Called by God: The Every Last One campaign

Throughout World Vision’s more than 70 years of work, our roots have run deep in helping where people are suffering, where poverty seems undefeatable, and where the needs are great. With God’s sustaining hand and faithful support from people like you, we were there in the wake of the Vietnam War with Operation Seasweep, sailing the South China Sea to pick up Vietnamese refugees that the world had turned its back on. We were there during the Ethiopian famine, feeding starving children and doing the much harder work of helping to establish long-lasting systems that have transformed lives and the region. We cried out for the church to respond when the AIDS crisis was creating orphans at an astonishing rate. We’ve been helping countless families since the Syrian civil war resulted in the largest refugee crisis of our day. And today, we’re responding to the crippling needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in every country we work in while our staff are all equally affected by this crisis.

In 2010, we embarked on a mission unlike any we’d ever undertaken. In the middle of a major economic crisis, we launched World Vision’s Campaign For Every Child (FEC). Our goal was to empower 20 million people worldwide with life-changing resources. We felt God calling us to make this bold move, and many of you felt the same call. Because God honored our joint efforts, this groundbreaking campaign had an incredible global impact. We exceeded our goals, reaching more than 25 million people — half of them children — in just five years.

Each of these challenges seemed insurmountable — the numbers too big, the need too great. But World Vision instead said “together, we can do this, because this vision is from God.” He is our confidence who has guided us and provided for us for over 70 years. And He has stirred in your hearts and inspired you to be part of His great work of empowering children and families to raise themselves out of poverty so they can have life, hope, and a future — even amid crises like a global pandemic.

And that’s why we’re not backing down, and instead we’re setting an even more audacious goal. At God’s prompting in late 2015, World Vision launched Every Last One (ELO) — a $1 billion capital campaign over eight years to reach more than 60 million people*. It’s over twice as large as FEC was, and it builds on our global child sponsorship foundation — accelerating development in places where sponsorship projects already have a firm footprint. In these communities, campaign projects — funded by private donors and philanthropists — help us make an even bigger impact even faster, meeting a family’s needs through three areas of focus:

• Life through clean water and mother and child health
• Hope through child protection, emergency response, and Christian discipleship
• Future through economic empowerment and education

Come with us on a journey to discover what’s been accomplished so far. See the lives that have been transformed — both those of people here in the U.S. who said yes to God’s call to help, and those of the children and families we serve around the world. And continue the journey by partnering with us to make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one during a time when all three of those ideas seem questionable. The needs today are even greater because of the pandemic, but by the grace of God and with your compassionate generosity, we’re committed to empowering millions of children and families to transform their lives.

*Includes the number of unique participants in each of our Signature Initiative programs. Because of World Vision’s multi-sector approach, some people will participate in more than one program.

Every human being deserves clean water and access to essential healthcare. Still, women and children in developing nations walk an average of 6 kilometers — 3.7 miles — each day to get bacteria-filled water. And a child under the age of 5 dies every seven seconds, mostly from preventable causes. That’s why World Vision is committed to reaching 25 million people with access to clean water and 2 million mothers and young children with health and nutrition services by 2023.

Once people are healthy and have access to clean water, it opens up new possibilities and inspires hope. This is where World Vision builds on our work by integrating child protection initiatives and leading emergency response programs. When people are safe, it frees them from worry and creates space for spiritual nurture. Christian discipleship is the third component of our Hope work. Through these three initiatives, we’re aiming to reach 28 million people by 2023.

As hope builds, people begin to dream of a brighter future. ELO’s Future work is centered around economic empowerment and education. World Vision’s award-winning Unlock Literacy program empowers parents and children to value education and its life-changing potential. And parents struggling to make ends meet gain the knowledge and tools to farm better, learn new skills, and gain access to financial services like loans and savings groups. Economic resilience is critical to helping families weather natural disasters and other emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, and it also helps them navigate unexpected expenses that life often brings without being financially devastated. Our aim through ELO is to brighten the futures of 5.4 million children and hardworking adults by 2023.

You can help make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one.