World Vision is a global humanitarian aid and development organisation that provides short-term and long-term assistance to children and families living in poverty. The World Vision International Partnership spans nearly 100 countries, employs 37,000-plus staff and in 2019 raised more than US$2.9 billion. 

For 70 years, World Vision has been engaging people to work towards eliminating poverty and its causes. World Vision works with people of all cultures, faiths and genders to achieve transformation. We do this through emergency relief, long-term development projects, advocacy, collaboration and education.

World Vision Australia is one of the nation’s largest charitable groups. With the support of more than 200,000 Australians, we are helping to create lasting change in the lives of the world's most vulnerable children. 

Our work is made possible by the support of generous Australians, including many who sponsor a child or donate to support our emergency appeals. Other funding sources include donations from philanthropists and corporate partners, as well as the Australian Government and institutional donors.

More than a billion people around the world live in poverty and struggle every day simply to survive. World Vision works with vulnerable communities at the grassroots level, empowering them with the knowledge, skills and resources to work their way out of poverty.

World Vision brings globally proven approaches together with each community's own strengths to address their specific challenges. Our work includes long-term development programs, emergency relief projects, advocacy and education. 

The aim of many of our projects is to help communities become self-reliant through a range of initiatives such as health improvements, education and skills training, agricultural development, access to finance, small business workshops and leadership development.

World Vision Australia aims to ensure the highest proportion of its funds gets to those in need. For a detailed breakdown of where World Vision Australia’s money goes, read Where the funds go and our Annual Report.

Our financial statements are externally audited (in the same way and to the same standards which apply to Australian companies) and our annual reports are prepared to internationally acknowledged standards of transparency for not-for-profits.

World Vision works with the most vulnerable children in some of the world’s most difficult places.

The World Vision Partnership works across Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

World Vision Australia supports the World Vision Partnership’s global operations, including the cost of technical experts who oversee and coordinate disaster relief, development and international advocacy activities across the globe. To read more about how we work through the World Vision Partnership, see our Annual Report.

World Vision Australia also works with Australia First Nations communities around the country. 

World Vision works with many First Nations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia, partnering with them and supporting them to lead their own development and build on their strengths. We do this at the national level by engaging with government, and at a local level by partnering with communities in metropolitan, regional and remote parts of the country.

The focus of this work includes early childhood development, middle childhood, youth development, leadership and governance, and community responses to family and domestic violence.

You can read more about the Australia First Nations Program and how you can get involved as a supporter.

 

Australians are part of a global community where basic human rights should be afforded to all, no matter where one is born. Yes, charity begins at home but it doesn’t have to end there. We are lucky in Australia that we can afford to respond to those in need at home as well as providing life-saving aid to those beyond our borders.

Australia has the 13th highest GDP per capita in the world according to International Monetary Fund figures and our level of government debt is low compared to other developed countries. Although we are well placed to support developing countries, currently the Australian Government spends around 21 cents in every hundred dollars of national income on overseas aid. We are lagging behind other wealthy countries such as Sweden, who contribute 0.91 percent of Gross National Income, Germany at 0.76 percent, and the Netherlands at 0.50 percent.

Most importantly, overseas aid and development help save and transform lives. For example, the mortality rate for children under five has fallen by 59 percent since 1990. This is equivalent to one in 11 children dying before reaching age five in 1990, compared to one in 38 in 2021. Overseas aid has played a big part in this progress. Unfortunately, thousands of children still die every day so more still needs to be done.

World Vision is all about transforming the lives of vulnerable children and their community - and making it easy for you to be a part of that. Together we've impacted the lives of 200 million vulnerable children in the past five years. Whether it's helping through sponsorship to meet the basic needs of a child, their family and community, helping rescue children from exploitation, funding vital development work, helping people in emergency situations or participating in advocacy campaigns, every person who supports our work is making a positive difference in someone's life.

Around 200,000 Australians now contribute to World Vision's work around the world. As a part of a broader movement against global poverty, this is creating broad-ranging changes to the living standards of those living in desperate poverty. Including reaching one new person with clean water every 10 seconds and three more schools every day with clean water. 89% of the severely malnourished children we treated made a full recovery over the last five years and because of our community-focused solutions, for every child you help, four more children benefit, too.

World Vision has fundraising guidelines in place to help groups, individuals and organisations who wish to undertake a fundraising event. If you're hosting an event to raise funds for World Vision, we ask that you familiarise yourself with our requirements to ensure accountability to donors.

