Frequently Asked Questions

What is Concern?

Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to ending extreme poverty and bringing about lasting change to lives, livelihoods and communities. We work with 25 million people each year in some of the hardest to reach and most fragile places. Places prone to conflict, natural disasters, climate change and extreme hunger. When an emergency strikes, we are among the first on the ground to help. 

How long will it take to receive my gift(s)?

Your postal gift card should arrive within 3-7 working days or you can send an e-card for instant delivery. 

How do I send a Concern Gift?

It’s easy! Check out our three-step guide here.

Where does the money go to?

Your gift will go towards one of our four global programmes - education, livelihoods, health and emergency. For every £1 spent on our gifts, we allocate 10p of your donation to cover general support and running costs. 

If I buy a goat, will a family definitely get a goat?

In many cases, yes. Your money would go into the livelihoods programme and a family could get a goat. However, sometimes a family needs a cow more than they need a goat. In that case, we'd put your money towards providing one of those instead. Whatever you choose, we promise your money will go into the relevant programme. 

What will my friends or family get?

If you purchase a gift for a friend or relative, you can choose to send them either an e-card or postal card.  

If you choose to send them an e-card, they will receive an e-mail telling them how to view it. The e-card can be personalised with your own message and will include information about the gift itself. 

E-cards are great because they're quick to send and cost less money to create, which means more money for someone in need. E-cards can be sent instantly or you can choose to schedule for a later date. 

If you'd prefer, you can give them a real card instead. We'll post you the blank gift card, which you can then personalise with your own greeting and send on to your friend or relative. If you don’t have time to wait on the post but still want to give your recipient a physical card, you can select our ‘print at home’ option. We’ll send a PDF gift card directly to your email. All you need to do is print, personalise and pass on to your intended recipient. 

How do you ensure an animal’s welfare?

The welfare of livestock is a high priority for us and when animals are provided as part of a programme, we make sure that there is the necessary support to ensure good welfare, such as training in animal husbandry and animal care, and access to local vets. We always make sure that their use is suitable for their location and give advice on housing them for protection at night and on reusing manure as fertiliser. 

Do you send livestock overseas from the UK?

We don’t send livestock overseas from here. Instead, we work with vulnerable families to provide them with vouchers or money to purchase livestock locally from markets. This is not only more cost-efficient, it also contributes to the local economy, and means the animals have adapted to local conditions and are not transported over large distances. 

Are the chicken gifts you supply free range?

In almost all the countries where we work, the chickens we provide are locally sourced and ‘free range’ in the sense that they can move around freely. They are kept outside during the day, and roam around catching insects and small reptiles or are fed with kitchen vegetable or fruit scraps. At night, they are kept in an enclosure so that they aren’t over-exposed to the elements or predators. 

Are avocados sustainable?

We always make sure that the use of avocado trees is suitable for their location, and take into account access to and use of water for irrigation. Generally, avocado trees grow without irrigation after the first year in most of the tropics and sub-tropics. We don’t promote them in arid areas, such as the Sahel region.

We provide avocado saplings to help vulnerable families facing hunger and malnutrition. The saplings are distributed to families who are small-scale growers and who cultivate a limited number of avocados for subsistence or to sell at local markets. 

Why do some of your gifts focus in women and girls?

Gender equality is globally the most common form of inequality and remains a major obstacle to the eradication of poverty. A third of the world's poorest girls, aged between 10 and 18, have never been to school. When you buy our "empower her future” gift, you are helping to educate girls, which in turn reduces the rates of child marriage, promotes smaller families, improves livelihoods and empowers women to become leaders in the community. 

Why do you promote animals as gifts?

Concern works in some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries worldwide. By providing a family with an animal, we can provide a vital lifeline to people facing extreme hunger, and in some cases even malnutrition. Animals can provide a regular supply of milk, eggs and manure for growing vegetables – enabling people to feed their children, and sell any surplus to earn an income.

When you buy an animal gift, the money goes to our livelihoods programme, which focuses on income generation and food security for the most vulnerable families. In 2022, animal gifts helped raise over £100,000 in income to allocate across our livelihood programmes. Our livelihoods programmes can provide communities with tools, seeds, livestock and farming skills to help people develop a sustainable income source.  

Are the animals you provide slaughtered for meat?

Many of the people we work alongside largely depend on vegetables and cereals for their daily food needs, with their diet consisting of staples such as rice and beans.  Often, taking care of livestock is a traditional and essential part of their life and the animals are considered extremely valuable for a family. For example, their manure enables farmers to increase their harvests of vegetables, cereals and legumes, while milk from a goat or cow provides an essential protein source for young children who may otherwise face malnutrition. For most of the people we work with, slaughtering an animal for meat would not be their priority in the long term. Livestock form just part of our programmes to help communities end poverty. 

If Concern is a charity that cares about climate change, why are you giving animals as gifts?

The people that we support through our gifts are amongst those most affected by the impacts of climate change, but are also the least responsible for it. Often, their lives and livelihoods are highly dependent on the environment and their livestock, like goats, chickens or cows. Many of the families we work with have lost their livestock, and as a result their ability to earn an income and feed their families, because of climate change disasters such as flooding and drought.  

Providing people with animals can be a lifeline, ultimately helping them to cope with the negative impacts of climate change.  These animals go to individual families to support themselves, and are not part of factory farming. As well as meeting  immediate needs such as food and livelihood support, we also work with farmers to help them adjust to climate change and build resilience for the future.  

Visit our page to learn more about our climate initiatives.  

Does a cow need to produce a calf before they can provide milk? What happens to the calves?

Yes. In the places where we work, many people share their resources within their community, and that includes breeding cattle. These animals are cared for by individual families to support themselves, and are not part of factory farming.

When a cow gives birth, families will often keep the calf. In some cases, they may choose to sell the calf if they need money for their family’s wellbeing, such as paying school fees for their children or a medical bill.