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75th anniversary

Plan is celebrating its 75th anniversary. In 1937, we
started out providing relief to children caught up in
the Spanish Civil War. Today Plan reaches 56.5
million children across 50 developing countries.

Sponsorship is the key to building relationships between donors, communities and 1.5 million sponsored children. Watch the video and see how we've been changing lives.

For 75 years we’ve been taking action and standing up for every child’s right to fulfil their potential and our staff and supporters around the world are marking the anniversary with special events for children.

As part of our birthday celebrations, we are also raising awareness of every child’s right to a birthday. Millions of children around the world don’t have a birth certificate. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and denies them access to services such as health and education. Our global Count Every Child campaign launched in 2005 and has so far facilitated registration of more than 40 million people - mostly children - in 32 countries.

Looking forward

Looking back

Through the years

Take a look at Plan's history timeline and see how we've grown into a global organisation to promote child rights and lift millions out of poverty.

Key people in Plan's history

Meet some of the people who struggled to establish Plan and provide vital support to children suffering from war in Europe.

 

 

Birth Registration Drive

As we celebrate our birthday, we'll be pushing for global action to ensure millions more children are registered at birth so they can access essential services - such as health and education.

Girls Campaign Launch

Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign to promote girls' rights will be launched globally on 11 October, 2012 - the day adopted by the UN as the International Day of the Girl Child.

Reaching more children

Plan's strategy to 2015 has one goal: to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalised, with high-quality programmes that deliver long-lasting benefits.

Highlights of 2011

  • Plan provided life-saving assistance in 39 disasters
  • We trained 528,425 people in skills - including education, child protection, disaster risk reduction and improving water systems
  • Plan reached 58,053 communities across the world.

Income and expenditure

  • Globally, Plan raised over €591,000,000 from sponsors and donors in 2011 – an increase of €57,000,000 on the previous year.
  • In 2011, expenditure for our programmes in 50 developing countries was more than €417,000,000.