GRÜN digitizes the sponsorship administration at Compassion Germany

Compassion Germany

International compassion is one of the largest children's aid organizations in the world and works in 25 project countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa with Christian communities and churches to lift children out of poverty. Compassion Germany, based in Marburg, is part of the Compassion International network and arranges sponsorships between German sponsors and children from the 25 project countries. A sponsorship with Compassion Germany includes monthly financial support that benefits the child. In addition, the sponsors and sponsored children write letters to each other several times a year and thus have the opportunity to get to know each other.

100.000 letters per year between godparents and godchildren

Around 25.000 sponsorships have been arranged by Compassion Germany so far. On average, there is correspondence between the godparents and the godchildren four times a year, so that over 100.000 letters are sent back and forth. Around 20% of all letters are sent by the sponsors in German to Compassion in Marburg, the rest in English. The letters are translated by volunteers in the translator portal and then forwarded to Compassion International, where the letters are then translated into the national language and forwarded to the sponsored children in the project countries. The path of the letters from sponsored child to sponsor is the same - only the other way around.

New software as the start of digitization

Compassion International and all associated partner countries have worked with the individual software "Compass" for many years. This was continuously optimized, but reached its limits due to growth, Windows updates and necessary functions for digitization.

Compassion International therefore decided to implement new software solutions as part of digitization. Instead of using a central software as before, the partner countries were asked to implement their own software solutions, which are linked to the new software from Compassion International via an interface. After exploring the market, Compassion Germany decided on the software family GRÜN VEWA.

Interface to Compassion International

In the first step, the delivery of the letters was digitized. about GRÜN eVEWA, the online solution of the GRÜN VEWA software family, a digital service was established between the back office solution VEWA and the new software from Compassion International so that letters can be transmitted digitally. About the communication system of GRÜN VEWA can receive the letters of the sponsored children digitally and forward them to the sponsors. Conversely, all letters from the sponsors are digitally recorded, given a barcode and sent to the project country via Compassion International.

The translation is also managed via the VEWA communication system: If the sponsor wishes the letters of his sponsored child to be translated into German, this information is stored in VEWA with the sponsor. The letters to be translated to these sponsors are forwarded to the eVEWA translator portal via the service interface, where they are translated by the voluntary helpers and then transferred back to the VEWA communications system with the translation.

Data of sponsored children and sponsors migrated to VEWA

The next step in VEWA was the migration of the personal data of all sponsored children and sponsors from the old Compass system. All data from the 30.000 donors and sponsored children were imported into VEWA for this purpose.

All necessary processes from Compassion were mapped in VEWA. Since then, the monthly contributions of the sponsors can be collected by VEWA and booked via the electronic account statement. VEWA manages over 10 million euros per year through this. The donation confirmation and the thank you letters to the sponsors are also automatically created in VEWA and then sent. VEWA also supports Compassion Germany with the automatic reminder of outstanding amounts of promises to pay for sponsorships and donations.

MeinCompassion - The online tool for sponsors

In a further step, the sponsorship letters were raised to a new level of digitization. In collaboration with giftGRÜN, the digital agency of GRÜN Software Group, became the online portal MyCompassion created. All sponsors can register in MeinCompassion with a personal account. The digitally recorded letters from VEWA's communications system can be called up here by the sponsors at any time.

The sponsors can also write new letters easily and conveniently. Letter templates are available here - including Christmas and birthday cards. The letters can be written and sent directly using a writing tool. If necessary, the letters are automatically sent by MeinCompassion to the translator portal and translated. The translator portal was created via an interface in GRÜN eVEWA integrated. The translation and the German original are then sent via VEWA to Compassion International, which forwards these letters to the sponsored children in the project countries. The children's letters are also visible in MeinCompassion, and in MeinCompassion the sponsor can view his or her personal data such as address etc. and, if desired, make changes.

Further expansion of the processes

Compassion Germany will further intensify digitalization in the future and plans, for example, to send push messages to sponsors as soon as new letters arrive. The functionalities for the administration of donors and volunteers in VEWA are also to be further expanded.