Religion in World Vision

December 29, 2006 7:50 PM

How heavy a role does religion play in the work of World Vision?

I am asking this because, while I fully respect World Vision for the work they have done and continue to do, I want to know better their operating principles for possible future donation purposes. Does anyone have reliable information (I mean more like personal/second-hand knowledge, but others are welcome too) on World Vision's views on abortion and birth control, whether they proselytize and if their aid is conditional upon the person's religion at all?

posted by bread-eater to Religion & Philosophy (8 answers total)

As as teen I helped raise a lot of money in pledges for their 30 hour famine fundraiser. It was a youth group thing, and we had a lot of fun! There was no religous informaition in any of the information provided to myself, the organizers etc.

I don't know about their work on the field, but i thought you might want to know about my experience fundraising with the community center in my hometown.
posted by upc_head at 7:53 PM on December 29, 2006

Response by poster: Sorry but I should add that I have tried looking this up on the internet but didn't find anything. I don't mean for this post to be anti-World Vision at all. I know some of you may say "Donate to someone else if you're not sure about World Vision," but there are reasons I may be asked to donate to them. Thanks!
posted by bread-eater at 7:53 PM on December 29, 2006

My experience is exactly the same as upc_head. It was as religious as the organization working with them was.

In case you did not see it when searching before:

More here:

and here:
posted by 4ster at 8:08 PM on December 29, 2006

Ten years ago I did a survey of "development" organisations in the Lao PDR -- mainly NGOs like World Vision but also bilaterals (like CIDA) and multilaterals (like UNDP.) World Vision was def. the outlier of the bunch -- said that what Laotians really needed was democracy and freedom (read: freedom to worship Christianity.)

Of course, this is just a personal anecdote.
posted by docgonzo at 8:13 PM on December 29, 2006

Financial information and such here.
posted by LoriFLA at 8:13 PM on December 29, 2006

This doesn't directly answer your question - but - if you want to donate to a non-religious organization - I would recommend CARE instead of World Vision.
posted by mildred-pitt at 10:29 PM on December 29, 2006

World Vision operates like a non-religious NGO for the most part now in Armenia, again a personal anecdote.
posted by k8t at 10:01 AM on December 30, 2006

A friend of mine interviewed for an accounting job with them here in the UK and they made it pretty clear he wasn't going to get the job unless he was a full-on botherer.
posted by biffa at 6:52 AM on January 2, 2007