Children, Incorporated

Children Incorporated (CI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) international child sponsorship organization based in Richmond, Virginia.

Children Incorporated was founded in 1964 by Jeanne Clarke Wood, daughter of the noted philanthropists Dr. and Mrs. J. Calvitt Clarke. After personally witnessing the deprivation of children in Guatemala, Mrs. Wood began writing letters and seeking assistance for the 95 children she met on her journey. This became the first Children Incorporated project.

Thanks to past and current supporters around the globe, Children Incorporated now has over 300 projects in 23 countries which serve over 15,000 children annually. To date, over 250,000 children have been provided opportunities for growth and education and experienced the support and encouragement Children Incorporated programs provide.

Children Incorporated envisions a world in which each and every child has the education, resources, and opportunity to build a better life. ^[1]

Sponsorship model

Children Incorporated relies on donors and individual sponsors to provide opportunities to children around the world. Sponsorship provides an underprivileged child with basic necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare and education. Sponsorships cost $28 per month per child, although Children Incorporated has offered certain breaks to longtime members by allowing their sponsorship rates to stay the same as when they had joined, such as $24 a month, as long as that sponsored child continues to be part of the program. The sponsorship stipend is the responsibility of the coordinating organization, and many coordinators draft budgets saying what the stipend is spent on and remit it to Children Incorporated. Most of the stipend money is spent on items relative to the child's cleanliness, medical and dental needs, such as clothes, soap, toothpaste, or to defray cost of education, such as school supplies.

As an international non-profit, Children Incorporated partners with other organizations that already have structure in areas of need. Affiliating with established orphanages, schools and childcare centers that have the staff to manage programs on a volunteer basis. Over 300 volunteer coordinators drive programs throughout 22 foreign countries.

Although Children Incorporated was started as an international program, it has expanded into a domestic capacity. Children Incorporated's mission statement has said that despite the conditions of the Third World, they are also committed to the concept of "charity begins at home" and an American program was also deserved. The U.S. program has three major sections, inner city Detroit and Richmond, American Indian reservations and the Appalachia region. There are different regulations for sponsors enrolled in the U.S. program; American children are given stronger identity protection in that their photographs are not shown on the website as are international children. Electing to sponsor an American child will reveal the photograph to the donor. Sponsors may also send care packages to American children, which is discouraged in the international programs out of concern for poor postal services and corrupt customs officials in many Third World nations.^[2]

Noted donors and recognition

Dr. Richard Carlson wrote about Children Incorporated in two books in his Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series, in which he said that himself, his wife and children were all donors and the positive effect one can feel from aiding in another child's growth. The chapter ended with Carlson commenting that many mail sponsorship organizations are efficient and commendable, but his personal favorite was Children, Incorporated in Virginia. The two books, one of which was a New York Times Best Seller, are attributed as having encouraged over 4,000 individuals to sponsor a child through Children, Incorporated.^[3]

Children Incorporated’s most noted donor is poker professional Barry Greenstein.^[4] Greenstein has chosen CI as his primary recipient of poker winnings and has donated over $1.5 million to the organization, to include $350,000 which was divided equally as a $1,000 cash bonus for the 350 employees of CI.^[5]

In 2012, singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash headlined the Richmond Folk Festival to commemorate her 25 years of sponsorship with the organization and raise local awareness.^[6]

References

External links

• Children, Incorporated