Who are you? Expand Smile International is a Christian family organisation passionate about helping to relieve suffering and poverty around the world through our FEED programmes – Feeding, Educating, Empowering and Developing. We are dedicated to giving hope to those in need and providing people with an opportunity to develop emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually. We help everyone irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, nationality or religion. https://www.smileinternational.org/our-vision
What are your beliefs and values? Expand We are a Christian family organisation, but we are passionate about helping everyone irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, nationality or religion. God has called us to ‘bring good news to the poor’ and so we strive to share God’s love with those we work with. Smile International is run on strong ethical and Christian principles and it is a privilege to serve God in this way.
Why trust us? Expand It’s hard to know who to trust these days, especially with your money, so we have a page dedicated to alleviating any concerns you might have and to highlight the reasons why your donations are safe with us. https://www.smileinternational.org/why-trust-us
What does Smile do with my money? Expand We put it to good use to try and make as many people smile as we can! There is a percentage to cover admin costs and fundraising, and the remainder of your donation goes towards funding our projects. The year ended 31st March 2021 the percentage of expenditure going towards charitable activities was 92.9%. So, for every £1, 92.9p we spent on transforming the lives of those in greatest need and enabling people to smile again. We are committed to transparency and accountability that gives you the certainty that your money goes to where it is needed the most.
How do I know you will use my donation correctly? Expand As a charitable limited company and registered charity, our end of year accounts are independently examined but not audited as we do not have enough income to pass the threshold required to have audited accounts. They are submitted to Companies House annually and we also report to the Charity Commission, an independent body that regulates activities of charities in the UK. We also have a great board of Trustees who are heavily involved in overseeing the work of Smile International. We are committed to transparency and accountability that gives you the certainty that your money goes to where it is needed the most.
How do you know what the funds get spent on overseas? Expand All our teams in the countries where we operate have been given enhanced training on making sure they follow our strict financial policies and procedures and are regularly inspected by our UK Head Office. We have assessed any potential risks and have strict control measures in place. We advise all our partner organisations where we work to submit annual accounts to the relevant governing bodies. We gather receipts, photographic and video evidence and a dedicated member of the teams are trained in accounting. We have an accountancy programme in each of the countries, that we can monitor live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the UK. Our partner organisations must abide by their own government and have accounts produced each year. We have worked with our partner organisations for over a decade in each country and as we have strict control measures in place, we are confident that your donations are used correctly. No money is spent without direct authorisation from the UK Headquarters. We have steps in place to monitor all expenditure and we have a zero-tolerance approach if we ever find anything of concern.
How big of an organisation are you? Expand We are not a huge organisation; we have a 6-member strong team in the UK and through our partner organisations, there are over 25 staff and volunteers overseas. This helps to keep costs considerably lower here in the UK which means more funds are spent overseas helping to turn tears into smiles.
Can I donate items such as clothing or gifts to Smile? Expand No, this is not something we can facilitate. It is much better to get supplies in country to help boost the local economy and so our partners can choose what is the most culturally relevant and useful. It also helps to reduce our environmental footprint. It saves us a lot of time, money and logistical decisions by sending financial gifts overseas and has a much better overall impact for all concerned. Our vision, aim and focus is to transform local communities and empower individuals to help get themselves out of the cycle of poverty by providing sustainable ways to do this.
How does Smile decide where the need is greatest? Expand We are guided by our partner organisations who are working in each of the countries we support on a daily basis. They regularly inform us as to who needs urgent help, areas that need transformation and how our programmes can have the most effective impact. We then evaluate these requests, carry out further due diligence checks and research and then it is up to the senior management team, together with our partners, to see how best we can help in each individual situation. We have been invited to help in each of the countries where we work, and we have known our partners for many years. We have years of experience working in each of the countries and members of our Board of Trustees and senior management have also visited the countries and the projects.
How often will Smile contact me by post or email Expand As often or as little as you prefer. Depending on your preferences, which can be updated as often as you like, the choice is up to you. We try to make sure that our correspondence with you is just how you like it, but if there any changes that you would like to make then feel free to contact us via phone 03300 881747 or via email [email protected]
I have received an email from Smile asking for my bank details – is this genuine? Expand We do not send out cold communications to any of our supporters asking for your bank details. If you have any worries or concerns whether an email is from us or not, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 03300 881747 immediately. If you are signed up via Direct Debit or for sponsorship purposes and we have been in direct communication with each other, then it will be made very clear to you that the communication is genuinely from us.
How can I give a gift to Smile? Expand If you would like to give online, then you can find our Donate Now page under the Get involved section on our website. You can make a secure donation online by debit card, credit card or via Google Pay. You can also set up a regular Direct Debit to Smile International on this page too. If you are able to, please can we encourage you to tick the Payment Processing box as this helps to go towards covering our payment processing fees. This will help us to use more of your donation for where it is most needed. If you prefer to make a donation by phone using a debit or credit card, then please call our friendly team on 03300 881747. For safety and security reasons please do not send your credit/debit card details by email or post. To give via cheque, please make your cheque payable to Smile International and send it to the following address: Smile International, PO Box 171, Bourne, PE10 1FB.
How can I give a gift to Smile International on behalf of my church, school, club, organisation or business? Expand Please see the above ways to give. We try not to encourage bank transfers for fraud prevention reasons, and we have other options available such as giving securely online or via post. If you are a church, school, club, organisation or business and are unable to do cheques, then we can provide bank details upon request. If your gift is on behalf of someone else, please include an accompanying letter or email stating where the donation is from and who you would like us to send the acknowledgement to. Please do let us know if your gift is for a specific project and we always like to hear how the donation was raised.
How do I set up a Direct Debit to Smile International? Expand You can set up a Direct Debit online via our Donate Now page which can be found under our Get involved section or you can call us on 03300 881747. Setting up a Direct Debit is a great way of committing to help turn tears into smiles for the long term and providing hope for the future. Your giving will make such a difference and have a great impact on those we help.
How can I update my existing Direct Debit? Expand If you would like to update your existing Direct Debit with us then please get in contact with us either via email, phone or post and we can do that for you. One of the many benefits of having a Direct Debit set up with us, is that we can handle any changes that you would like to make, just let us know.
What is Gift Aid? Expand Gift Aid means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give and it won’t cost you any extra. All you need to do is make a Gift Aid declaration in order for us to claim. Please contact us for how you can do this. You can include all donations from the last 4 years and tell us about any tax years where you did not pay enough tax.
Why is it a good idea to give by Direct Debit? Expand Giving by Direct Debit is a great help to all involved. It is simple and straightforward to set up, changes can easily be made by you, it reduces our processing costs, and means a higher percentage goes directly to helping those who desperately need to smile again. It means we can plan well for the future because we know we can count on you as we work together to help turn tears into smiles. We can focus on working on longer term projects, invest in making a difference to the lives of those who need our support and help to transform local communities. We can spring into action as and when we need to, and we can provide continual streams of hope as we work together to alleviate desperate situations.
How can I give a gift from outside the UK? Expand You can give securely through our website or via phone +44 03300 881 747. For safety and security reasons please do not send your credit/debit card details by email or post.
Can I give a gift anonymously? Expand We are very grateful for every single one of our donations and if you would like to give anonymously then please do. However, we do like to thank you for your donation and for thinking of us and the work we do. If we do not know who sent the gift and there is a problem with your donation, then we cannot contact you to let you know. We are also unable to make your donation go even further if we do not know whether we can claim Gift Aid. You can always give a gift and state that you do not want an acknowledgment, or whether we can claim Gift Aid and if you do not wish to hear from us going forward.