In light of a scant, fragmentary geographical literature attending specifically to charity and charitable giving (cf. Bryson et al, 2002), this research presents an in-depth exploration of one particular (and highly popular) ‘charity’ mechanism- child sponsorship –by way of delineating a more coherent set of geographical understandings and sensibilities towards the topic. Using research carried out in the UK between 2011 and 2012 with both child sponsorship charities and ‘sponsors’, and drawing together an array of theoretical and conceptual resources from within geography and beyond, I seek to engage particularly with the ways in which charity is organised, promoted and practised; the spatial, relational ways in which charitable action is configured and performed, and the flows of ethical concern, embodied praxis and power which co-constitute it. As such, and mobilising ‘relational’ geographical work on networks and assemblages, I present an alternative reading of ‘charitable space’ which allows for its dynamic complexities to be more fully appreciated. Given my focus on child sponsorship, I set these interests within broader debates on the UK’s Third Sector, international development and humanitarian aid, particularly debates regarding neoliberalism and (post)colonialism. As such, the research also contributes to an emerging literature on Global North ‘development constituencies’ and their mobilisation (Baillie Smith, 2008; see also Smith, 2004; Desforges, 2004), as well as to well-established geographical literatures on voluntarism. I also foreground a focus on the dynamics of ‘faith-based’ giving, since the empirical landscape of child sponsorship displays a distinct orientation towards Christian modes of charitable organisation and action, though in complex, often blurry ways. In all, the work seeks to critically appraise and (where appropriate) disturb common narratives and assumptions used to apprehend charity in both popular and academic discourse, and offer instead a more critically attuned set of understandings which re-imagine charity in more enlivened ways.

Child sponsorship has long been a contentious topic since its inception and subsequent mainstay as one of the key models in development for acquiring funds. As a tool for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it is a popular and therefore competitive practice that requires able communications that simultaneously can promote sponsorship and maintain the ethical ideals of the organisation. The aim of this paper is to develop further understanding and increased knowledge of how Plan International, a prominent NGO and a proponent of the practice, present and communicate child sponsorship. Within the confines of a case study, the paper sets out to establish the methods, purposes and considerations that Plan International have when they communicate and market child sponsorship, one of their primary ways of accruing funds and thus mobilising action. Drawing on a triangulation of collected empirical data, and under a defined theoretical framework that advocates a post-humanitarianism approach, this thesis makes tentative conclusions that whilst Plan International are making strides to modernise their child sponsorship approach they are at the same time encountering continued challenges of representation, framing and strategizing their message.