Empowering The Poor: Unbound’s Journey From 1981 To Today

July 29, 2024 EMMANUEL ADEBAYO AJIBOLA

Unbound, formerly Christian Foundation for Children and Ageing, is a nonprofit international development organisation headquartered at 1 Elmwood Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. The organisation was founded by lay Catholics acting on the gospel call to serve the poor. Its sponsorship programme provides direct cash transfers to sponsored members, who determine how to use their cash benefits to meet their goals. Beyond necessities such as food, housing, clothing, and access to medical care, sponsored members frequently utilise their benefits to pay for education costs or to start or expand small business ventures. Unbound sponsors support more than 260,000 children, youth, and elders in 17 countries.

HISTORY

The organisation was founded on November 20, 1981, by siblings Bob Hentzen, Bud Hentzen, Jim Hentzen, Nadine Pearce, and their friend Jerry Tolle. The siblings wanted to start a nonprofit to honour their late parents. Bob and Jerry were both missionaries who had witnessed firsthand the effects of poverty in developing countries, so they formed a sponsorship organisation based on Catholic social teaching. The first headquarters was in Hentzen’s basement in Kansas City, Missouri.

On January 1, 2014, the name of the organisation was changed to Unbound. To explain the planned name change, Hentzen said in 2013, “We walk side by side with people who dream of freeing themselves from poverty as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency and build strong communities. Our new name sums up our work.” The former president and CEO, Scott Wasserman, said that rather than a bunch of initials, what “Bob wanted was a single word capturing the essence of Catholic social teaching and empowering the poor.

OBJECTIVES OF UNBOUND

The goals of the organisation are poverty eradication and global development through one-on-one sponsorship, scholarship, livelihood programmes, and community development initiatives. Unbound uses its sponsorship programmes to help families living in extreme poverty by connecting them to sponsors. They also use their livelihood programmes to help families become self-reliant. In addition, the organisation provides education scholarships to students pursuing secondary, postsecondary, and vocational schools. The scholarships are used for tuition, transportation, school supplies, books, and technology.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Unbound celebrated a milestone in the organisation’s 42-year history in the summer of 2023 when it achieved partnerships with 1 million sponsored friends. This historical moment means unbound sponsors have given 1 million children, youth, and elders who were living in poverty across three regions of the world hope for a brighter tomorrow. With sponsorship, children have access to education, while families have opportunities for safe and secure housing, support for small businesses, access to livelihoods, and leadership training. Over 1 million children, youth, and elders and their families have been served through the sponsorship programme.