CFCA requests $30 per month for sponsorship of a child or aging person. Sponsors receive a photo and family background information about their sponsored friend. Additionally, sponsors receive approximately three letters every year from their friend. CFCA encourages sponsors to visit their sponsored child or aging person, and offers them travel opportunities to do so on mission awareness trips.
Sponsorship funds are primarily used for the sponsored individual. Some benefits delivered to sponsored members, such as food staples, also benefit the sponsored member’s family. A number of projects offer livelihood programs that enable the parents of sponsored children to learn skills or trades which can help them earn an income to provide for their family. According to CFCA, families are encouraged to come together to solve local problems, thus also benefiting non-sponsored members of the community.
The organization reports that it does not pool sponsorship money for general community projects. Project staffs determine specific needs of those sponsored by getting to know the family and listening to what they feel they need most to break the cycle of poverty.
According to CFCA, the family background record is maintained at the local level on the child or aging person’s family, housing conditions, siblings, parents, health and other pertinent information such as grade in school. CFCA states that reports are not updated annually for sponsors, but that sponsors receive periodic updates through their sponsored friend’s letters to them. Additionally, many project coordinators write a letter once a year to all sponsors of children or aging people in their project, updating them on the project’s specific initiatives. CFCA also sends an updated photo to the sponsor annually.
In addition to the monthly sponsorship donation, sponsors may send gifts for birthdays and/or holidays. CFCA states that gifts for birthdays and/or holidays are voluntary and that the full amount of the monies are pooled and divided equally for the benefit of all sponsored children and aging. CFCA does not encourage sending large material gifts due to customs and duty issues, but sponsors are strongly encouraged to write letters to their sponsored friends.
CFCA does not allow a child or aging person to be assigned to more than one sponsor, nor do they sponsor children who are already sponsored by another organization.