Compassion Australia is a Christian child sponsorship organisation dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world. Compassion Australia is the Australian branch of Compassion International whose headquarters are in Colorado Springs. Compassion was founded in 1952 by Reverend Everett Swanson to help children orphaned by war in South Korea. Compassion International's programs operate in over 25 developing countries and currently help more than one million children around the world.^[1]

[edit] History

Compassion Australia was started by Laurie and Olive McCowan in 1977, based from their Newcastle home. The following year the company, Compassion Limited of Australia, was officially registered. Compassion was one of the first non-government agencies to respond to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. $1 million was raised for relief support for the widows and orphans left shocked, maimed and grieving by the civil war. In 2001, Laurie McCowan, Compassion Australia’s founding CEO retired having grown Compassion to 23,500 children, with an annual income of over $11 million. Currently the CEO of Compassion Australia is Paul O'Rourke.

Today, over 75,000 children are helped by Compassion Australia. Compassion Australia is part of a worldwide network of people helping children. In partnership with Compassion USA, Canada, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, South Korea and the United Kingdom, over one million children are helped by Compassion's programs. Compassion Australia has grown from a staff of two to a network of over 130 paid staff members Australia wide, plus hundreds of dedicated advocates and prayer partners.^[2]

[edit] Programs

Compassion's programs minister to the needs of individual children living in poverty throughout all stages of development; from the womb to university. Their programs also operate excusively through the local church in developing countries. Their programs are: - Child Survival Program - Child Sponsorship Program - Leadership Development Program - Complementary Interventions.

[edit] Where They Work

Compassion's programs are currently operating in the following 26 countries. Each country office is staffed by local country personnel.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Compassion Australia
• Compassion Canada
• International Portal for all Compassion Partner Country Sites