About
Children International is a global child sponsorship and youth development nonprofit headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Starting from childhood, the organization empowers young people to forge a path out of poverty, equipping them with the education, skills and resources they need to achieve sustainable employment and strengthen their communities. Its long-term commitment supports children and youth from ages 2 to 24.
Mission
Children International connects people around the world in the fight to end poverty, empowering children and youth and investing in supportive environments that help them escape generational poverty. Its vision is "Bringing people together to end poverty for good."
What they do
- Health: access to health care resources for sponsored children and their communities.
- Education: social and educational programs that instill confidence.
- Empowerment: programs that build life skills and personal agency.
- Employability and the Into Employment program: job skills training and workforce development, launched in 2009, to help youth achieve sustainable employment.
- Child sponsorship: donors sponsor individual children in the countries where the organization works, with community centers serving as program hubs.
History
Children International was founded in 1936 in Kansas City, Missouri as the Holy Land Christian Mission, providing food baskets to women, children and families in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and operating a small medical clinic. It added surgical services after a polio outbreak in 1952 and moved to its current Kansas City headquarters in 1964. During the 1980s it launched its child sponsorship program and expanded to Guatemala, India, Colombia, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. In 1989 it officially became Children International to emphasize its focus on helping children and youth break the cycle of generational poverty. It built its first community center in Honduras in 1991, expanded to Zambia in 2004, and introduced a new brand and program strategy in 2016 focused on graduating youth who are healthy, educated, employed, and empowered.
Scale and impact
Children International reports more than 1 million children and youth impacted over 90 years of work, currently serving more than 218,000 children, youth, and families in 10 countries: India, the Philippines, Colombia, Ecuador, Zambia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States.
Financials
The organization states that in FY 2025, 82 percent of its total operating expenses supported programs for children and youth. Per Form 990 data reported by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, for the fiscal year ending September 2024 Children International reported total revenue of 130,151,355 dollars and total expenses of 119,230,977 dollars; for the short fiscal period ending December 2024, following a fiscal-year change, it reported revenue of 31,692,874 dollars, expenses of 17,323,258 dollars, and net assets of 140,283,429 dollars.
Governance
Children International is a secular 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 44-6005794) headquartered at 2000 E Red Bridge Rd, Kansas City, Missouri, governed by a board of directors and led by a leadership team. It publishes its annual report, Form 990, and audited financial statements.