying to find and contact their sponsor via Facebook, we do encourage everyone to consider any potential risks that could happen from direct contact.

These risks may not come from your friend, but from other people within your friend’s community who learn about their direct contact with you in the U.S.

Some of these risks could include requests being made to you for ongoing support, or people trying to extort money from your friend or friend’s family because they are in direct contact with someone in the U.S.

For these reasons, CFCA does not facilitate or encourage direct contact between sponsors and their former sponsored friends.

We cherish the friendships that form between sponsored friends and sponsors through our program. Unfortunately, our ability to safely facilitate these friendships is only through the sponsorship program.

Please note: CFCA’s child protection policies do not allow current sponsors to be in unsupervised communication with sponsored friends, including social media such as Facebook.

To protect the privacy of our sponsors and ensure that all communications with sponsored friends are appropriate, our project staffs monitor all correspondence.

Related links:

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
Apr 10 2012

With your help, we’ve sent $1 billion in overseas support

Posted on by
Reply
Eliakim and Rebecca in Kenya

Eliakim, left, and his sponsor, Rebecca Shaneyfelt. Rebecca visited Eliakim on a CFCA mission awareness trip to Kenya in February 2012.

Great news, everyone! As of April 2012, weíve sent $1 billion to the field in support of our programs to help sponsored children and aging friends around the world.

(Read our news report here: CFCA reaches milestone in supporting families)

We’re deeply humbled and grateful for the support of everyone in our community for making this possible.

As stewards of the money you, our sponsors and donors, entrust to us, we’ll continue our commitment of sending the highest reasonable amount of available resources directly toward program support.

We also will continue to honor our co-founders’ commitment to put the needs of those living in poverty first.

CFCA President and Co-founder Bob Hentzen put it this way at a CFCA board meeting:

“We want to promote a new view of globalization, one in which we put into international motion a true sharing of the resources of God’s creation. We want the resources and goods of this earth to favor unity, not separation. In our preferential option, we favor the poor.”

Because of their perseverance and the support from more than 628,000 sponsors who have “walked” with us, we’re the organization that we are today. We’re excited to see where the next 30 years will take us.

As always, thank you so much for your support!

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
Feb 13 2012

Automatic Payment Plan helps you, CFCA and sponsored friends

Posted on by
Reply
Angel, CFCA sponsored child in El Salvador

Angel, left, is a CFCA sponsored child in El Salvador.

Last year we had a special initiative in which our project in Guatemala would plant a tree for every sponsor who signed up to pay for sponsorship through our Automatic Payment Plan.

This year we have another initiative!

Sign up, and CFCA will send $5 to your sponsored friend’s project to help meet urgent needs in your friend’s community.

That means if 100 sponsors from your friend’s project sign up, your friend’s project receives $500!

Right now two out of every five sponsors choose to pay their sponsorship using our Automatic Payment Plan. Here are some of the benefits:

  • Save on postage and the time it takes to mail your contribution.
  • Never miss a payment ñ your contribution is automatically processed each month.
  • Reduce paperwork ñ electronic payment is environmentally friendly.

If you want to sign up online, go to https://www.cfcausa.org/SponsorsOnline/MyContributions.aspx. (If you havenít already, you will need to log in to your online sponsorship account.)

Enter the amount of your monthly sponsorship payment and click ìMake payment.î

A pop-up question will ask, “Would you like your sponsorship contributions paid automatically each month?”

Choose ìYes,î and your first monthly payment will be added to your contribution basket. You can adjust the amount and the frequency of your payment, if you prefer to pay on an annual, semi-annual or quarterly basis.

As you proceed through the checkout process, you will be able to choose which payment account you want to use (or add a new one).

Thanks, as always, for your support!

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email
Jan 27 2012

How do I help CFCA, continue providing for my sponsored friend?

Posted on by
Reply

Ask Sponsor ServicesQ. If something happens to me, how can I help CFCA and continue to provide for my sponsored friend?

A. Whether through a current gift, will, trust, retirement fund or life insurance policy, you can support the ongoing work of CFCA and also provide for the continuation of sponsorship benefits, emergency assistance or higher education for your sponsored friend.

Planning today using our estate planning tools can make a lasting impact for years to come.

We are here to help with any questions you or your advisers might have regarding estate gifts to CFCA. Contact Michael Calabria at (800) 875-6564 or giftplanning@cfcausa.org, or visit hopeforafamily.org/estate for suggested language and beneficiary information for your attorney to include in your estate documents.

We assign the highest reasonable amount of available resources to directly benefit sponsored friends. See our financials and the consistently high ratings we receive from independent charity evaluators.

Share this post:
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Reddit Email