![\"Sally](\"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/sally-struthers-african-children.jpg\" "\\"sally-struthers-african-children\\"")
<\/p>\nChildFund\u2019s commercials can almost be recited by rote: Alan Sader (or, conversely, Sally Struthers) toots around a third world hamlet, kneeling next to anemic skeleton-children, begging you to donate a few cents a day to sponsor these kids and save their lives. Melancholy piano music tinkles in the background while middle-class guilt is triggered nationwide.<\/p>\n
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These commercials are probably ChildFund at their most consistent, as otherwise ChildFund\u2019s goals are murky and ill-defined. Beneath the surface, the charity is in a constant state of identity crisis, which has manifested itself in several ways.<\/p>\n
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ChildFund was known as Christian Children\u2019s Fund from 1951 to 2009 (before that, it was China\u2019s Children Fund). The name change, in this case, is seemingly due to the organization\u2019s inconsistent attitude toward Christianity. ChildFund is baffling in this regard\u2014many devout Christian donors dislike the organization\u2019s secular leanings, while others are uncomfortable with ChildFund\u2019s occasional religious gestures.<\/p>\n
For instance, ChildFund has never done any proselytizing and Gospel-spreading when providing assistance to impoverished areas. The nonprofit has claimed that they\u2019re more interested in the Christian virtue of caring for the less fortunate than they are with religious conversions. Conservative Christians have felt a little misled that ChildFund was not ministering to its sponsored children, while most found ChildFund\u2019s position agreeable.<\/p>\n
However, if they\u2019re not concerned with issues of religious dogma, then why have they refused donations on religious grounds? Back in 2008, Gen Con, a convention for pen-and-paper and tabletop RPG games, offered the then-Christian Children\u2019s Fund a donation of $17,398. Gen Con planned to donate this money with the best of intentions; they were honoring their recently-deceased founder, who had often given money to Christian Children\u2019s Fund while he was alive.<\/p>\n
Most nonprofits who claim not to be interested in spreading \u201creligious messages\u201d would have gladly taken this money. However, ChildFund did not. According to Gen Con officials<\/a>, the charity didn\u2019t feel comfortable with the donation because of Gen Con\u2019s relationship with the popular pen-and-paper game, Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons is a popular target of fundamentalist Christians because of all the Satanic elements the game endorses… such as pretending to be a dwarf, rolling dice, and listening to a lot of bad progressive rock.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, if ChildFund takes a fundamentalist Christian stance, but doesn\u2019t have an evangelizing agenda, what do they support? Many donors have also noticed inconsistencies between ChildFund\u2019s goals and their collection methods. Previously, ChildFund had charged donors a small handling fee if they wanted to give a cash gift to their sponsored child. However, ChildFund\u2019s new policy is to assess a fee of 20% on every gift donation\u2014regardless of size. <\/p>\n ChildFund claims these fees are to ensure that the money is safely and efficiently delivered, but a 20% fee seems excessive. If a donor sends a gift of $1,000, that\u2019s $200 that goes right into ChildFund\u2019s pocket. That\u2019s considerably larger than a $2.50 handling fee.<\/p>\n The multiple name changes, religious flip-flopping and hefty fees depict ChildFund as a confused, mismanaged organization. This is corroborated by its financial information. As its excess income has increased decently for the last several years, its actual capacity has been decreasing<\/a>. What is anyone supposed to make of that?<\/p>\n Although ChildFund has a good-natured vision, it simply isn\u2019t a clear one. The organization has previously held high ratings with charity watchdog groups, and it might again. However, ChildFund must refine its ideologies and practices to prove to donors what it\u2019s actually committed to. <\/p>\n This is the third of the 3-part series, Choose Another Charity<\/em>. The first two segments were Why The Salvation Army Doesn’t Deserve Your Money<\/a> and the second was Choose Another Charity Part 2: MADD<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ChildFund\u2019s commercials can almost be recited by rote: Alan Sader (or, conversely, Sally Struthers) toots around a third world hamlet, kneeling next to anemic skeleton-children, begging you to donate a few cents a day to sponsor these kids and save their lives. Melancholy piano music tinkles in the background while middle-class guilt is triggered nationwide. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":549,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChildfund’s ‘Small’ Handling Fee<\/h2>\n
![\"Childfund](\"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/jesus-occult-childfund.png\" "\\"jesus-occult-childfund\\"")
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