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Godparent’s Corner

Thank you for sponsoring a child through NPH USA!

What it means to be a Godparent

As a Godparent, you are essential in the life of your Godchild. Your ongoing financial support provides food, clothing, healthcare, education and a home. You are also a part of your Godchild’s extended family, offering critical emotional support. Your letters give security, encouragement and a sense that the child is important to someone outside the world of their NPH home. This relationship helps him or her build a strong foundation of self-esteem and confidence that can be sorely lacking.
Learn more about being a Godparent below and feel free to contact us whenever you have a question.

Letters to Your Godchild

We strongly encourage you to write to your Godchild – the children eagerly await receiving letters and e-mails from their Godparents. This contact helps create a special, loving relationship between the two of you. And what greater reward is there than bringing a smile to a child’s face? Every time you send a letter to your Godchild, he or she will write back to you! Click here for tips and more information.

“The relationship between the children and their Godparents is much more than just a financial one. The children love to learn about their sponsors’ lives and vice-versa. The kids really depend on this connection.”

– Lena Zuniga, Sponsorship Coordinator, NPH Honduras

Visiting

Godparents are welcome to visit their Godchildren! Spending time with the pequeños (“little ones”) lets you see first-hand the transformative effect that love, caring and acceptance have on children who once struggled to survive.

We organize trips to the NPH homes on a regular basis, making arrangements for accommodations, ground transportation and activities. Learn more here!

If your Godchild visits the United States as a member of one of the NPH music and dance ensembles, we will send you a schedule of the performances, giving you an opportunity to meet him or her and enjoy the show. You can see a full list of special events here.


Related Information:
Frequently Asked Questions

The Sharing Fund

Correspond with Your Godchild
The Mail Process
Phrases to Help You Correspond

General Sponsorship Questions

Your monthly donation will help NPH provide the full breadth of care needed for the safety, growth and wellbeing of your sponsored child. This includes food, clothing, shelter, health care, an education, and/or other provisions to the children in your Godchild’s home—whether this is a child in an NPH-operated home or one we sponsor in the community. Your donation is stewarded by NPH staff in that country and not given directly to your Godchild.

As we know, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and raising an NPH child (affectionally known as pequeños) is no exception. On average, each child has approximately $500 per month in basic needs. As such, children may have more than one Godparent, and what a blessing that is!

Absolutely. Each child in each of the nine countries where we operate is different but in great need of support. Whether sponsoring a child in an NPH home or in the community, the core values and great positive impact you will make is the same with every child.

You will soon receive an NPH Sponsor Welcome Packet which will introduce you to your Godchild and all the ways you may communicate with him/her. If you opt to receive the packet via standard mail, it should arrive within two weeks. If you request delivery via email, you should receive the electronic version shortly after sign-up.

You can be a sponsor/Godparent to your Godchild for as long as he or she is being served by NPH. We encourage you to continue your sponsorship for as long as you are able, because children need love and encouragement every day of their lives.

After secondary school, each NPH youth has the opportunity to finish a technical course or pursue a university degree. In return, those that attend college must volunteer for a year of service (año de servicio or año familiar) at NPH before or after the completion of their studies.) During this, you can continue to sponsor your Godchild even through their year of service.

Occasionally, there are changes in circumstances in the life of a child or their family that merit a full transition to independence from our programs and support. In these cases, although NPH will remain a resource for future support through our alumni program (“Hermanos Mayores” – Older Siblings), the support no longer merits the continuation of a child sponsorship. In these cases, a Godparent will be offered the opportunity to transfer sponsorship to a new child. It is important to note that the path of each youth is as unique as they are. Most youth leave our NPH programs when they feel fully prepared to live independently. Some youth leave NPH and start working after secondary school, while others attend high school, vocational training or go on to university. It is our goal for all of the children we serve to reach full independence equipped with tools and preparation to support their success. When your Godchild graduates or completes their personal life plan with NPH, we will offer the opportunity to continue your sponsorship with another child in great need.

While many children in our care live at our NPH homes until they reach independence, others may be entrusted to our full care only temporarily because their family is unable to fully provide for them or because they are referred to NPH through the local child welfare system. In accordance with the United Nations Guidelines for Alternative Care released in 2010, NPH has developed specific programs and parameters to provide a continuum of care to children who transition from our homes to reintegrate with family, ultimately helping to strengthen the families and communities we serve. This is simply a change in living circumstances and is not an end to your child sponsorship. While your Godchild no longer resides at the NPH home, they very much need continued support to survive and thrive.

If the specific circumstances of your Godchild’s reintegration with their biological family allows for, and merits the consistent continuation of ongoing support through one of our family support programs, you will continue to receive updates during your support. However, if the circumstances allow for full independence as a result of the reintegration and your Godchild in turn leaves our NPH programs entirely, they are no longer in our active care and we are not able to forward your correspondence. In this case, we will notify you and encourage you to sponsor another child in need of your support.

Some sponsors have a particular interest in the children in one of the countries where we operate and so we offer the “Mi Casa Sponsorship.” With this alternative, your sponsorship dollars support a particular home and community instead of a specific child. As such, your donation helps provide essentials for all the children there and you will receive regular country updates to keep abreast of news and the tremendous impact of your support. Click here to learn more.

