Heartbeat Sponsor a Child in Need(SACIN)©
Programme Information Document

“What is the SACIN programme?”

The Heartbeat “Sponsor a Child in Need” (SACIN) Programme is a personalized sponsorship programme, whereby a person sponsors a child for a fixed monthly amount. The SACIN programme is aimed at empowering individuals to help relieve the suffering of orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa. Current estimations indicate that there at least 700 000 children under the age of 18, who have lost one or both parents, mainly due to HIV/AIDS.

This programme is specifically designed to fill gaps, as thousands of these children struggle to survive, whilst they do not qualify for any government grants. The focus of this SACIN programme is to support children, living in child- and relative-headed households. Such children have lost both parents, and are living with their siblings, a relative, or alone. In many cases, no adult supervision or support is available, and a lucky few are cared for by a grandmother.

These grannies receive a meagre pension on which they have to support up to 8 grandchildren. All children included in this programme, are therefore orphaned, and live in the designated areas where Heartbeat works.
Most of the children in this SACIN programme live in granny-headed households and about 10% stay in child-headed households – i.e. without any permanent adult supervision. These children have very little, if any source of income, as most of them do not qualify for any government grants. Without the help of compassionate individuals like you, children in child-headed households have little hope of survival.

So, if you have a heart for children, and always wanted to “get involved”, there has never been a better time to act! Through this programme, you can really make a difference…

“Which children can benefit from the SACIN programme?”

The criteria for children to be included in the Heartbeat SACIN programme are:

• Children have to be orphaned (maternally, paternally or double orphans);
• Children have to be below the age of 18 OR still at school when we identify them (this means that if children are older than 18, but still at school, they also qualify to be included in the SACIN Programme until they complete their matric);
• Children have to live in the designated areas where Heartbeat works.

“What options do I have as a sponsor?” 

You have 3 options when choosing to support the Heartbeat SACIN Programme:

OPTION 1: BRONZE SPONSORSHIP

OPTION 2: SILVER SPONSORSHIP

OPTION 3: GOLD SPONSORSHIP

"Sounds good! So how do I get involved?"

Step 1:
Choose your sponsorship option: Bronze, Silver or Gold

Step 2:
Read Heartbeat’s Child Protection Policy
By signing up as a child sponsor for Heartbeat's Sponsor a Child in Need (SACIN) programme, you agree to the terms stipulated in this policy document.

Step 3:
To make your first donation to this programme, click here. Please note that Credit Card giving is the preferred method of payment.

Step 4:
Once your donation has been received in Heartbeat's account you will be contacted by the SACIN ADMINISTRATOR, LERATO MATSEKE, who will assign a child to you according to the sponsorship option you chose.

Please note:
For any payment enquiries, or to check if/when your payment has been received by Heartbeat, kindly email karina@heartbeat.org.za for confirmation.

"Fine, but lets talk money!?"

As explained, for the SILVER and GOLD sponsorships, the funds you donate towards the specific child assigned to you will be used to make sure that the particular child have access to / receive the following services and goods.

These are divided into 6 LAYERS OF CARE - >> Click to view <<

"The fine print…"

School Fees: Heartbeat advocates fiercely for the exemption of school fees for children in child-headed households, but if and when we don’t succeed, your contribution may also be used to pay for a child’s school fees. Heartbeat is proud of the fact that of the close to 5000 orphans and vulnerable children we support (not all the kids in our programmes qualify to be included in the SACIN programme), we do not pay school fees for one single child – through active lobbying and advocacy of our staff and forum members.

Food: Heartbeat receives a monthly donation of basic foodstuffs from Tiger Brands for the children in this programme. This means that the bulk of our children’s food is sponsored! Additional foodstuffs may however also be bought from your donation.

The Extra’s:Heartbeat may occasionally approach you for any critical / once off needs that the child would have, and that we could not cover from your existing contributions. Such needs will include a gift for Christmas, or a financial contribution towards a school trip or camp. Heartbeat does have a specific fund for emergencies, where we can access funds from in cases of emergency.

Administration: Heartbeat will use a small percentage from your contribution to cover our administration costs, including all correspondence (including phone, fax, postage, e-mail and printing costs and salaries for project staff) with you, the “adoptive parent”. We also partially cover the salaries of the 4 full time staff members that are employed to manage this programme, through these admin fees.

