The work that Save the Children non-profit is a wonderful demonstration of God's love!! The Outreach has touched and supported the lives of so many children! I am proud to be a contributing person to this outstanding work!
I am the Program Officer for the Grays Harbor Community Foundation, an organization that has funded 2 Grant Proposals from Save the Children for a program in a local, rural and isolated community. The Grays Harbor Community Foundation was extremely pleased by the complete and compelling proposals Save the Children submitted and awarded the two grants the full amount requested. Once funded I had the privilege of visiting the site in our community where services were provided in the Early Steps to School Success Program. I was blown away by the thought and effort put into designing this program, and ensuring that it had local buy-in to increase the likelihood of success. Their work is grounded in research as well as real-world experience and it truly shows in the end result. What a fabulous program we still use as an example of work we have funded when speaking to potential donors and other members of the community.
I am very impressed with Save the Children's fundraising and marketing campaigns. In addition to efficiently targeting thier main demographic though proven methods, they have recently branched out to target communities that are not traditional donors. For example, they partnered with a famous internet gamer to raise money through World of Warcraft and it was a successful venture. Thier use of social media has been effective at targetting the younger generation.
Review from CharityNavigator
For the past 5 years, I've had the privilege of seeing Save the Children's work in the field first hand in Bangladesh. I'm ethnically Bangladeshi and my parents are from Bangladesh. I should also point out that Save the Children allowed me to go into the field with them despite not being an employee and NEVER EVER receiving any salary, stipend, or payment for my time in the field with them.
I also have to admit, before 6 years ago, I never had even heard of Save the Children. I learned about Save the Children from local Bangladeshis. You think Americans are skeptical about NGOs? You haven't met a Bangladeshi. In Bangladesh there is a saying which in English translates to "NGOs eat the cash". Yet, for some reason, Bangladeshis love and respect Save the Children.
Going into the field, not reading the brochures or watching the TV ads, I could see why Bangladeshis respect this NGO. What they do works and it changes lives. And, in the areas of disaster relief and child health, it directly saves lives and averts deaths. You are making a difference when you donate to this organization. I know this because I've seen it with my own two eyes.
Reading the comments about this charity, I can see that some people cite the CEO's salary as an issue of concern. But I'm writing this review in the wake of the scandal and controversy surrounding Invisible Children (an organization that only sends 37% of donations to the field). Quite frankly, I think there are a lot less efficient ways to spend your donation dollars.
Because the fact of the matter is many similar sized charities (e.g. World Vision, Red Cross, etc) have higher executive compensation. If how much the CEO gets paid gives you pause well then good luck finding another charity with as much experience, know how, scale, scope, reach, success, and (most importantly) RESULTS that pays their CEOs less than Save the Children.
And as a final note, in response to the person who gave Save the Children 1 out of 5 stars for issues with "their" sponsor child, what people need to understand is if you are sponsoring a child it's not YOUR child. You are helping a child - not owning them. And, especially in Bangladesh, many children simply don't have the means and resources to respond as often as we'd like.
Save the Children also works in a way that child sponsorship goes towards helping communities - not individuals. Because it takes a village to raise a child and so Save the Children works by transforming and empowering communities. And any good NGO that has a reputable child sponsorship program (e.g. World Vision) does the same.