Frequently Asked Questions

Donation and Giving FAQs

Many indigent Filipino Families regard education as their ticket to a better life. They believe that if their children can finish their education, they would have a better chance at breaking free from the debilitating shackles of everyday poverty.

HBI shares the same belief. Helping children finish their education creates a potential to improve the health, income, and capacities not only of children, but also of their families. When you invest in a poor child’s education, you also invest on self-sufficiency and sustainability.

The strength of HBI’s development programs is grounded on efficient, effective, and participative implementation. The organization’s professional and experienced team constantly strive for learning and improvement. There is also no red tape in HBI  – when you choose to support our beneficiaries, your support will be immediately delivered and felt at the grassroots level because it has already been planned and organized in advance.

Furthermore, we believe that involving parents, community members, and other stakeholders in key program activities makes our projects stronger & more effective. We organize parents and community members so that they can collectively voice out their opinions and participate in planning the solutions to their most-felt problems. We take people’s participation a step further by implementing training opportunities for community-based volunteers. A more capable and organized set of volunteers can only do wonders for a development project’s sustainability and continued improvement.

Every unsolicited contribution regardless of its size is important and goes a long way towards enabling HBI to help underprivileged Filipino Children and under-equipped public education facilities.

You are welcome to willingly contribute according to your capacity and help us reach more children and public schools. However, we urge you to avoid making  an online donation less than US$10 or Php 500 as the processing costs make it non-viable for us.

If you are ready to willingly donate to Haligi ng Bata, Inc. (HBI), please reach out to us via the contact us form on this website, via our official Facebook page, or via our email addresses: hbisdrc@yahoo.com and contact@haligingbata.com

Once you have finalized and confirmed the donation process, your donation will be credited or wired to Haligi ng Bata, Inc.’s Foreign Currency or Non-Foreign Currency bank account.

Your donation will contribute towards giving the most impoverished Filipino children  access to education and health support services, while at the same time helping their families with capacity-building and livelihood support programs. Depending on the project you help fund, your support will also improve under-equipped public education facilities so that they can provide their students with access to better education materials, equipment, and practices.

You will get an acknowledgment of your donation within a few hours after completion. Should that not happen, please write an email to hbisdrc@yahoo.com and we will check on the status of your donation.

Yes, it is perfectly safe to donate online. Our online donation platforms use secure donation portals. However, it is recommended to proceed with the donation from your own PC or mobile device, and to avoid doing it from a public area.

We value our donors and funders’ privacy. Hence, we enforce a strict data protection policy and we will never give or sell any information regarding our donors to third parties.

Yes, you can still donate if you do not have a credit card or if you’re not comfortable using our online donation platforms.

Offline donations to HBI can be made through the following channels:

  • Bank deposits and transfers (Metrobank and BPI Family Bank)
  • Dropping by our office to personally hand in your donation

If you are more interested to donate offline, please get in touch with us for more details.

It depends on the frequency of your donation. If you’re living in the Philippines and would like to make a one-time donation, we recommend using our offline donation options because they’re more economical. However, if you would like to make monthly recurring donations, we recommend you use our online donation platform because it is more convenient.

Regardless of your donation channel preference, we suggest you contact us so we can discuss the donating option that would work best for you.

In general,  80% of the total monetary donations we receive from our donors and partners-in-service is allocated to program expenses, including program monitoring & evaluation expenses. The remaining 20% covers administration and support costs, which are essential to uphold high quality standards in our mission towards giving the poorest of the poor Filipino Children a fighting chance at a brighter future through education. This fund utilization is in line with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s directive on fund allocation and utilization for nonprofits classified as social welfare and development agencies (SWDAs).

However, it is important to note that HBI does not deduct any amount in cases of sponsors providing special gifts to their supported children. In other words, if a sponsor gives an unsolicited $20 dollar gift to their sponsored child, the child gets the full amount. The only deduction during this case is personal expenses (such as transportation and meal expenses of the child, guardian/parent, and HBI social worker when buying goods using the sponsor’s monetary gift).

Normally, once a donation has been confirmed and completed, a refund or cancellation is not possible.

However, in case a donor commits an honest mistake, we encourage getting in touch with us via our Donate Online Contact Page to resolve whatever issue that cropped up during the donation process.

Yes, you can claim a tax deduction by using the donation receipt sent to you. Apart from receipts from our online donation platforms, you can also request for a receipt issued by HBI. Please send us an email at hbisdrc@yahoo.com for such requests.

