Orphan Charity: Save a child’s life today
For many orphaned children, the reality of poverty is a daily burden. Left wondering: where will my next meal come from? Where are we going to live? If we get sick and can’t afford medicine…will we survive? Every day is a challenge.
Deprived of their education, health care and safe places to play and grow, orphaned kids are incredibly vulnerable and face a bleak future. They need critical care and support – and that’s where Islamic Relief comes in.
With your support, you can help us save orphans and transform the lives of vulnerable children around the world.
Sponsor an Orphan in Gaza
In the face of the most catastrophic destruction and humanitarian crisis to date in Gaza, children are paying the heaviest price.
Islamic Relief currently has hundreds of orphans registered in our system waiting to be sponsored, and with each passing day, more and more orphans are becoming in dire need of urgent support.
By sponsoring an orphan for $90/month, you can help save and transform the lives of vulnerable children in Gaza, currently deprived of their basic rights and protection, facing constant trauma, loss and violence.
Your support can provide better access to basic essentials including clean water, healthcare, psychosocial support or shelter.
Donate to Orphans and Children
Here are 3 ways your donations can help save and transform the lives of orphans and children around the world. Select an option to learn more!
Sponsor an Orphan
Through a one-to-one model of ongoing financial support, you can sponsor an orphan and care for their basic needs and wellbeing. Your monthly donation is life-saving, and helps to ensure they can have better access to basic essentials like a safer home, food to eat, access to health care or education.
For just $90/month you can sponsor an orphan today and change their life forever.
How Does Orphan Sponsorship Work?
As a donor, you will be paired on a true 1-1 basis with an orphan in need. Your monthly gift is sent to our field offices on a quarterly basis for immediate distribution to the same orphan, to uplift their life and help change their future.
As an orphan sponsor, we’ll send you 1) an initial biodata report that shows the current status of your orphan as well as 2) an annual progress report. Our case workers take great care to get to know each orphan and their family. They conduct regular home visits to ensure a safe environment and that funds are utilized correctly.
Your sponsorship allows for the life of the same orphan to be continuously transformed long term, which means they are able to truly rise above their circumstances, gain the opportunities they deserve, and build a better life for themselves and their families.
Our Orphan Sponsorship Program reaches orphans in nearly 25 countries around the world, including: Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kosova, Lebanon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Palestine (Gaza), Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Yemen
Sponsor an Orphan Family
Islamic Relief is aiding entire orphaned and vulnerable families in Syria with their essential needs. For just $250/month, your monthly donation provides a lifeline to a large orphaned or vulnerable family in Syria.
As a donor, you will be paired on a 1-1 basis with an orphan family in need. Your monthly gift is sent to our field offices on a quarterly basis for immediate distribution, to uplift lives and help change their future on a consistent basis.
We believe that each family knows best what they require, and we aim to help meet their basic needs so they can live more of a dignified life. Your support is allocated directly to the head of the family, who uses it to support their family’s needs and take ownership of their lives.
Support Orphan Care Project
If you can’t afford to sponsor an orphan on a 1-1 basis, there is still a way you can support orphans and children in need! Through our Orphan Care Projects, your donation is pooled together to support orphans who are in need of some extra care, assist their mothers and even entire orphan families.
For just $30/month or any amount you choose – your support is allocated to meet their most essential needs, including:
- Medical Aid: Assistive equipment, surgeries, therapy or treatment
- Educational Support: Tuition fees, educational materials, tools, or skills training
- Shelter Repair: Home repairs, electricity supply, clean water or sanitation facilities
- Orphan Projects: Supporting education, health, social welfare, sports and leisure activities
Through our Orphan Care Projects fund, we work as a Muslim orphan charity to provide child-friendly safe spaces, empower communities and develop long-term solutions to poverty and critical issues such as human trafficking, child labour, and child marriage.
Follow your Donation
Why is our Orphan Sponsorship at a Higher Price Now?
Inflation and the dramatic increase in the cost of living over the past few years has caused a substantial effect on people around the world and especially for orphan families. They were struggling more than ever to afford the essentials, and our previous prices were no longer enough to sustain basic needs.