Yes! Please contact our sponsorship team at 1-866-690-1703 or sponsorship@nphusa.org. Update requests may take 2-4 weeks to process. (It may be more or less, depending on the child’s location.)

There are multiple meaningful ways you can connect with your Godchild, including through handwritten letters, electronic correspondence, and even physical visits to meet them in their NPH home country and community. You have the opportunity to develop a special life-long bond with your sponsored child that is sure to enrich your own life. Please consult the Sponsorship Guide in your Welcome Packet for specific details.

Please click here to register to the e-correspondence portal.

No, for safety and privacy, we ask that Godparents do NOT contact their Godchild through social media.

Yes, you may, but with limitations. Sharing the story of your sponsorship may inspire others to become Godparents as well, however we ask Godparents to respect the privacy of the children and their families by refraining from posting personal information about their Godchild, such as the child’s full name, date of birth, and community information (e.g., name and location). Additionally, federal law in some of the countries where we operate prohibit sharing photos of children under age 18.

To protect the privacy of both our sponsors and our children, no outreach or exchange of contact details should take place directly between sponsors and their sponsored children, including through social media such as Facebook.

If you have questions or concerns about our policy or have been contacted directly by your sponsored child through social media, please contact our sponsorship team at 1-866-690-1703 or sponsorship@nphusa.org.

Depending on the age of your sponsored child, if they are in high school or university, for example, this may very well happen. We ask that you simply let us know so we can help redirect the communication through appropriate channels and help navigate the interactions. Don’t worry… your Godchild won’t get in trouble. We just want to help ensure privacy and protection for both you and your Godchild.

Whenever NPH children are featured in publicity, we use an alias to protect their privacy.

Yes! NPH USA organizes trips to the NPH homes on a regular basis, making arrangements for accommodations, ground transportation, and activities. If you are the Godparent to a child who lives in the community, then extra planning is often necessary to ensure a successful visit. These visits are the backbone of NPH; providing life-long connections between NPH supporters and NPH children. Click here for our upcoming trips.

For all the information you need about making a visit to your NPH Godchild, please contact travel@nphusa.org.

Yes, you may send small gifts, such as stickers, drawings, photos, and cards to your Godchild through NPH USA. Please make sure that your gift is flat and fits into a 6” X 9” envelope.

Due to increased international shipping costs and a variety of different customs regulations, NPH USA cannot accept packages larger than 6" X 9". However, you are able to donate to the Sharing Fund, which allows the staff at the home to purchase a gift for your Godchild on your behalf. Click here to learn more.

If you need more information about sending gifts, please don’t hesitate to contact us at sponsorship@nphusa.org or 866-690-1703

Sponsorship is a minimum of $50 per month, and your contribution is fully tax deductible.

If you pay for your sponsorship by credit card, the charge may appear as “Friends of the Orphans,” which is dba (doing business as) NPH USA.

Yes, your sponsorship gift can be charged directly to your credit card or deducted from your checking or savings account.

Yes, automatic payments are an efficient way to sponsor a child. For all the information you need to set up automatic payments, please click here: Start automatic payment.

In January, we will send you a receipt detailing all your tax-deductible donations for the previous year. You may also view your tax letter around the same time on your donor portal account. This not only cuts down on paper use, but it also helps us reduce processing and mailing costs – so that more of our resources can go to the children.

Please click here to register to our Donor portal.

Many employers match gifts. Please click here to learn more and search for your employer.

To change or update your credit/debit card information, please log in to our donor portal.

To make a one-time gift, please click here.

Please note that if you pay for your sponsorship by credit card, the charge may appear as "Friends of the Orphans".

Click here to change your mailing address.

Click here to change your e-mail address.

Yes. To cancel your sponsorship, please send an e-mail to sponsorship@nphusa.org or call 1-866-690-1703. Please note that if you are paying by credit card or automatic bank withdrawal, we need a minimum notice of five business days to cancel the next donation.

There are many other ways to help besides sponsorship!

Not-for-profit organizations must be fully accountable to the public. We follow accounting procedures established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and are audited annually by an independent CPA firm. We publish an Impact Report outlining our income and expenses. (You may call 888-201-8880 or e-mail us to request a copy.)

We proudly adhere to the Donor Bill of Rights and have been noted by Charity Navigator for our responsible stewardship of donor funds.

Click here for more financial information, including our latest Internal Revenue Service Form 990.

NPH USA proudly adheres to the Donor Bill of Rights and is committed to respecting the privacy of our donors. When personal information is provided to us by a donor, it will only be used to support the donor’s relationship with NPH USA. NPH USA retains donor information on file to provide gift receipts for tax purposes and to tailor subsequent communications to the donor. Information is used to complete a transaction, communicate with the donor, and update the donor on child sponsorship, special events and other news. All donor information is kept in a password-protected database on a secure server and is carefully managed. For electronic donations made by credit card or bank account, all donor information is in a password-protected system and stored in a secure location. Credit card and bank account information is used only for processing donated funds and is not retained for any other purposes.

To receive important mailings or e-mail from NPH USA, we will need an up-to-date email address. If, at any time you wish to be removed from mailing lists, you can notify us by phone, e-mail, or mail and we will remove your specified contact information.