Child Sponsorship FAQs

HBI’s Child Sponsorship Program allows an individual to sponsor or fund a Filipino child’s schooling until he/she graduates from secondary school. In some cases, sponsors can choose to help fund their sponsored child’s college education.

The HBI child sponsorship financially supports the education and health of the sponsored children. Aside from this, other services such as capacity building and income-generating projects for the children’s parents are also implemented.

No, you cannot handpick a specific child for your sponsorship.

We will however ask for your general preferences about the child you wish to help. Potential sponsors can specify whether they would like to sponsor a boy or a girl, and the age of their potential sponsored child. We will then try our best to meet your preferences.

 

HBI works in communities identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as depressed, deprived, and under-served. In these HBI Project Areas, we coordinate with the local community government (or the barangay office) to recruit, organize, and empower key parents, community members, and other community-based stakeholders to form a set of HBI Area Leaders.

With the help of the organized and empowered HBI Area Leaders, we identify children and families that can be supported by the Child Sponsorship Program. To do this, HBI and the Area Leaders conduct community visits, meetings, home visits, and interviews with the children and their families. We then explain to them the Child Sponsorship Program – how it works and their possible responsibilities in the program.

Based on HBI’s data from Years 2012 to 2017, most of the sponsored children’s parents are manual laborers, vendors, & drivers. Their average daily income range from Php 150 to Php 300 (US$ 2.80 to 5.60), with only 53% of sponsored children families having a parent who works & earns daily. On the other hand, the average family size of the sponsored children are between 5 to 7 members—with at least two of the family members attending school.

If computed, the sponsored family’s average monthly income is below the already-conservative government-backed poverty threshold of Php 9,065 (US$ 170). This is the minimum amount that a family of five needs to have three decent meals & for the children to continue going to school. With these said, your sponsored child belongs to a family that lives below the poverty line who has minimal finances to spare on basic needs like food, education, and medicines.

 

Through the donations of supporters like you, children, families, and communities are aided with:

  • Access to education support, health & nutrition support
  • Initiatives for child protection and family counselling services
  • Capacity-building activities and livelihood trainings for parents
  • Other community-based or school-based development interventions

 

The length of your sponsorship can last for months or years depending on your circumstances and that of your sponsored child and his/her family. Based on HBI’s 2012 to 2017 records, an HBI donor supports their sponsored child for 7 to 10 years on an average –with most sponsors seeing their sponsored child through to their high school graduation.

Based on our records, the common reasons why sponsorship concludes are as follows:

  • Your HBI sponsored child has already graduated from high school
  • Your sponsored child and his/her family has moved to a new residence outside HBI’s areas of operation
  • Your sponsored child and his/her family have improved their living conditions

 

Building meaningful relationships between you and your sponsored child would be made possible through the following that would be sent to you:

  1. Your Sponsored Child’s First Social Case Study Report
    The first document you will receive from HBI is a copy of your sponsored child’s social case study report. This document contains all the initial data and photos of your sponsored child including his/her family make-up, initial school performance/standing, and photos of your sponsored child’s home and community.
  2. Children’s Annual Progress Reports (APRs) with Thank You Letters
    Every year in July, we will send you your sponsored child’s Annual Progress Report which contains more personal information about your sponsored child including their recent photo, current school performance, their family life, their hobbies, and their ambitions in life, among others. You will also receive a Thank You Letter handwritten by your sponsored child. In some cases when your sponsored child is still too young to write legibly, a family member may be asked to write what the child wants to convey and say to his/her sponsor.
  3. Christmas Cards and Christmas Letters
    Every year in December, we will send you a Christmas Card personalized by your sponsored child, and a Christmas letter where your child will share what they do in Christmas and how they picture their family’s Christmas celebration.
  4. Thank You Letters
    Whenever your sponsored child receives a letter or special gift from you, we will send you a Thank You Letter along with photos of your sponsored child. Give HBI a maximum of two months to facilitate a reply to your letter or your special gift.

 

Yes. HBI wants sponsors or donors to communicate with and have a connection with their sponsored child. This is key to learning about the conditions in the community and how a sponsor’s or donor’s support is making a difference. We encourage donors to send letters, cards, and photos to their sponsored child through HBI via e-mail or post. You can also send a message to your sponsored child via our website.

Please note that as part of our child protection policy, we discourage donors from having direct and unsupervised communication with their sponsored children. Such communications can pose a number of problems along the lines of child’s safety, unwarranted solicitation, and miscommunications stemming from language and cultural differences.

Should you need further clarification about this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

 

Yes. In case you are interested in sending additional gifts to your sponsored child be it for his/her birthday or for Christmas, we suggest that you get in touch with us so we can facilitate these.

