The Sponsorship Newsletter - Jan-Jun 2024 PDF

# The Sponsorship Mag - Jan - Jun 2024 ## Sponsorship Quarterly Highlights The Sponsorship team is proud to introduce the long awaited for Sponsorship Magazine. In this one of the kind exceptional edition, we will cover all the updates, achievements and lessons learned that took place between Janua...

# The Sponsorship Mag - Jan - Jun 2024 ## Sponsorship Quarterly Highlights The Sponsorship team is proud to introduce the long awaited for Sponsorship Magazine. In this one of the kind exceptional edition, we will cover all the updates, achievements and lessons learned that took place between January and June of 2024. In this edition, we are thrilled to return to you once again with our news, highlights, numbers, inspiring stories, heart-capturing photos, and a little glimpse of our future projects! Happy Reading! ## Sponsors’ Visits ... Numbers and Highlights! - In this semester, we received 107 visit requests, of which 98 were completed by 52 caring sponsors from abroad. - Out of the 52 sponsors who visited their children this semester, only 12 requests were submitted manually through the country offices; the remaining 40 sponsors found it easier to submit their visit requests through their online account. Sponsors are increasingly using their online accounts to manage their different sponsorship components. - 15 visits were cancelled this semester; the main cancellation reason is still the changes in the sponsors' schedules and their inability to travel for long distances especially when their stays in Egypt are too short. Our cancellation rate is down to 13% in comparison to a rate of 20% from last year. - It is summer time, and we are currently arranging 54 visits from all our offices; 4 of which will be conducted by one sponsor, Elisabeth Michail, from Australia, who visited them around the same time last year, and returned for visit this year too. | | | | |------------------|--------------------|---------------| | **107** | **98** | **15** | | **Requests** | **Completed** | **Cancelled** | ## Sponsors Visits... our everyday inspiration! - Medehat Magdy (DS428335), a top donor from Australia; does his best to visit his children every year. This year he visited his family's 20 sponsored children; his visits were arranged on 4 days. The visits left both him and the families happy and blessed. The impact of last year's visits on him was so significant that he convinced his sister to sponsor a child, and she came with him to visit her sponsored child as well. - Amir Barsoum (DS396165), from Canada has been a sponsor since 2011; while his wife, Basma is the one who visits their sponsored child, she returned this year to see him; the last time she visited him was in 2022. - Brian Beegan (DS450190), from the United States, was on a mission trip in Ethiopia, and decided to stay in Cairo for a couple of days to visit his sponsored child; he was amazed by the impact of the Program on the children's lives, and sponsored another child upon his return. He also asked how he could promote Coptic Orphans. The image shows 6 people, all of whom are smiling: - Medehat Magdy - AUS - Monica Bagous - US - Fady George - EGY - Eman Ibrahim - CAN - Rihem Badwe - US ## The sponsorship components in numbers ### 98 Completed visits This year, the number of completed visits increased by 5% (compared to 94 visits last year). This increase is coming specially from Australia, our visits hero for this semester, with 58 completed visits! ### 1,407 One-Time gifts This semester, the number of one-time gifts increased by 5% (compared to last year's 1,358). An example of a loving giver is Medehat Magdy, who wanted to buy a bicycle and a slide to one of his sponsored children and his brother, before his visit but was unable to, so he left a monetary gift for this purpose and photos of these gifts were sent to him. ### 836 NEW Sponsorships YTD The Lent Campaign encouraged Mina Gerges from Sweden to sponsor another child. However, the number of new sponsorships decreased by 24% (compared to 1,095 last year). One reason is the launch of Angel Sponsorship and the transfer of over 500 with 600 children to the new model. ### 254 NEW Sponsors YTD The number of new sponsors is increasing by 15% (compared to 217 last year). They are learning about Coptic Orphans through our campaigns, events, social media and The 21 and Serve to Learn. This increase is also supported by in-person outreach efforts made by Country Offices during Lent. ### 216 Sponsors' Inquiries The number of inquiries is also decreasing by 15% (256 inquiries in 2023). This decrease is mainly due to the fact that DR are now responding themselves and able to find answers to the sponsors' inquiries without us getting back to the field staff. ### 3,307 Sponsors' Letters Sponsors are increasingly using their online accounts and the templates therein to send letters to their children. An increase of 10% is observed (compared to 3,103 letters in 2023). In the first semester of this year, a total of 2,451 letters were submitted through the portal. * This number reflects both US and Gulf regions. ** This number reflects International region. ## BREAKING NEWS Thanks to the outstanding support from our Mobile Development team and Communications department, we have successfully launched a mobile application for our donors and sponsors. This app enhances their engagement with Coptic Orphans and their children. Featuring an intuitive and appealing design, the app offers various donation options and details about our upcoming events. Additionally, sponsors can send letters and gifts, and even arrange visits to their sponsored children through the app. A launch campaign is set to start in 2024. ## Process Refresher: After-Visit Cultivation Call ### What is the purpose of the after-visit cultivation call? The After-Visit cultivation call aims at further cultivating the sponsor and exploring leads. The notification to DR to call the sponsor is sent 3 days after the return date of the sponsor to his home country. The After-Visit report as well as the After-Visit survey should both have been completed by then. However, until such time, the DR should go to the visit section to double check that both are complete before taking action. ### The DR can ask the following questions: - How was your visit? - Did you take any pictures that you can send us? (Ensure we have their consent for promotional use) - Do you have any other feedback you wanted to provide or suggestions that we could use to make future visits more fruitful? - I see from the survey that .... Can I help you get started with that? - I see from the survey that you are interested in learning about having a home gathering, let me tell you more... ### After the Call: The DR should record any feedback, comments, or questions in the sponsor's record. The DR should also record the sponsor's approval to allow us to use his/her pictures or quotes in our newsletters, at which point the US Communications Department will then get written consent from the child's family. In order to reflect the effort of the DR and capture the information, a note should be recorded, there are two ways to record this note for the effort to be captured effectively: - DR should create a new note inside the notes of the visit request itself under the subject "After-Visit Cultivation Call". This can also be done from the visit request itself or by tagging the visit's ID inside a new note. The DR should then forward the best photos and the best quotes to the Communications Department, should they want to use them in future publications such as newsletters or our annual report. ### For Consideration: The DR should also check that the sponsor did not bypass the process and did not directly reach out to Sponsorship Specialist or Rep from a past visit, and contacted them to arrange the visit (thus bypassing the DR). If this happened, the DR should reinforce the idea to the sponsor that for future visits, it is best that the sponsor contacts the country office first. We would love to hear from you! Please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future editions :)