Children, Incorporated is a non-profit 501(c)(3) international child sponsorship

Child sponsorship

Child sponsorship allows an individual, typically in a developed country, to sponsor, or fund a child in a developing country until the child becomes self-sufficient. This could mean financially supporting the education, health or security of the sponsored child, or in some cases all of these...

 organization based in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

.

Children, Incorporated was founded in 1964 by Jeanne Clarke Wood, daughter of the noted philanthropists Dr. and Mrs. J. Calvitt Clarke.

The mission of CI is to assist children of all races and creeds by administering to their physical, emotional, and educational needs. Through monthly sponsorships and urgent needs donations, the organization provides assistance to children in poverty living in over 24 countries, including the United States.

History

On a visit to Guatemala in 1964, Jeanne Clarke Wood photographed 95 poverty-stricken children and wrote accounts of the miserable circumstances in which each child existed. Immediately upon her return to Richmond, Virginia, Mrs. Wood began to seek help for the 95 Guatemalan children. She established Children, Incorporated in her home office and began to tell the story of the Guatemalan children’s plight through letters and magazine advertisements.

Mrs. Wood made her second trip to Guatemala in the spring of 1971 and witnessed the first major growth of her program within seven years. Children, Incorporated now provides funds to over 16,000 children in 24 countries around the world.

Sponsorship Model

Children, Incorporated relies mostly on monthly donations from individual sponsors. These monthly sponsorships assist children in five divisions: Appalachian, American Indian, Inner City

Inner City

Inner City is an American house and techno group, formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1987. The group is composed of the record producer and composer Kevin Saunderson and the Chicago, Illinois native Paris Grey...

, Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n and Foreign. Of these monthly sponsorships, 81.9% goes to the child program services.

One-time donations from individuals fund separate more-inclusive projects such as the Haven Fund and annual Back-to-School

Back-to-school

Back to school, in clothing retail and other related sales, such as supplies, is a product season that goes from late July into early September to prepare students for the upcoming school year and is characterized by a display of items appropriate for school....

 Funds.

According to Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator is an independent, non-profit organization that evaluates American charities. Its stated goal is "to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of America's largest charities."-About:...

, the organizational efficiency of Children, Incorporated is as follows:

• 81.9% for Program Expenses
• 5.8% for Administrative Expenses
• 12.2% for Fundraising Expenses

An independent audit of Children, Incorporated shows the total liabilities and net assets

Net assets

Net assets, sometimes referred to as net worth, is the shareholders' equity = assets minus liabilities. The term net assets is commonly used with charities or not for profit entities -- a measurement of their ability to reinvest profits toward their mission....

 as $6,416,182 for the year 2007.

Noted Donors & Recognition

Children, Incorporated’s most noted donor is poker professional, Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein is a professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his profit from tournament winnings to charities, primarily Children, Incorporated, earning him the nickname "the...

. Greenstein has chosen CI as his primary recipient of poker winnings and has donated over $1.5 million to the organization.

Dr. Richard Carlson

Richard Carlson (author)

Richard Carlson Ph.D. was an American author, psychotherapist, and motivational speaker, who rose to fame with the success of his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all Small Stuff , which became one of the fastest-selling books of all time and made publishing history as USA Todays...

 also wrote about Children, Incorporated in two books in his Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series. The two books, one of which was a New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 Best Seller

Best Seller

Best Seller is a 1987 film written by Larry Cohen, directed by John Flynn and starring Brian Dennehy and James Woods. The plot concerns a career hitman, played by Woods, who wants to turn his life story into a book, to be written by Dennehy's character, a veteran police officer turned...

, are attributed as having encouraged over 4,000 individuals to sponsor a child through Children, Incorporated.