Help Yateem defines an orphan as: “A child below 18 years of age, without both parents or father, or whose father has abandoned them for a minimum of four years, of any gender, religion or race.”

For every £1.00 donated, 92p of your donation goes directly to the sponsorship program. The remaining sum is used admin cost. We pride ourselves on transparency and we ensure that your money goes towards the project you intended – we know that we are accountable to you, our beneficiaries and ultimately Allah (SWT). Every year, Help Yateem prepares financial accounts, which are audited by independent accountants. 

The programme aims to meet the needs of each orphan by providing basic necessities to improve their health and nutrition and additionally support them through their education and social development. The money is used for education, school meal, transportation, school accessories, and medical check. 

We encourage a minimum sponsorship period of one year, however you can sponsor a child for as long as you wish, up to the age of 18. Sometimes, the sponsorship continues after the child reaches 18, for example for medical or educational reasons. If there is a need for the sponsorship to continue, we will notify you. 

When you start your sponsorship, we will send you a photograph of your child with a range of basic biographical information. If you are paying by direct debit, this is usually around four to six weeks after the direct debit has been processed. If you have made payment for the whole year via cheque/credit or debit card/postal order, then you should receive this within two to three weeks. We aim to send you a report on your sponsored orphan every year.

Yes, we can facilitate for you speak to the child. In some cases, the child or guardian may refuse, in such cases we may request for you to send an email or letter to us and will forward to the child or guardian.

On certain occasions, supervised visits may be possible following prior arrangements with the local Help Yateem office and with the agreement of the child. Please note that visits cannot be made directly to the orphan’s home in line with the Child Protection Policy, so the meeting will be held at our offices. Furthermore, any UK-based individual requesting a visit will have to be Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) approved. You would be responsible for your own travel arrangements at your own expense and risk and for providing evidence of a DBS check.

Sponsorship may be cancelled in the following situations:

The orphan supersedes the eligible age range and/or gets married;

Their mother remarries and her new husband is able to provide for the family;

The family has a significant increase in income;

The child is absent for more than three months and is not able to be traced;

If the orphan sadly passes away. In the case of death, sponsorship may be transferred to a sibling if they are of sponsorship age.

We request that you give us a minimum of three months notice prior to cancellation in order to allow enough time for us to find another donor. 

We are certain you will agree that we need to ensure your orphan continues to receive support to minimise disruption to their life. However, if you are unable to do this due to exceptional circumstances, the orphan will be supported by Help Yateem for a further three months until another sponsor is found.

We select the orphans through means testing, with each office using a scoring system for families based on the following factors:

Income: Priority is given to those with the lowest income, which includes any monies coming in (e.g. salaries, pension or other sponsorship money). Each field office sets its own maximum family income level, below which an application for sponsorship is granted.

Size of family and ages of children: Priority is given to larger families with younger children.

Housing conditions: Priority is given to those living in the poorest conditions.

Health: Priority is given to children with the poorest health status.

In each family, one child in every two can be sponsored, providing of course that sponsors can be found. This can be modified by the field office upon approval of the Child Welfare Department if there is a particular need for more children within a family to be supported.

We select the orphans through means testing, with each office using a scoring system for families based on the following factors:

Income: Priority is given to those with the lowest income, which includes any monies coming in (e.g. salaries, pension or other sponsorship money). Each field office sets its own maximum family income level, below which an application for sponsorship is granted.

If you have any queries regarding your sponsorship, please call Help Yateem UK on +44 20 3004 9013, or email us on: info@helpyateem.org