Three years ago, a group of nearly 48 former Compassion International sponsored children in the Philippines decided it was time for them to start investing in children in their own country.
“Because we believe in the power of Christ and the strategies of Compassion to change lives, we came together and decided that it was now our turn to do the same,” said Glendy Obahib, one of the principals leaders of the Compassion Alumni Sponsorship Movement. (CASM). “We were blessed to benefit from the gift of sponsorship and now we want to become a blessing to others through the same sponsorship. »
A new initiative from Compassion International will make this work even easier. Filipino nationals will now be able to sponsor children in the country and fund community development programs through the establishment of Compassion Philippines Inc., a support office in the country.
Compassion Philippines’ sole focus will be fundraising, unlike Compassion International, which runs the programs. Compassion Australia is helping the new organization establish a legal identity and provide registration, insurance and hiring advice so that Compassion Philippines can operate as a separate legal entity from Compassion International in the Philippines.
Currently, according to Precious Amor Tulay of Compassion Philippines, the new organization is seeking bank account approval and government permits that will allow it to raise funds and allow donors to claim tax deductions.
Compassion staff hope this transition will increase support in the Philippines. Today, most of the funding for sponsored children in the Philippines comes from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
“By equipping local fundraising teams, we are taking important steps towards self-reliance and reducing reliance on external funding sources” said Tony Broughton, Compassion Australia operations director, in a press release. “This means a more meaningful and lasting impact in breaking the cycle of poverty. »
Since 1972, Compassion International has partnered with churches to offer “personal, individualized” and long-term care for 200,000 Filipino children. This Each year, 475 churches in the Philippines provide Compassion-funded assistance to 105,000 children.
By becoming a donor country, the Philippines is following in the footsteps of South Korea, which achieved this status in 2003. Of the 29 countries in which Compassion has sponsored children, only South Korea and the Philippines have decided to open their own local support offices. (Outside the United States, Compassion has 14 support desks.)
This transition is based on several factors. The Philippines has strong financial capacity and has the second highest Christian GDP per capita in Asia. The country is also a majority Christian nation, and local corporate donors will not hesitate – or might even have a keen interest – in granting corporate social responsibility funds to an explicitly Christian organization.
Compassion has a strong presence in the Philippines, including an extensive community network and thousands of Compassion alumni who support children financially, sponsor programs and leadership training, and organize informal fundraisers.
The Compassion Alumni Association (CAA) of the Philippines has approximately 2,500 alumni divided into 10 chapters, located in Davao, Butuan, CDO, Iligan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Laoag/Baguio, Metro Manila and Pangasinan.
Levi Carupo became a sponsored child at the age of eight and was one of the first participants in Compassion’s programs to receive a college education. Now the head of partnerships for Compassion International in the Philippines and current president of CAA, he noted that several chapters of the alumni group carry out disaster preparedness, child abuse prevention and job training social for young people of Compassion.
“One day we will see a former Compassion sponsored child become a community leader – a civic leader, a mayor engaged in his community,” Carupo said.
Currently, CAA and CASM sponsor Filipino children by pooling donations from their members and sending funds through one of Compassion’s global websites, usually in the United States or Australia. CASM sends gifts to its sponsored children, and each child has a designated letter writer to maintain a personal relationship between CASM and the child. CASM also generates funds through a portion of the registration fees that the Compassion Alumni Leadership Movement collects for its Compassion-sponsored youth leadership trainings.
As the funding model evolves, Noel Pabiona, country director of Compassion in the Philippines, wants to expand the scope of helping children by partnering with more churches, including those in poorer communities.
Currently, the organization has 70 partner churches in tribal communities, led and led by indigenous people. He also became more active in helping communities with large Muslim populations.
“The good thing about helping the poor is that whether you are Muslim or Christian, you are welcome in the community,” Pabiona said. “Even among Muslims, they welcome help from Christians. Jesus’ example is to openly show his unconditional love, and the rest is up to him. People will be more receptive to your message if they see Christ manifested in your life.
Compassion offers individual programs to help children and provides resources for complementary interventions or activities that promote children’s overall development. Beyond child sponsorship, the organization provides financial assistance to approximately 100 Filipino children each year who suffer from catastrophic illnesses, such as cancer or kidney disease, that require costly and prolonged medical treatment.
Beyond additional funding, the success of these initiatives relies on partnerships, Pabiona said. For example, Compassion works with Convoy of Hope to provide meals to combat childhood malnutrition. They partnered with megachurches and chambers of commerce to help build school buildings for eleventh and twelfth grade high school students. (For years, students only needed to complete the equivalent of tenth grade to be considered to have completed high school, so schools often lacked facilities for older students.)
In areas of the country where the organization runs active programs, Compassion maintains an open line of communication with local authorities, allowing them to make suggestions as concrete as opening a new road so children can get to more easily to school on foot.
But Compassion’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders are probably those who know the organization firsthand, Pabiona said. As an example, he described a former sponsored child, now a licensed engineer, who cleaned the air conditioner at a Compassion partner church in his spare time.
“The Lord not only uses ministry to equip (young people), but He also transforms their lives,” he said. “They know Jesus and they have hope in this life and the life to come. »