The fee structure for the administration costs of the different levels of Sponsorship are as follows:

• Bronze sponsorship: R5.00 of your R50.00 per month, used for administration
• Silver sponsorship: R30.00 of your R150.00 per month, used for administration
• Gold sponsorship: R35.00 of your R200.00 per month, used for administration

Tax Certificates: Because of Heartbeat’s Section 18A Public Benefit Status, Heartbeat can issue a tax certificate for you, for submission with your annual tax claim, on your request. Should you wish to receive such a certificate, kindly contact Vanessa@heartbeat.org.za. and state that you require such a certificate to be sent to you. To save costs, Heartbeat prefers to email the tax certificate to you.

"How does Heartbeat get goods and services to the child I support?"

Heartbeat has a dedicated team of 80 community child-care workers in each community where we work. These people were recruited from the communities where Heartbeat works, and are paid employees of Heartbeat. They work for half a day Mondays to Fridays. Each child on the SACIN programme has a specific child-care worker assigned to him/her. This person visits your child in his/her household, provides counselling and support, and assists in general housework and school homework. During these visits, the care worker completes a “visit assessment form”, about the current state of things in the household. These “visit assessment forms” also serves as a measure of quality control and is part of the care workers key performance indicators against which he/she is evaluated bi-annually.

Each child in the SACIN programme has his/her own income and expenditure account. These accounts are managed from Heartbeat’s Head office in Pretoria, and are updated on a monthly basis. You will receive an annual financial report indicating how the funds you donated were spent for the child you support. This report will look similar for all children being sponsored in a particular community, as Heartbeat aims to regulate the services we deliver to all children in that particular community. Your child’s account may however reflect individual (once-off) expenses in cases of emergencies.

PLEASE NOTE!
THIS MEANS THAT HEARTBEAT NEVER GIVES MONEY TO THE CHILD OR HIS/HER FAMILY YOU SUPPORT, BUT THAT WE PHYSICALLY PAY FOR THE GOODS AND SERVICES IN OUR MINIMUM SERVICE PACKAGE.

"How do I get in contact with the child I sponsor?"

Heartbeat encourages interaction between the children in this programme and their sponsors. In the same instance, we would like to protect the rights of our children, and one-on-one personal contact (i.e. phoning or personal visiting) with the child you are sponsoring, is therefore not allowed. (Read Heartbeat's Child Protection Policy)

You are however encouraged to correspond with your child via Heartbeat’s Office. Apart from this written form of contact, Heartbeat also encourages all sponsors to send a gift, a card or chocolate cake to the child they are supporting on his/her birthday! You have no idea what a difference something as small as a birthday card can make in the life of an orphan… You can follow the same procedure as above, but please send your gift or card one week in advance, in order for Heartbeat to ensure that your child receives the gift on his/her birthday!

During Christmas Time, Heartbeat’s Offices are swirling with gifts from all over South Africa. If you want to send a Christmas gift to your child, please do so in by the last week of NOVEMBER. In many cases, children visit relatives over the Christmas season, and we want to ensure that they receive your gift before they actually go away for the holidays… Heartbeat’s offices also close over the December holidays, so make sure that you gift reaches us in time.

Please send all correspondence to the Postal Address below, clearly indicating the name of the child and your name as the sponsor to:
"Name and Surname" of the child you sponsor, SACIN Programme, Heartbeat, PO BOX 72294, Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria, South Africa, 0040

"What should I buy for my child’s birthday?"

Heartbeat recommends that you send something small so that it could easily reach Heartbeat via the post. We normally advise sponsors to be lead by the child’s age. As most of the children on the SACIN programme are 15 years and older, Heartbeat suggests that you take a small box (eg. A shoe box or office paper box) and fill it with goodies for your child to enjoy on his/her birthday.

We suggest you include the following in your child’s goodie pack:

• Non-perishable treats (eg. Sweets – not chocolate that would easily melt; Cold drink concentrate, cookies, lollies, etc – something that the whole family can enjoy with the child on his/her birthday)
• Toiletries and Make-up (eg. Deodorant, soap, shaving kit for boys, and Make-up and anything girlie and pink for the girls)
• Personal items (eg. a new purse, a diary, a new pencil case for school)
• Clothing items (eg. new socks, t-shirt, tops for winter, scarves, beanies, etc)
• A Card / Letter (you would be surprised to know that very few orphans have EVER received a birthday card!)

