Sponsor a child like Simran

ActionAid believes that all children should have an equal chance to thrive.

Your sponsorship will make a huge difference to a girl or boy in need – ensuring they have enough to eat, an education and hope for the future.

As their only sponsor, you’ll have a special relationship with your sponsored child. You’ll receive photos, handwritten messages and regular updates from their community. 

You can choose where you sponsor a child, or you can leave it to our team to decide; they know which communities are in greatest need. It only takes a few minutes to become a child sponsor, but you could change a child’s life forever.

What happens when I become a child sponsor?

As soon as you sign up to be a sponsor, we’ll send you a welcome pack with a photo of the child you’re sponsoring and a little bit about them. And that’s just the start of the journey you’ll go on together.

You’ll get two handwritten messages a year from your child telling you about them and their life – they might be letters, drawings, or postcards – plus detailed updates about how they’re getting on from our staff in their country.

You can write back to your sponsored child. Over time you’ll get a new photo at special milestones so you can see them grow and thrive.

Read our frequently asked questions

Things you should know about child sponsorship

50 years
ActionAid has 50 years of experience changing the lives of children and communities through child sponsorship.

38,000
You'll be joining a community of more than 38,000 generous ActionAid child sponsors in the UK alone.

£19.50
We ask for a minimum of £19.50 a month so we can provide lasting support to the communities that benefit from your sponsorship.

Harriet (22) from Uganda was a sponsored child whose life changed thanks to child sponsorship with ActionAid. She is now a young woman studying at a local university.

Robert Asiimwe/ActionAid

Harriet's experience as a sponsored child

As a sponsored child, I had the opportunity to write to my sponsor.

ActionAid organised special days for all the children to write to their sponsors which were filled with fun events that each of us looked forward to.

It was a new and interesting experience for us to communicate with people in a different country. I had found a friend to whom I could tell my dreams and aspirations. I felt a personal responsibility to pursue my dreams."

Start my sponsorship

How is my sponsorship money spent?

  • 80% of the donations we receive through child sponsorship goes overseas.
  • 20% is spent in the UK on raising awareness and finding more supporters.

Of the 80% overseas gift:  

  • 70% goes directly to your sponsored child’s community or, if there is an exceptional need such as a life-threatening emergency, another community within their country.  
  • 30% is used to fund vital projects in other countries around the world where we work, and running child sponsorship so that you can receive messages from your sponsored child, and hear how your gift is changing lives

I'm ready to sponsor a child

About ActionAid

ActionAid is an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty.

Our dedicated local staff are changing the world with women and girls.

We are ending violence and fighting poverty so that all women and girls, everywhere, can create the future they want. 

We understand the deep-rooted problems facing women and girls, and we work alongside whole communities to find solutions.

Start my sponsorship

Contact us

If you have any questions about child sponsorship, don't hesitate to call us on 01460 238 000 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm). You can also email us at supportercontact@actionaid.org.

See our frequently asked questions

Your sponsorship could support a child like seven-year-old Simran (right) or her best friend Manisha (left), from Nepal. Image: Gopal Kumar Kumal/ActionAid

Page updated 2 January 2024