Usually, sponsors send additional amounts so that their sponsored children can purchase what he/she wants and needs. In cases like these, the child & a family member is accompanied by his/her HBI Social Worker who will also write an update report and take photos of your sponsored child with his/her special gifts.

On the other hand, there are some sponsors who opt to send a gift package via parcel/post. While this is alright, we do not encourage this as there have been certain incidents in the past of undelivered packages or opened/inspected packages. Nevertheless, if you are going to be sending a package for your sponsored child, please let us know.

 

Whenever your sponsored child receives a letter or special gift from you, we will send you a Thank You Letter along with photos of your sponsored child.

Give HBI a maximum of two months to facilitate a reply to your letter or your special gift. If you haven’t received a reply within two months, please contact us so we can follow up on your case.

 

Yes. We will make the necessary visit arrangements should you want to meet your sponsored child and his/her family. Please contact us about this at least two weeks before the date of your planned visit.

The HBI Social Worker assigned to your sponsored child and the community’s elected HBI Area Leader will accompany you throughout the meeting to help overcome language barriers & to make your sponsored child more at ease. You can bring simple gifts and even food items that you would like to share to your sponsored child and his/her family.

Taking photos or videos during your visit is allowed for as long as the HBI Social Worker gets the approval of your child’s parent or any older family member.

 

We understand that sometimes your budget gets a little tight, or you get very busy with your work & personal life. We urge you to get in touch with us and let us know when there is a problem. If we do not hear from you, we will remind you of your pledge through e-mail or by messaging/calling you through social media.

We depend on your regular sponsorship donations to carry on our work with children, their communities, and their schools. When a sponsor decides to cancel his/her support, HBI will start looking for another sponsor. Please contact us via email or message us in our social media accounts so we can discuss other options for continuing your child sponsorship support.

 

While we encourage donors and sponsors to maintain long-standing relationships with their sponsored children and with HBI, we understand that a donor’s personal and financial situations can change which would make donating more challenging.

Should this happen, we encourage you to get in touch with us so that we can discuss ways to move forward that would not be detrimental to your sponsored child’s continuing education.

General FAQs about Haligi ng Bata, Inc. (HBI)

HBI is registered, licensed, and accredited as a Philippine-based social welfare and development NGO. HBI funds are deployed in the Philippines to benefit underprivileged children. Even so, majority of our supporters are based overseas.

 

HBI strives to raise valuable resources we need for our work through:

  • Institutional and corporate donations
  • Private individual giving

 

The full-time employees are given regular salaries. We believe that this is important to attract the professional talent we need to manage our activities (and your resources) effectively. It is important to note, however, that HBI salaries are modest in comparison with commercial organizations.

 

Majority of HBI volunteers and area leaders participate in our development programs without earning a single centavo for their work. However, HBI tries to cover our volunteers’ work-related expenses such as transportation and meals during area visits and home visits.

 

No. As an non-government organization (NGO), HBI does not receive any direct government funding. This allows us to remain independent which leads to impartial identification of project areas and unbiased implementation of projects. However the government, through enacted laws and policies, has also extended certain tax exemptions to us, enabling us to minimize operating costs.

 

Please send a formal letter to us via the Contact Us page or via email at hbisdrc@yahoo.com. Please address your letter to our Executive Director, Mrs. Leticia L. Magaan.

 

Please send a formal letter to us via the Contact Us page or via email at hbisdrc@yahoo.com. Indicate the nature of your partnership needs and please address your letter to our Executive Director, Mrs. Leticia L. Magaan.

 

Aside from sponsoring a poor Filipino child, there are many ways in which you can help more children, communities, and schools in need of support:

  1. Spread the word about HBI – We are a small organization and we would appreciate your help in making people aware about what we do and who we help. Please get in touch with us if you need brochures and other organization collaterals. You can also like our official Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/haligingbata/ and tag or talk about us in your social media accounts. Also, visit our website for more updates about HBI and our beneficiaries.
  2. Sign up for our upcoming monthly newsletter program – We will be rolling out a monthly newsletter soon! Sign up would be available here at our website!
  3. Give us feedback – We welcome any feedback that you may have about us and our work so that we can improve what we do for the sake of our beneficiaries and stakeholders. Contact us!
  4. Stay in touch with us – Please do not hesitate to get in touch and reach out to us for any concerns you may have. We will try our very best to help you out.

Write to us!

If you have any queries that have not been addressed here or require clarification on any of the information provided, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via the contact us page or email us at hbisdrc@yahoo.com.