A full 75% (or more) of your sponsorship donations directly support your sponsored child. The remaining amount (a maximum of 25%) is used to cover the cost of running the programme. This includes: getting in touch with your sponsored child’s family and assessing their needs; helping the family to request and spend their funds year round; reporting back to you on how your donations have been spent; and communicating and working with schools, social welfare agencies and community groups to refer children in need.

Variety manages your funds on behalf of your sponsored child’s family to ensure that, where possible, the money goes straight to the provider (like the school) to directly benefit your sponsored child and can’t be used for other household expenses. Your help is tailored to whatever basic essential it is that the child really needs.

You can continue to support children who are in need until they turn 18. While we'd love you to sponsor a child for as long as possible, we understand that if your financial situation changes you may need to cancel your sponsorship. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if things change.

We work with schools and social services agencies who refer children who are financially disadvantaged. The parents/caregivers are then required to complete an application and agree to Variety's code of conduct. Variety then reviews the application to ensure the family meet stringent criteria including income levels. Once a year every child on the programme must complete a renewal form to secure the next year’s funding. This is a simple process that allows us to confirm the child is still in financial need.

We will update you with how your sponsorship is helping once a year, when the child renews their sponsorship. We will also send you an updated photo of your sponsored child each year. 

We send you a note from your child - along with an update on how your sponsorship is helping - once a year. We also encourage the children to write to you at other times. However, this isn’t always possible in some homes. We do know from working with the families, that the kids whose caregivers are not able to help them write back are often the ones most in need, and most appreciative of the generous support of their sponsor. When we do receive letters, we send them on to you.

Yes, the easiest way is through your Variety sponsorship page on our website. You can also send a letter or card through the post. To respect the family's privacy, and yours, all communication is made through Variety.

Yes. We’ll send you a reminder of your child’s birthday via post – and the opportunity to send a birthday card, as well as a present in the form of a gift card from The Warehouse and/or Countdown. You can also make a birthday gift through your Variety sponsorship page on our website.

Yes. We’ll post you an opportunity to donate gift cards from The Warehouse and/or Countdown for your child for Christmas. You can also donate a Christmas gift online.