ChildFund Australia was facing a conundrum. For years, the organization had funded much of its development work by linking donors directly to a single beneficiary, through child sponsorship. But the model had come under scrutiny in recent years, with questions over how tightly donor money needed to be linked to individual children. Moreover, a number of countries where ChildFund Australia works simply weren’t good fits for individual sponsorship, for legal and cultural reasons.
They needed a funding model that was equally engaging for donors without the logistical and ethical complications of an individual model. The organization has traditionally drawn almost half of its funding from child sponsorships — for the 2015 financial year, child sponsorship made up 48 percent of their income.
“We know that child sponsorship has the highest retention of regular giving products,” Simone O’Connor, digital engagement lead for Global Community at ChildFund Australia, told Devex.