To accommodate a higher cost of living globally while remaining true to our values of excellence and sincerity, Islamic Relief has decided to increase pricing to $90/month across the board for all countries, and ultimately make a greater impact for orphan families.
This is to ensure that your sponsorship can truly continue supporting the orphan in today’s tough economic conditions. Your increased support allows them to better account for their unmet needs, so that they can attain quality food, continue their education and cover their expenses.
Giving Charity to Orphans in Islam
Charity protects one from calamity, acts as shade on the Day of Judgement, and showers us in Allah’s (SWT) blessings. Your Zakat and Sadaqah Jariyah when you sponsor an orphan or provide medical and education support to needy children contains so much barakah.
The importance of giving charity to orphans in Islam is highlighted by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
“The best house among the Muslims is the house in which orphans are well-treated. The worst house is the one in which orphans are ill-treated.” [Bukhari]
Not only will your donation mean that orphans and their families benefit immediately but these programs will provide the tools to support themselves and pass on to the next generation, and the benefit will be ongoing. It is a Sadaqah Jariyah unlike any other!
This means the effect of your one donation will be multiplied to help orphan after orphan and family after family access food, medical care, clean water, and education in a dignified manner for years to come. It is the gift that keeps giving, and will continuously help you to earn rewards.
Orphan Sponsorship FAQs
Here’s a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
General Information
Our Orphan Sponsorship Program targets orphans younger than 18 and their families when they fulfil either of the following criteria:
- The father or both parents have passed away
- A child whose father’s whereabouts have been unknown for two years or more (one year or more for refugees and internally displaced people)
A Sponsorship can continue past the age of 18 up to the age of 24 if the orphan is in higher education or if the orphan has medical needs which require the sponsorship to continue.
Children who are identified for sponsorship are usually within a family home, living with their mother or extended family members such as aunts, uncles, or grandparents.
Islamic Relief sponsors children regardless of race, gender, religion, or ethnicity, if they meet the requirements set out in the program selection criteria.
To select an orphan for sponsorship, Field Offices use a scoring system which analyzes the orphan family situation based on five main criteria:
- Vulnerability
- Financial need
- Family size
- Housing conditions
- Health
Through using a scoring system covering the above factors, the field offices are able to prioritize orphans based on their needs.
Official documentation is required to confirm an orphan’s sponsorship, and the selection of children must not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, age, gender, or disability.
The Orphan Sponsorship Program is one of the oldest running programs within Islamic Relief, having started in 1986, and has since grown to support over 80,000 orphans worldwide. It serves orphans around the world, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where we have Field Offices.
The program provides life-saving necessities to orphans, improving their health and nutrition, implementing projects within the community and supporting the orphan educationally, socially, and morally.
This program is uniquely a true 1-1 sponsorship model which means donors are paired on a one-to-one basis with an orphan. This allows for the life of the same orphan to be continuously transformed long term, which means they are able to truly rise above their circumstances, gain the opportunities they deserve, and build a better life for themselves and their families.
Many orphans also benefit from other Islamic Relief run programs such as, micro-finance, Ramadan food parcels, Qurbani packages, water projects, social activities, health, vocational and educational projects.
As an organization, Islamic Relief works with a wide range of communities, both Muslims and non-Muslims. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race or ethnicity but give aid to those who are most in need.
For those who are interested, our orphan sponsorship program is Zakat eligible. If you would like to designate your orphan sponsorship as part of your Zakat donations, kindly let us know. We can pair you with a Muslim orphan.
Financial and Payment Inquiries
The amount received by the orphan is usually 80% of your donation, with possible variations due to exchange rate fluctuations.
The operational expenses entail the extensive field office work Islamic Relief conducts to ensure best practices are in place for your sponsored orphan. Orphans are monitored through both regular home visits conducted by our social workers and group gatherings to ensure that they are receiving the full benefits of sponsorship. We are able to use monitoring gatherings for awareness sessions on the sponsorship process, how to maintain good health, the importance of education, and various other topics.
