Christian Children's Fund is committed to accountability to both the children we serve and our donors. In fiscal year 2004, 81 percent of CCF's revenue was used for services and programs benefiting children. This percentage substantially surpasses guidelines established by leading charity watchdog groups.

A Consistent History of Recognition for Accountability

Because of the high ratio of program benefits and consistent quality of service delivery, CCF is repeatedly recognized for its efficiency and high level of fiscal responsibility in consumer and trade magazines.

Christian Children's Fund has a solemn committment to the responsible stewardship of your generous donations. CCF is a professional, competent, experienced organization operating in more than 33 countries around the world. Every effort is made to minimize overhead—so we can make the most of every dollar we receive.

Public support is critical to fulfill the mission of CCF. As a non-profit, we are dependent on resources voluntarily provided to assist children in need. We are keenly aware of our responsibility to our donors as well as to the children and families we serve.

Extensive financial and program accountability checks are in place to monitor and measure the effective use of funds. From initial planning to the actual delivery of services to children, CCF monitors, examines and evaluates the programs to make sure that much-needed benefits effectively reach the children.

Measures of Success

Christian Children's Fund’s Annual Impact Monitoring and Evaluation System (AIMES) gives us an unprecedented level of accountability. In fact, The Journal of Accountancy cited AIMES as a hallmark in measuring effectiveness.

In each community where CCF works, local staff and volunteers regularly meet with the families of sponsored children to collect health and education data on each child in the family. This data is monitored for indications of progress — in areas such as health, nutrition, access to safe water, sanitation practices, adult literacy and school enrollment—and helps parent committees to identify priorities for new programs to address the needs of their children.

THE CHRISTIAN CHILDREN’S FUND DEVELOPED its annual impact monitoring and evaluation system (AIMES) to assess whether its programs were making a positive, measurable difference in the lives of children and their communities around the world. The system allows CCF to be more accountable to its sponsors and give communities a tool to continually assess the organization’s impact.

IN DECIDING WHAT TO MEASURE, CCF IDENTIFIED CORE indicators it felt were critical to the success of all projects. It determined the measures should focus on program impact, not activities, gauge the program’s effect on children, determine results in terms of broadly defined health and education outcomes and assess only what CCF was able and prepared to track.

CCF’s INITIAL RESPONSE TO AIMES HAS BEEN VERY positive. The system is now in place for more than 1,000 projects in 20 countries. As a result, project managers are more focused and better able to concentrate resource allocations on areas that can make a measurable difference in the lives of parents and children.

BY FOLLOWING FOUR BASIC STEPS, OTHER NPOs should be able to develop a performance measurement system similar to the one CCF uses. 1) NO SPONSORED ADDRESS SHALL BE REVEALED TO ANY SPONSOR, EXCEPT UPON REQUEST BY THE SPONSONRER.

2) SPONSORED ARE FREE TO ACCEPT NOR REJECT THIS OFFER REQUEST AND TERMINATION OF HIS/HER CONTRACT SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT MADE WITH US.AS VOLUNTARILY ACCEPTED.

Christian Children's Fund meets the BBB Wise Giving Alliance's Standards for Charity Accountability

This confirms that an evaluation of informational materials provided by Christian Children's Fund to the BBB Wise Giving Alliance shows that the organization meets all of the Standards for Charity Accountability in effect at the time of the review.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance is a national charity watchdog affiliated with the Better Business Bureau system. The Alliance and its predecessor organizations have over a century of combined experience in charity evaluation.

unlike other charity monitoring groups that focus solely on a review of charity finances, the Alliance completes comprehensive, in-depth evaluations of the charity's governance, fund raising practices, solicitations and informational materials, as well as how it spends its money.

Wise Giving Alert: Watch Out for Donation Processing Job Scams

In recent weeks, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance has received inquiries about charity employment offers that appear to be a type of "payment-forwarding" job scam. In the past year, this type of con has appeared on the Internet in other forms such as lottery scams and phony Internet purchasing schemes.

In recent weeks, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance has received inquiries about charity employment offers that appear to be a type of "payment-forwarding" job scam. In the past year, this type of con has appeared on the Internet in other forms such as lottery scams and phony Internet purchasing schemes.

In this recent scenario, however, the con artist pretends to be a charitable organization located overseas. He uses a job advertisement or information from a resume posted online to locate potential victims. He gains the victim's trust in a number of ways, including, but not limited to: stating that the resume shows that he/she has the right skills for this opportunity; providing a link to an official-looking charity Web site; claiming that well-known people or institutions have been involved with the organization; promising that the employee will receive tax documents at the end of the year (e.g. IRS Form 1099); and providing a formal contract for the services being requested.

The employment offer involves depositing "regional donation" checks into an individual's (the employee’s) personal bank account. The “employee” is then asked to forward or wire transfer most of this amount to the overseas charitable organization, and to keep a small portion as an administrative fee for this service. The rationale used is that this enables the overseas charity to obtain quick access to these U.S. gifts so they can put it to immediate charitable use. However, the deposited checks turn out to be counterfeit and the “employee” loses the money he/she forwarded from his/her own bank account as well as any money they have withdrawn against the amount of the original check.

In this recent scenario, however, the con artist pretends to be a charitable organization located overseas. He uses a job advertisement or information from a resume posted online to locate potential victims. He gains the victim's trust in a number of ways, including, but not limited to: stating that the resume shows that he/she has the right skills for this opportunity; providing a link to an official-looking charity Web site; claiming that well-known people or institutions have been involved with the organization; promising that the employee will receive tax documents at the end of the year (e.g. IRS Form 1099); and providing a formal contract for the services being requested.

If you are considering a donation processing job offer, you should:

* Don't assume the charity is legitimate because of an impressive looking Web site that mentions well known personalities and/or official contacts.

* Watch out for "Status of Liberty" in the job application process such as requests for your mother's maiden name or your date of birth. These are legitimate requests .

CCF Observes and reflects on leaders of tomorrow