Sponsorship funds cover 100% of school expenses (tuition, uniforms, school meals and supplies) and local HA! site expenses including staff, mentor stipends, Saturday Club and parent/caregiver support--the other key parts of the Hope Alive! difference. Other essential operational costs are covered by Strategic Partners.

Usually not. We use a one-to-one sponsorship model. If you sponsor a child, that child is directly connected to you. Some groups, like small groups or Sunday School classes, have joined together to sponsor a child, and the group is considered a single sponsor. Some people have "buddied up" in the sponsorship of a student (for example, a child or teen might be the sponsor and correspond with the sponsored student, while a grandparent or other person pays the monthly fees). 

Absolutely! We love to see life-long relationships develop between sponsors and students. Your students will send you letters occasionally. The easiest way to write back is to use this form on our website. Alternatively, you can send a letter and photos by mail to our staff in Uganda: P.O.Box 40059, Nakawa, Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, to be forwarded to your student. If a sponsor is thinking about emailing an older student or connecting on social media, we ask the sponsor to talk to us first: send us an email at [email protected].

Yes! Sponsors may send their student money for Christmas and other special occasions, contribute toward occasional special projects at our sites, and contribute to Hope Alive!'s operational costs as a Strategic Partner.

• Missionaries serving with Hope Alive! are not paid by Hope Alive!, but are supported through their own sending organizations. The best way to find out how to support them is to ask them directly, or click on the link to their missionary organizations.

• • Executive Director Caleb Smagacz ([email protected]) is a missionary with WorldVenture.

• • Educational Specialist Michael Seger ([email protected]) is a missionary with UG2 Ministries.

• • G.J. Flikweert ([email protected]), our economic development officer and Ugandan finance lead, is a missionary with Shepherd's Staff.

You can read more about each of them on the Our Team page.

• Uganda's educational system is modeled on the British system. Students undergo rigorous country-wide exams upon completing certain grades, and the results of those exams determine their educational path forward. Also, Ugandan students are not automatically promoted from grade to grade--they are retained until they are deemed ready for the next level. Many of our Hope Alive! students missed years of education due to the inability to pay or other challenging circumstances, and thus may be in a lower grade than their age would suggest. That's why Hope Alive! provides individualized tutoring and support, and why we ask our supporters to pray for our students when exam time approaches.