Accountability & Praise
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
At Sisters of Mary World Villages for Children, we thrive on basic principles of transparency, impact, and sustainability.
Transparency: As an organization, we work hard to use your money efficiently and focus on those in greatest need. When you donate to Sisters of Mary World Villages for Children, your contribution directly supports education, care, and a safe environment for children in poverty. In turn, your donation keeps students in our schools and helps us open new programs in most needy communities.
Impact: By providing children from destitute families food, shelter, medical care, a quality education, and intensive vocational training, we empower them to build better lives for themselves and their families. Because the many lives we touch in turn transform entire communities, we have witnessed the success of breaking the poverty cycle – over, and over again. To date, over 160,000 children have graduated from our programs and started a path toward a brighter future.
Sustainability: Our mission goes beyond immediate impact—we strive for long-term, sustainable change in the communities we serve. Importanty, the graduates of the programs play a vital role in this transformation. Many give back by “paying it forward”: supporting their families and funding their siblings’ education. Additionally, some return to work at our schools as teachers or staff, while others help care for younger children. A number choose religious life, continuing the mission in new ways. Their dedication ensures that the cycle of poverty is broken—not just for themselves, but for generations to come.
The result is a lasting change that effectively changes many more lives than those who have experienced our programs firsthand.
Sisters of Mary World Villages for Children abides by the internationally recognized Donor Bill of Rights and International Statement of Ethical Principles in Fundraising.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a donor to Sisters of Mary World Villages for Children, you make a powerful difference children’s lives. You support the Sisters of Mary in providing education, care, and hope to those who need it most. Thanks to generous donors like you, over 160,000 children have been educated in 18 schools across 6 countries. Every contribution gives children the chance to escape hunger, break the cycle of poverty, and build brighter futures.
Regular donations fully fund our programs across the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, and Tanzania. This includes food, housing, school supplies, uniforms, medical care, teacher salaries, and essentials for over 20,000 children. In addition, support from donors improves children’s health and provides academic and vocational training tailored to local industry needs.
Our children gain hands-on training in skills like electronics, bookkeeping, carpentry, mechanics, technical drawing, computing, and dressmaking/tailoring. With these skills, they achieve accreditation in these and progress into paid employment, many becoming doctors, nurses, engineers, accountants, and auditors. Eventually, these graduates then support their families and communities with better healthcare access and education opportunities. To explore our programs in each country, visit this page.cccc
ESSENTIAL COSTS
We carefully manage donor funds to maximize the impact of every gift. Like most charities, we incur essential costs to ensure compliant stewardship of donations and services are well-managed for our beneficiaries. To sustain our work, we reinvest in fundraising to maintain funding sources and cover daily costs of caring for over 20,000 children. With a small, efficient team of around 10 full-time staff and the support of dedicated partners, we keep administrative costs low and focus resources where they matter most—on the children. This means your donations go further, helping us deliver lasting change with efficiency and integrity.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Most organizations exempt from federal income tax must file an annual information return (Form 990) on an annual basis. Some organizations, such as ours, are exempt from this. As a recognized Church-affiliated mission society where more than half of our activities are conducted in, or are directed at persons in, foreign countries, we are not required to file these annual returns.
This exemption saves administrative time and money, allowing us to direct donations to programs that help children break free from poverty.
In accordance with our commitment to transparency, we conduct a thorough annual audit and makes financial statements from the annual audit publicly available. This audit provides information typically available in a Form 990. To learn more about our programs by the numbers, we encourage you to review our independent Auditors’ Reports:
2024 Independent Auditors’ Report
2023 Independent Auditors’ Report
2022 Independent Auditors’ Report
2021 Independent Auditors’ Report
2020 Independent Auditors’ Report
2019 Independent Auditors’ Report
For more information on the impact of your charity, please also see our: 2024 Gratitude Report
DONOR PRIVACY POLICY
Sisters of Mary World Villages for Children and the Sisters of Mary take the protection of donor privacy and your personal information seriously. As partners with you in this work, we want you to be fully aware of our responsibility to you. You may read the policy in full here.
