My Nonprofit Reviews

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.

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