Please read the World Vision Fundraising Guidelines.

The CEO’s salary is set by the Board of World Vision Australia based on our remuneration policy of paying all World Vision Australia executives salaries within a range at or under the 10th percentile of the Australian executive salary market.  The CEO of World Vision Australia oversees a large program of aid work globally and annual revenue of more than $400 million.

World Vision programs support modern contraceptive methods as part of an integrated approach to effective family planning. World Vision’s family planning guidelines encourage both men and women to take equal responsibility for their children’s birth and development. With both maternal and child mortality rates at alarming levels in many developing countries, individuals and couples are provided with the knowledge and the means to determine the number and spacing of their children to ensure the survival and wellbeing of both mother and child. These objectives are consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages.

All contraceptive methods promoted by World Vision are reviewed with respect to ethical, medical and development standards. World Vision programs are also designed and implemented in partnership with communities, and in collaboration with national health policy, the local health system, local faith-based organisations and other non-government organisations undertaking similar programs.

Contraceptive needs and preferences may vary depending on the cultural context. That's why our programs providing integrated voluntary family planning services offer a range of natural and artificial methods. Given the high risk for sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), dual protection methods are encouraged. Examples of protection methods include abstinence, consistent and correct use of condoms, use of a contraception method, and mutual monogamy.

World Vision’s primary aim is to help people work their way out of poverty – we do not tell families how many children they should have. 

However, improvements in the lives of the poor do have an impact on reducing family size.  For example, the UN Population Fund says when a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.

Depending on the laws, policies and community attitudes in the countries where World Vision operates, our work might include things like the educating girls, improving childbirth facilities and support for women in remote communities, fostering economic opportunities, and providing information about family planning and birth spacing – including contraception, where it is appropriate. 

Population growth rates in most countries are falling and the global average for the number of children born to each woman has dropped from 3.7 in 1980 to 2.4 today.

World Vision Australia does not tolerate fraud or corruption in its operations and programs and is committed to the highest standards of legal, ethical and moral behaviour in all we do. 

To make sure that corruption and fraud is prevented or detected in a timely manner, World Vision has implemented a number of measures including: 

• World Vision staff – here in Australia and overseas – monitor and visit projects and organise audits of project finance to make certain that all funds are properly used
• A management systems has been set up that avoids any individual having exclusive rights to spend large amounts of money
• Thorough background checks on staff are conducted
• Local employees are trained to detect and deter fraud 
• A whistle-blower system has been established so staff (and eligible non-WVA persons) can report any suspicious behaviour. Please refer to our Protected Disclosure Policy. 
• Each project and national office is accountable through a range of internal and external audit and program quality review procedures  
• Reports are sent to the donors who give us money and to the governments and authorities in the places where we operate, and to our industry peers
• World Vision Australia’s accounts and operations are externally audited.

Additionally, World Vision complies with the requirements of funders such as Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

World Vision advocates to leaders at all levels on all sides of politics to help bring change to public policies that impact children and their families - especially those living in poverty. These include Australian aid funding, climate change policy and maternal and child health spending.

World Vision generally uses your personal information to engage with you, process your request (e.g., gift, payment, registration, subscription, change of details) and tell you about the work that we do. Want to know more about how we will manage your personal information? Read our Privacy Policy.

As a financial supporter of World Vision Australia, you will receive an Annual Tax Statement by the end of July each year showing a summary of tax-deductible donations you have made to us in the previous financial year.

Depending on your own tax position, the Annual Tax Statement will help you claim a tax deduction when it is time to prepare your tax return.

Find out more about Annual Tax Statements and receiving your tax statement online in our Tax Statement FAQs.

"Land degradation is among the most pressing of all environmental problems. It’s a symptom and a cause of climate change. It’s pushing the most vulnerable communities deeper into poverty. Amazingly, much of the world’s degraded land contains invisible forests. There are complex root systems hidden underground with the potential to rapidly regenerate, heal the environment and help slow climate change. World Vision is leading the charge to bring these invisible forests back to life. We’re building a movement of businesses, governments, institutions and everyday people to unleash our powerful technique called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration – FMNR - on a scale never seen before. By regenerating a billion hectares of land we can remove up to 25 per cent of carbon from the atmosphere, prevent species loss and end extreme poverty for millions of people."