Unbound

Unbound’s mission is to “walk with the poor and marginalized of the world” on a path out of poverty. We believe the best way to do that is through beneficiary-led development. Through sponsorship funding, families receive direct cash transfers to their personal accounts (bank, mobile or other). Families, often led by mothers, determine how to use the funds in order to meet their basic needs such as education, food and housing, and develop livelihoods that allow them to become self-sufficient while improving their communities. At Unbound’s program locations, the mothers or other responsible guardians organize into small groups of approximately 20-30 people. These groups, with the assistance of Unbound social workers, meet frequently for trainings, such as on goal setting and leadership, often conduct savings and micro-lending activities among each other, and generally provide community support, looking after each other in times of need. These small groups also apply for grant funding to implement small projects benefiting their communities, which we call our Agents of Change projects, or to improve their businesses through small-business-accelerator grants. In 2023, Unbound continues efforts to grow our base of sponsors and donors in order to impact more families. In part this is done through improving the sponsor experience through such means as a new Unbound website, new methods of communications from sponsored friends through video messages, online webinars and resuming awareness trips (paused during COVID-19) to project locations. We believe that Unbound sponsors make a direct impact and transform lives as full partners in a global community of compassion, and it is important to Unbound that we continue to strengthen relationships between Unbound, sponsors and sponsored families. Finally, Unbound will continue to expand and implement methods to measure and report accomplishments of families at local and global levels.

Unbound seeks to build a worldwide community of compassion made up of self-sufficient, empowered families where all people live with dignity and have the ability and opportunity to achieve their potential. Using a highly personalized benefits model, sponsored members partner with local Unbound staff to make program and benefit decisions that are unique to their situations and develop their potential. Outcomes are locally tailored and may include educational attainment, leadership, improved health and nutrition status, dignified housing, skill development and increased income through livelihood opportunities for families.

The Unbound sponsorship program supports families in Latin America, Asia and Africa in overcoming poverty by connecting them with individual sponsors. Participating families utilize direct financial assistance to help achieve their personal life goals through education, assistance with basic needs, and leadership and economic development programs (e.g. financial literacy, youth programs and skill development for parents). Sponsorship requires active participation from families as they take a central role in selecting benefits for their children and building stronger communities. Sponsors — through letters, concern and a monthly financial contribution — experience a true exchange of cultures, understanding and love.

In 2022, with the support of 220,250 sponsors, Unbound provided $115 million in direct assistance to its programs around the world, bringing opportunity to 268,723 children, youth and elders in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Sponsored individuals and their families partnered with local Unbound teams to identify challenges, set goals, create budgets and plan for how to make the most of financial assistance, which they typically use for education, nutrition, housing improvements, transportation, health care and other needs.

For 98% of families, funds were received through individual bank accounts and other forms of direct transfer, such as vouchers, mobile banking and ATM cards. In addition, parents built local support networks through 11,965 small groups and 159 cooperatives that empower members to take control of their livelihoods.

Unbound provided over $3.7 million in scholarships to 8,839 youths pursuing secondary, university or vocational education in 2022. Unbound scholars achieve educational goals while developing leadership skills and a heart for service.

Using sponsorship benefits, group loans and Small Business Accelerator funds, some 35,500 families have started or expanded a small business. In 2022, Unbound sent $226,412 to 245 entrepreneurs to support small businesses through small-business-accelerator grants.

Unbound’s Critical Needs Fund provides relief to families experiencing health crises, natural disasters, loss of income and other setbacks. In 2022, over $654,000 in Critical Needs funds were disbursed to families.

Agents of Change grants totaling over $117,000 funded community improvement initiatives in 2022. Families joined forces with their communities to drive change. With grants starting at $500, they led initiatives to improve their children’s schools, local water supplies, town infrastructure and more.

Unbound continues to expand and implement methods to measure and report accomplishments of families. In 2022, 55 local-level evaluations were conducted, with many focused on studying impacts of income-generating initiatives of Unbound families. With global economic challenges resulting in high inflation and cost of living, studies to understand the economic resilience and safety nets of Unbound families in the form of savings and loans were conducted in several program sites.

Unbound expanded use of a methodology entitled Unbound’s Goal Orientation Powered By Poverty Stoplight in 2022. The methodology allowed participating families to define poverty and measure their progress as they set and worked toward goals to exit poverty.

Unbound recognizes sponsors and other benefactors not only as donors but as full partners making a direct impact and transforming lives in a global community of compassion. In a quarterly Sponsor Satisfaction Survey, 98.5% of sponsors indicated that sponsorship impacted them in ways such as informing their worldview, having a practical way to help someone in need and enriching their lives.