Sponsor a Child
By donating $660 per year to our Romania projects, you can support:
- An abandoned infant or toddler currently under the care of a hospital
- An abandoned HIV-positive child in foster care
- An abandoned child who, because of his/her disability/life-threatening disease lives in an institution
- An abandoned teen who wishes to acquire vocational training so that he/she will be able to become self-sufficient after leaving the foster home or institution
- An abandoned teen who is living in an ACN-sponsored Independent Living Center which supports the teenager’s transition from living in an institution or foster care setting to self-reliance
- A child or teenager in need of love and support after growing up in a home where parents have been involved in substance abuse and/or prostitution
By donating $55 per month, or $660 per year, you can help provide a child with the love, care, and safety that might otherwise be absent, or make a difference in the life of a teenager whose “childhood” has been marked by hardship.
By donating $540-$695 per month to our Moldova projects, you can support:
- An older teen/young adult in a ten-month training program, so that the orphan can transition, through your help, from welfare to self-care. Market research is carefully conducted so that all program graduates are guaranteed employment.
By donating any amount, even $1 a month, when added to the contributions of others, you will be able to assist an abandoned child in need. Will you join us in assisting a child in need?
Where does my donation go?
Using the example of one of our Romania projects, ACN gives $560 to the in-country Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that looks after the day-to-day care of your sponsored child, and uses $100 to help us to both find and assist other children in need. Our annual per child support in Romania, for example, is roughly broken down as follows:
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Project personnel and legal costs: $150
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Transportation (medical treatment, appointments, etc.): $96
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Basic Requirements (medicines, miscellaneous): $90.
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Housing (electricity, water, garbage removal, telephone): $74
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Administrative (mail, record keeping, translating your letters and those of the child you sponsor, photography, etc.): $100
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Beneficiary Stipend (clothing, shoes, food, supplies): $150
Total: $660 per year, or $55 per month. This does not include the vocational training costs for older teenagers, but does include their Independent Living Center training.
$660 per year plus vocational training costs illustrates how expensive it is to individually sponsor a child. Donating any amount, however, can still entitle you to child sponsorship. ACN would add you to a group of other individual donors so that your group’s total donation would cover required costs. You could, of course, organize your own group, and a group of 12 students, for example, could raise a total of $55 a month through bake sales, car washes, etc. to sponsor a single child. Costs increase for older teenagers enrolled in vocational training based on the training’s location, duration, and fees.
The Relationship Between ACN and in-country NGOs
ACN requires all in-country NGOs, who assist ACN to care for children in need, to submit monthly financial reports on how donations are being used. Every NGO “in partnership” with ACN must meet certain criteria, which include account transparency and honest reporting. An ACN representative will annually visit your child, and you will receive an update on your child after this visit is completed.
How do I start my child sponsorship?
Click here for printable sponsorship form.
Initially you need to fill out a Sponsorship Preference Form, available by clicking Yes, I want to assist a child in need. If for any reason your computer does not allow you to send the form to ACN, please print and send the completed form. You will also need to send a check payable to "Assisting Children in Need" for the full sponsorship amount to Assisting Children in Need, 600 Cameron Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For bank transfer information, please go to How to Contribute.
How will I keep updated on the child I sponsor?
After receiving your contribution and Sponsorship Preference Form, you will receive a letter or email from ACN acknowledging receipt of your contribution together with a profile and photo of your child. Working with the in-country NGO partner, ACN will begin providing you with your child’s periodic progress reports. ACN routinely checks on sponsored children through annual on-site visits.
Next Section: Sponsor a Project.
Contact Us
Assisting Children in Need (ACN)
600 Cameron Street
Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Tel: +1 703 340 1677
Send us an email