Sponsor a Child - Plan International Ireland

When you sponsor a child, you will have an inspiring and rewarding experience

You have the opportunity to develop a life-long connection with a girl or boy who needs you, while helping to strengthen their entire community. Whilst you’re sponsoring a particular child, your generosity helps us transform the lives of many children, especially girls, through education. In turn this provides protection from abuses such as child marriage and teenage pregnancies, as well as sexual and physical abuse.

Plan International reaches sponsored children, their families and their communities in more than 75 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Without your support – and that of generous sponsors like you – we would be unable to strengthen children’s rights and equality for girls. By working together, you, your sponsored child and Plan International are able to achieve incredible things.

My sponsors helped me finish school

Through Plan’s sponsorship programme, Maria, 19 received schoolbooks, stationery and letters from her sponsors who encouraged her. Read more

What you get when you sponsor a child

We hope sponsoring a child becomes a special relationship, going beyond the vital financial contribution you’re making. To nurture this – let you see how they’ve grown, hear how they’re getting on, discover the improvements being made to their local community – you’ll receive:

An annual report
A new photograph of your sponsored child every year
A email reminder ahead of their birthday
An eNewsletter about the issues facing children and how you’re helping overcome them

What impact will your child sponsorship create?

Your sponsorship will fund life-changing projects in your sponsored child’s community – projects that will help children access their basic rights.

As a sponsor, you can support programs, innovation and infrastructure required to deliver our programs to girls and children worldwide, in areas such as protection, education, health, sanitation, disaster relief and economic empowerment. Community led, self-sustaining projects in your sponsored child’s community and country create sustainable change and address the root causes of poverty.

Safeguarding Children

At Plan International Ireland, safeguarding children is our top priority. We work to ensure that every child involved in our sponsorship program is protected from harm, with strict safeguards in place for all interactions.

As a valued supporter, you play a vital role in creating a positive and safe experience. To maintain this:

Privacy Matters: Please only share your sponsored child’s first name, age, and country publicly, and avoid posting photos or personal details online.
Secure Communication: All letters and messages are screened to ensure they’re appropriate and free of contact details, protecting both you and your sponsored child.
No Direct Contact: Unsupervised direct communication, including via social media or email, is not permitted to ensure children’s safety and well-being.

We reserve the right to decline support or communication requests to maintain these safeguards.

Learn more about our safeguarding policy.

Meet sponsored children Yaya and Xinh

Frequently Asked Questions about Child Sponsorship

How much does it cost to sponsor a child?

We ask for a minimum donation of €22 a month, which works out as €5.50 a week or €0.73 a day, although many of our sponsors choose to give more. This monthly amount means that we can achieve lasting results from your sponsorship.

Do sponsorship contributions go directly to the child?

When you sponsor a child, your contributions benefit the whole community in which the child lives, rather than going directly to the child you are sponsoring. Your contributions are pooled to support a wide range of programs in your sponsored child’s community. More than 80 years of experience have taught us that helping families and communities become self-sufficient is the best way to secure the child’s future.

Is the money I give to Plan International handled responsibly?

Plan International has been protecting and promoting children’s rights for over 80 years. In 2020, for every €1.00 donated, we spent 94 cent on charitable activities to support programmes benefitting children and families. In 2019, we were nominated for a Good Governance Award, which recognises and encourages adherence to good governance practice by non-profit organisations in Ireland. We have also achieved the Triple Lock standards from Charities Institute Ireland, as we produce audited accounts, adhere to good fundraising practice and are compliant with best-practice standards in how we are governed. Trust and transparency are important to us and we invite you to look through our annual review and financial statements

Can I communicate with my sponsored child?

Absolutely. If you write to your sponsored child, they’ll write back to you. Writing to the child you sponsor is one of the most rewarding aspects of sponsorship. When you first sign up to be a sponsor, we’ll send you a welcome pack with a photo of your sponsored child and information about them and their community. This will be followed by a letter or drawing from your sponsored child, which you can respond to. You’ll receive annual updates and photos, so that you can follow your sponsored child’s progress and find out more about the activities that Plan International is supporting in their community.

Sponsorship stories

Sponsorship Success Story: Bidding Farwell to Child Sponsorship in Thailand

In Thailand, our sponsorship programmes have made such good progress that we will end our sponsorship work in the country in summer 2022. Read more

From Sponsored Child to Independent Young Woman

A former sponsored child, 21-year-old Thoko now works for Ministry of Health in Malawi as a health surveillance assistant and is a well-known advocate in her community for children’s rights and reproductive health rights for young people. Read more

Overcoming the Challenges in Burkina Faso to Deliver Inclusive Education

Funded via child sponsorship, Plan International has supported the building of a new post-primary school in the centre-south region of Burkina Faso. The new school has two large classrooms and the teachers have received training to ensure they lessons are inclusive for all children, particularly girls and children with disabilities. Read more