FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
Emergency Response FAQ
A: Both! We are committed to responding to emergencies and meeting urgent needs. To do this, ongoing support of our crisis readiness is essential. This ensures that FH will be able to respond to disasters when they happen. We also have specific emergency projects that will reach an end date once the disaster relief work is completed.
Child Sponsorship FAQ
A: Child sponsorship helps families and communities overcome the challenges of extreme poverty so they can better care for children. Sponsoring gives children opportunities to grow, learn, and achieve their dreams.
A: Your sponsorship gifts are combined with those from other sponsors to support your sponsored child’s community. This allows FH to work with community leaders to ensure that families have the tools they need to become resilient and children can flourish.
A: Yes! It is a wonderful experience for both you and your sponsored child. Because of all the arrangements that must be made, these visits require a minimum of eight weeks’ notice. Call us at 866-307-3259 or email sponsorvisits@fh.org to start planning your visit now.
A: You’ll hear from your sponsored child a few times throughout the year. If you write, you may hear from your sponsored child more often. A sponsor can look forward to receiving up to four letters in a year from the child they sponsor, even if the sponsor doesn’t send any letters.
A: The journey of a sponsorship letter video shows how your letters will be hand-delivered to your sponsored child! Because mail service is unreliable or non-existent in the communities we serve, we first have you send the letter to our US office, where we review and bundle it with other sponsors’ letters. Your letter is then sent to our FH staff in the country where your sponsored child lives. They, in turn, translate your message and deliver it to your sponsored child.
A: After you send a letter to your sponsored child, it will take a minimum of 90 days to receive a response from them. Watch the journey of a sponsorship letter video to see how letters travel to and from your sponsored child.
A: We understand circumstances can change that may need to pause or cancel your sponsorship. If this happens, please call us at 866-307-3259. Our child sponsorship team will be happy to assist you.
A: You can send paper-based gifts directly to your sponsored child. You can include one item with each of your letters. Examples are coloring pages, activity sheets, bookmarks, stickers, and photos.
Strengthen Communities FAQ
A: Both are impactful, powerful ways you can help end poverty. When you give to Strengthen Communities, you equip children, families, and communities with the resources to become resilient and flourish. You are helping to provide ongoing access to clean water and sanitation, health care, food security, livelihoods, spiritual development, and education. You can give to Strengthen Communities in any amount of $5 or more on a monthly basis or as a one time gift. Steady, reliable giving makes it possible to strengthen more communities to reach their God-given potential to flourish.
When you give through Child Sponsorship, you choose the child you will sponsor for $38 each month. This is an ongoing commitment – and it is this steady, reliable flow of funds that makes it possible for FH to bring about the change needed in the life of a child their family and community. You will also receive letters from the child you sponsor and updates specific to their country and community.
However you choose to partner with FH, your gifts will make a life-changing difference for children, families, and communities. You can also choose to give both ways and multiply your impact!
A: You will receive regular communications from us sharing the impact you’re having in these communities, and how your support is making it possible for individuals and communities to become resilient and flourish.
A: FH is currently working in more than 3,500 communities in 18 countries to alleviate extreme poverty. When you give to Strengthen Communities, you are providing the tools and resources that these individuals, families, and communities need to effect lasting change.
Match Your Donation FAQ
A: When you give to matching, your donations go an average of 22x further to provide food, clean water, irrigation, education, and more, helping families around the globe rise out of poverty. This is made possible through highly competitive grants awarded to FH by institutional donors. Grants vary by country and partner. On average, every dollar given is matched 22x.
A: FH receives grants from partner organizations like USAID, World Food Programme, and many others. It is through these grants that FH is invited to apply for and awarded that your gift can be matched.
A: FH has multiple match opportunities provided by multiple donors, and each project is on its own timeline. We have a team devoted to the ongoing process of applying for and managing these grants as they are awarded. It’s a rigorous process, as most grants are invite-only and include detailed requirements. FH must promise to contribute a portion of the funds to receive the grants. Your support is what makes it possible for FH to meet those contributions. Each year, we calculate an average match for all of our active grants.
A: To qualify for the 22x matching program, we must fund these projects as a whole rather than individually. When you give to matching, you are supporting multiple lifesaving projects, like reducing malnutrition in Guatemala and providing drought relief in the Horn of Africa.
Gift Catalog FAQ
A: Our country teams work closely with people in the communities we serve to understand their specific needs. Together, they plan a wishlist based on what is needed most. We share this information with you by listing the countries that will receive specific gifts in the catalog descriptions. For example, goats are currently needed in Bangladesh and Nicaragua, and chickens are needed in Cambodia and Uganda. You can be assured that your gift will go to one of the countries listed.
A: Good news! Most gifts are sourced where they will be received! By purchasing them locally, FH further supports the economy of that community! This means the gifts you give have an even greater impact, helping the families that receive them and also supporting the communities where they live. Any items that cannot be sourced locally are purchased and delivered to recipients.
Donation / Account Center FAQ
A: Once a donation has been submitted online, the email receipt will include a link to complete registration for your account. After completing the registration you will receive a email confirmation to set your password. If you have previously created an account or have previous donations and used your same email address you can use your login credentials previously created. Contact us if you need assistance.
A: Login to your account here. Click on the Explore button under the “My Donations” card. Once on the page, locate the recurring donation you wish to update. Click on “Edit payment”. You will be prompted to choose from your Saved Payment Methods and be shown a success message when the payment method was successfully changed.
A: Login to your account here. Click on the “My Account Settings” from the menu in the right hand corner of the page. Once on the profile page you can click the “Reset Password” or change your email address and click “Save”.
A: Login to your account here. Click on the Explore button under the “My Profile” card. Once on your profile page click on the pencil icon in the Contact Information header. Update your info. Click save when done.
A: Login to your account here. Click on the Explore button under the “My Billing Info” card. Choose which year you wish to download in the Giving History section. This will download a PDF of the receipt to your computer and you can save or print for your records.
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