CHILD PROTECTION POLICY
The Sisters of Mary make the protection and care of the children in their custody their top priority. Their Child Protection and Anti-Bullying Policy outlines shared values, principles, and specific steps to safeguard every child in their care. Specifically, it describes the steps that will be taken for the Sisters of Mary’s commitment to protect the children. You may read the policy in full here.
PRAISE FROM THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY
Without your help, thousands of children would be forced to spend their lives in extreme poverty without hope or opportunity. Because you’ve chosen to help, they receive shelter, clothing, medical care, healthy meals, and most importantly—a quality education. As they graduate from our programs, these young people find meaningful work and support their families, breaking the cycle of poverty.
We invite you to read the letters of recommendation from bishops in the areas where the Sisters of Mary carry out their mission. These bishops know the Sisters’ work well and regularly visit our Children’s Villages to witness their impact firsthand. They deeply value the aid given to the poor and the generosity of our donors—reminding us that without you, this work is impossible.
We hope these testimonies highlight how your generosity and prayers are transforming the lives of children from extreme poverty.
At World Villages for Children, we are grateful for friends like you, whose selfless giving opens the door to thousands of poor children to access a better future.
Endorsement Letters from:
- The Apostolic Nuncio in Guatemala
- The Apostolic Nuncio in Korea
- The Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico
- Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa
- Cardinal Rivera Carrera, Archbishop in Mexico
- Cardinal Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara in Mexico
- Msgr. Palma, Archbishop of Cebu, Philippines
- Cardinal Tagle, former Bishop of Imus, Philippines
- Msgr. Vian Morales, Archbishop in Guatemala
- Rev. Son, Auxiliary Bishop of Busan
VOICES OF SUPPORT
Real stories from those who have witnessed the mission firsthand.
“I was a missionary to Latin America and worked with children in the slums of Mexico, and we did a lot… But these Sisters are next level. They’re not only alleviating the intense poverty these children have suffered—living conditions that often threaten their very lives. They’re showing these kids the love of God. They’re restoring their dignity and identity as an irreplaceable child of God…”
“Reading about Fr. Al’s mission moved me deeply—it called me to serve in a new way. Visiting Chalco transformed my priesthood. The grace I experienced there was life-changing. Fr. Al’s vision was simple: to raise children out of poverty through education and love.”
“The way those children are committed to God and what these 50 nuns do to help these over 3,000 girls is something like I’ve never ever seen. They learn all the necessary skills to succeed in life. Many of them coming from homes of abuse; many of them fleeing from human trafficking in the jungles of Latin America or in Africa.”
“It was initially a friend of mine, a great philanthropist, who said to me, “Would you like to see the best charity in the world?” Of course, that’s a bold statement. I wanted to see if he could back it up. So my wife and I went down to visit one of the homes that’s in Chalco, Mexico, and we were just blown away by what was taking place – by the compassion, the love, the care, the dedication – quite incredible!”
MORE FROM OUR SUPPORTERS
The Sisters of Mary–following the example of Ven. Al Schwartz–actively combine mission and ministry. The sisters give their lives serving the children from the poorest communities in Mexico. They live with the boys and girls, educate them, provide food, shelter and vocational training, but they also catechize the children, lead them in worship, form their devotional lives and transform them from despair to hope. Put simply, they are saving souls as well as serving the children of poverty. This is what transforms the church, transforms our lives, transforms our families, transforms our world. It is a miracle in action: Grace at the grass roots level.
I can honestly tell you that I have never seen anything like it in my life. It took my breath away. … I want everyone to see what I saw. The reason why it was so breathtaking is because I know so many had been exposed to horrible and abusive things. And to see them look into my eyes as the most innocent and pure children brought tears to my eyes. The only other place I’ve ever seen this type of piercing joy has been in cloistered convents.