Beyond You Leadership at Compassion International

“Beyond You” leadership is one of the foundational values of Leaders Worth Following. At Compassion International, it’s the cornerstone of their mission.

“Compassion means ‘to suffer with’ and is an emotional response of sympathy. But it’s not just a feeling. It’s a feeling combined with a desire to help. Because we have compassion, we want to take action and help the person who is suffering.”

This is the mission of Compassion International, an organization serving as an advocate for children for more than 60 years, in 26 nations.

“We care about all children. We care about all poor people. But it is the combination of these two groups that creates extreme vulnerability. Children in poverty are the singular focus of our ministry. Everything that is done at Compassion can be seen as a form of child advocacy.”

And Compassion International’s commitment is not only to the children it serves, but also to each person who sponsors a child. With a dedication to financial integrity and keeping administrative costs as low as possible, Compassion International’s outstanding financial stewardship and commitment to accountability and transparency has earned the ministry four out of four stars — Charity Navigator’s highest rating — for the 15th year in a row. Charity Navigator is America’s largest independent charity evaluator; the ranking places Compassion International among the top 1 percent of nonprofits reviewed and in the number three spot on Charity Navigator’s list of top 10 Charities with the Most Consecutive 4-Star Ratings.

“It is an honor to receive this distinction,” said Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado, president and CEO of Compassion International. “As always, we want our sponsors, donors and partners to be confident that we’re using their generous funds wisely. Their support enables us to continue fulfilling our mission of releasing children from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty by delivering the highest-quality interventions and development programs to 1.8 million children in our care.”

“Less than one percent of the charities we rate have received at least 15 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that Compassion International outperforms most other charities in America,” Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator. “This ‘exceptional’ designation from Charity Navigator differentiates Compassion from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust.”

Charity Navigator rates nonprofits on their financial accountability and transparency – evaluating their business practices, spending habits, transparency in reporting expenditures and ethical best practices for fund management. It evaluates 10 times more charities than its nearest competitor in order to provide donors the information needed to instill confidence in their charitable decisions.

In 2015, Compassion was also ranked 14th on Forbes’ 50 Largest U.S. Charities list; number 22 on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 400 list; and 25th on the NonProfit Times’ Top 100 list.

Compassion International is the world’s leading authority in holistic child development through sponsorship. Compassion revolutionized the fight against global poverty by working exclusively with the Church to release children from poverty so that they may become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. It is the only child sponsorship program to be validated through independent, empirical research. Compassion partners with more than 7,000 churches in 26 countries to release over 1.8 million babies, children and young adults from poverty in Jesus’ name. For more information on the ministry, visit compassion.com or follow them on Twitter at @compassion.