The donations are transferred to your orphan’s guardian on a quarterly basis. This allows a consistent income, not only for your sponsored orphan, but for their entire household.
Sponsorship funds are used for vital necessities such as:
- Food
- Shelter
- Education
- Health care needs
*Kindly note, if you have a recurring donation and your payments have not gone through for more than 2 consecutive months, the sponsorship will be closed and your sponsored orphan will be reassigned to another donor.
We encourage a minimum sponsorship time of one year but you may sponsor an orphan for as long as you wish until they have graduated from our sponsorship program.
2023 was the first time we reviewed the sponsorship prices in 20 years, and introduced a new price model of $90/month (or $1,080/year) for all countries. Due to inflation and the dramatic increase in the cost of living, we found it increasingly difficult to meet the basic needs of the orphans’ families in most countries with the previous pricing model.
To accommodate a higher cost of living globally while remaining true to our values of excellence and sincerity, Islamic Relief has decided to increase pricing and ultimately make a greater impact for orphan families. Learn more about this through our Pricing Increase FAQ.
The program may be reviewed as needed over the course of the sponsorship to improve its design, inputs, deliverables, objectives and impact. Thus, the cost of the sponsorship may rise over the course of the sponsorship.
You will always be notified about any changes to the sponsorship cost.
If possible, we ask that you give us a 3 months notice, so we can find another donor for your orphan. If this is not possible, the orphan will be supported from our Orphan General Fund until another sponsor is found.
You can support our orphans through contributing to our Orphan Care fund that allows us to cover any immediate costs related to educational or medical expenses for orphans, as well as projects that support orphans and their well-being.
Sponsorship may be terminated by the field offices if the orphan is over age, gets married, has a significant increase in income, moves out of an Islamic Relief working region, or if the family/orphan does not cooperate.
In this case, we immediately redirect your donations towards a new orphan and provide an update. In case of death, sponsorship may be transferred to a sibling if they are eligible for the program.
If you would prefer to sponsor a child other than the one we’ve chosen for you, you can call us at 1-855-377-4673, Monday – Friday 9am-5pm (EST) or email us at [email protected]
Connecting with Your Sponsored Orphan
When you start your sponsorship, you will receive a biodata report that includes a photograph and detailed information regarding your sponsored orphan. In addition to the initial report, an annual report is sent based on availability from the respective field office. Donors may request their orphan’s annual progress report via [email protected] if it has been past 15 months of the start of the sponsorship or if they choose to cancel their sponsorship after 12 months and haven’t received the annual report yet.
*Please note, there may be a delay in receiving the first report depending on the country selected by the sponsor.
Yes, the sponsor and orphan can exchange correspondence via Islamic Relief Canada!
We encourage donors to send letters and pictures to their orphans annually. You can email any letters and photographs to your orphan to [email protected]
We monitor all letters to ensure they are suitable and remove any contact details. Your letter will then be forwarded to the relevant field office.
Please note that a confirmation or a response can take months due to various factors including political conflict, orphan location (as most of our orphans live in remote areas), field office workload, natural disasters, and security, amongst other factors outside of our control.
Yes, a supervised virtual or in-person meetings can be organized with the field office through prior arrangement with Islamic Relief Canada.
We will send you an application form that needs to be filled out at least 8 weeks prior to the meeting once we receive your request as well as our Orphan Meeting Guidelines that needs to be read and signed.
Of course! 100% of your gift goes directly towards the orphan and his/her family with no overhead costs. If you wish to give an extra monetary gift to your sponsored orphan, you can visit islamicrelief.ca/orphangifts online.
Kindly ensure you include the orphan ID if you are sponsoring more than one orphan to ensure we send the gift to the correct orphan. Gift donations are transferred on a quarterly basis.
Islamic Relief is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of all individuals involved in the sponsorship programme including children, their families and guardians, and donors. As such, any personal data collected for administering the sponsorship program will be strictly processed (stored, used and disposed) in accordance with this policy, Islamic Relief’s Archiving and Record Management Policy and relevant data protection and privacy related legislation.