A few more golden rules to remember:

• Buy something useful and something special!
• Do don’t need to spend hundreds of Rands – be creative and involve your own family in making your goodie pack for the child
• You can obviously choose which items you want, and you don’t have to buy from all four categories above.
• Please buy new items (i.e. no second hand goods and old clothing) for the child’s birthday and Christmas. If you have old / second hand clothing and goods that you want to deliver to Heartbeat, kindly contact corlie@heartbeat.org.za for more information.
• We would love our children to be “like the other children” – keep this in mind when you go shopping and enjoy the chance to bring a smile to a child’s face!

PLEASE NOTE!
PLEASE CLEARLY MARK ALL PARCELS WITH THE NAME / SURNAME OF THE CHILD, AS WELL AS YOUR NAME AND SURNAME.

"Can the child I support be taken off the progamme?"

Unfortunately, YES! Children who qualify for to be included in the SACIN programme have to adhere to strict selection criteria (See Page 2). This means that children can also be taken off the SACIN programme, because of the following reasons:

1. Children are below 18 and dropped out of school – i.e they refuse to go to school anymore;
2. Children have completed their schooling – i.e passed matric;
3. Children have moved outside the designated area where Heartbeat works. In most cases children were re-united with family in other parts of the country;
4. The child has passed away;
5. In cases where Heartbeat has lobbied for the child to be placed in FOSTER CARE with a relative (usually a granny), Heartbeat will keep the child on the SACIN programme, but NO MATERIAL GOODS will be bought for the child after accessing a foster grant. The administrator of the grant will be asked to pay for these goods with the grant money, and Heartbeat will use your contribution designated for MATERIAL SUPPORT in the other 5 service groups mentioned on page 4 and 5.

If it happens that the child you support are taken off the programme, you will be informed of this, and given the appropriate reason WHY the child has been taken off the SACIN programme. You will be contacted by Heartbeat and you will have 2 options:

a)You can continue to sponsor a new child assigned to you by Heartbeat, or
b)You can terminate your sponsorship.

If you choose option (a) (i.e. continuing with your sponsorship), a new child will be assigned to you, and any remaining funds in the account of the “old” child, will be transferred to the “new” child’s account. You will then also from that day, receive correspondence and reports regarding your “new” child assigned to you.

If you choose option (b), Heartbeat would thank you for your support and not correspond with you again.

"How do I stop my contribution towards the SACIN programme?"

• Remember that Heartbeat has NO access to your bank account, so you need to cancel your contribution with your bank yourself.
• If you are sponsoring a child, and would like to terminate your contribution, please contact Heartbeat immediately if you are unable to continue with your sponsorship, for whatever reason.
• We ask that you give us at least 2 months written notice, in order to give us sufficient time to find a replacement sponsorship for the child.
• We also ask that you commit to this sponsorship for a minimum period of one year, but we understand that crises occur and that things might happen in your life that will prevent you from continuing with your sponsorship.
• Please remember to inform KARINA ARCHER via Email (karina@heartbeat.org.za) or Fax (+27 12 346 3090) two months before your last payment will be made.

"Can I tell a friend about SACIN?"

Heartbeat has a “SACIN PHONE-A-FRIEND INITIATIVE”, where we encourage all existing sponsors to phone a friend and tell him/her about this initiative and encourage them to also sponsor a child in need. We have all seen the TV programme “Who wants to be a millionaire” – well, if you phone a friend for SACIN you will not win a million bucks, but you can assist Heartbeat in reaching 1 million orphans through this initiative!

So, If you have a friend that might be interested in sponsoring a child, please contact Heartbeat for more information on this can benefit you and your friend!

"And if I want to know more?"

Heartbeat would be happy to answer any additional questions you might have. The SACIN Management Team consists of:

For financial enquiries regarding your sponsorship, please contact

SACIN MANAGER:
KARINA ARCHER (karina@heartbeat.org.za)
OR
SACIN FINANCIAL MANAGER:
VANESSA LIEBENBERG (vanessa@heartbeat.org.za)

You can direct all correspondence regarding SACIN to Heartbeat to:
Telephone: +27 (0) 12 – 460 2345
Fax: +27 (0) 12 – 346 3090
Postal:
SACIN PROGRAMME
HEARTBEAT
PO BOX 72294
Lynnwood Ridge
Pretoria
RSA          
0040

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE HEARTBEAT SACIN PROGRAMME.