Frequently Asked Questions

IJM staff are available for media interviews, but due to high demand, we are generally unable to provide interviews for student research projects or general information about the work.

Violent abuses like rape, trafficking, slavery, and police brutality have an immediate and significant impact on victims. That’s why each of our aftercare services is unique, and meets different needs of the children, women and men we serve. In addition to strengthening local social services to empower survivors even when IJM isn’t on the scene, IJM social workers and our partners help individual survivors pursue their goals for restoration. This process includes elements like:

• Immediate crisis care
• Connecting survivors to a place of stability
• Ongoing counselling
• Support throughout the legal process
• Skills training and education

As our social workers walk with survivors on their journey to safety and stability, we carefully assess how they are progressing. Our goal is to see survivors “restored”—meaning that they can function in society with a low vulnerability to being victimized again.

We have developed a validated tool, the Assessment of Survivor Outcomes (ASO) tool, that aftercare staff use to generate a baseline assessment of a survivor’s vulnerabilities and strengths, set goals with survivors for their care plan, and then measure a survivor’s progress in key areas of restoration.

IJM staff partner with local authorities to protect in poverty from violence in 24 communities in 14 countries. Our teams work in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Romania, and South Asia.

IJM is headquartered in Washington, DC, and there are offices in the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

IJM investigators, lawyers and social workers intervene in individual cases of abuse in partnership with state and local authorities in the countries in which they work. We work together to rescue victims, restrain criminals from hurting others, and restore survivors to safety and strength. Working in partnership with government authorities is the best long-term strategy to ensure that the poor are protected from violence.

IJM's "collaborative casework" is this work directly with local authorities, case by case. It's a critical part of our Justice System Transformation model.

Collaborative casework meets the most urgent needs of victims of violence, allows for the opportunity to provide hands-on training and mentoring to government partners, and provides an opportunity for our teams to discover the specific gaps in a justice system that leave the poor most vulnerable to violence.

IJM's efforts to fight injustice are primarily limited by its financial resources. However, in certain countries, government or legal structures do not currently make IJM's casework methods feasible. IJM's casework model of repairing broken justice systems does not work in the absence of any justice system—this prevents IJM from being most effective in war zones, for example. However, there are many other excellent NGOs that do courageous and valuable work in such situations.

If you believe to know of a case of abuse in one of the countries where IJM works, please email [email protected] with as much information about the situation as possible. We will examine the case and let you know if it is something we can assist with.

If you believe to know of a case of human trafficking or slavery within the UK, please contact the Modern Slavery helpline by phoning 08000 121 700. For other cases of violence or exploitation within the UK, contact your local police department either on 999 if they are in immediate danger or 101 to report an ongoing local concern. Other numbers you could consider calling include:

• Crimestoppers: 0800 555 111
• UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC): 0844 778 2406
• Police Anti Trafficking: 0800 783 2589
• NSPCC (for children): 0800 107 7057
• Salvation Army Ministry of Justice (for adults): 0300 303 8151

The police make it clear that if a member of the public believes to have discovered a victim of trafficking, they should under no circumstances attempt to intervene themselves. Instead individuals ought to refer to the appropriate authorities, using the phone numbers above, and allow the professional and trained authorities to respond accordingly.

It is, however, helpful and encouraged for members of the public to keep an eye out for signs that might indicate that someone has been trafficked, in order to report it to the authorities. General indicators of exploitation include:

• Not free to come and go as he/she wishes
• Under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
• Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
• Works excessively long and/or unusual hours, with few breaks
• Is transported to and from work
• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
• Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
• High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations
• Is fearful, anxious, submissive, nervous/paranoid, avoiding eye contact
• Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behaviour, particularly towards the authorities
• Poor physical health, including malnourishmnet or signs of physical/sexual abuse
• Has few or no personal possessions
• Is not in control of his/her own money or identification documents
• Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves
• Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or where they live
• Loss of sense of time
• Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story

We are inspired by God's call to love all people and to seek justice. We serve all people, without regard to religion or any other factor, and seek to work alongside all people of good will.

IJM's staff members are Christians from a variety of traditions who are motivated by the Bible's call to "rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." We find strength and encouragement in sharing a spiritual life together.

Through IJM's European Anti-Trafficking Programme, IJM works with IJM Romania to counter cross-border trafficking networks who operate across Europe’s borders.

IJM has hired staff in the United Kingdom and Germany whose role is to liaise with law enforcement, service providers and nonprofits to collaborate on cases and document learnings alongside partners to improve our collective cross-border trafficking response.

It is now possible to request to visit one of our Field Offices around the world, should you be travelling nearby. We wish to be mindful of how our staff use their time; please note, therefore, that the visits can often only be short and often include joining the team for their daily time of prayer and a short tour or meeting. If you would like to request to visit a Field Office, please complete this request form.

For security reasons, we cannot provide the full address for any of our offices. However, we have offices in London, Edinburgh and Belfast.

IJM UK is registered with Virgin Money Giving and asks all fundraisers to use our Virgin Money Giving page as a tool to enable fundraising. For tips on fundraising, please visit our fundraising page.

We are happy for you to use our logo, but ask that you contact us so we can ensure to send you the correct files with the necessary guidelines. Similarly, you can use IJM photos, but we would again ask that you contact us with details of the type of photo(s) you're looking for, so we can supply you with the best ones for your event.

We appreciate every effort our supporters make to financially support the work of IJM. Due to the great interest among our supporters to organise events, we can only assist in your planning by answering questions and providing resources (information, literature, speakers, banners etc). However, we do not assist with advertising and do not solicit our constituents to purchase products not distributed by IJM UK or to attend events not managed by IJM UK.

IJM gladly supports the initiatives of our constituents and would love to feature your efforts through our social media. As much as possible, we prefer to include photos, so please take plenty of photos and send them to us after your event.

We are happy for you to try and seek media coverage on your own. Do get in touch with IJM UK if an opportunity arises, as we would love to support you in this. However, we cannot promise that a member of IJM will be available for any interviews. Should an opportunity arise, please contact us.

The charitable registration number for IJM UK is 1099126 (England and Wales) and SC049311 (Scotland).

The Gift Aid scheme allows us to claim back 25p from HMRC for every £1 that you donate to us at no extra cost to you. To enable us to claim Gift Aid on your donation we ask you to complete a declaration which you can do on the donation page itself or by completing and returning a Gift Aid Form. A completed Gift Aid declaration covers all donations including one off payments and regular donations. Your declaration will be applied to any donations that you may have made to IJM UK over the past four years and any donations you make in the future. Your donations are eligible for the scheme if you are a UK taxpayer and you are currently paying Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax that is at least equal to the amount of tax reclaimed by all charities that you donate to, for each tax year. Please let us know if you have made donations to us but have not been a UK taxpayer in this period. You are entitled to cancel your Gift Aid declaration at any time. Should you choose not to Gift Aid your donations or if you stop paying tax, please let us know and we can take your donations out of the Gift Aid scheme.

We take monthly payments by direct debit. You can set up a direct debit here.

If you would like to give by cheque then please send your donation (cheque payable) to IJM UK to: IJM UK PO Box 78942, London, SE11 9EB

If you are able to Gift Aid your donation (see above) then please send a completed Gift Aid declaration with your donation.

If you would prefer to make a direct bank transfer or set up a Standing Order to IJM UK, then you can do so using the instructions in the section above.

IJM UK will send confirmation of receipt of your monthly donations after your first, initial gift. You will also receive regular updates on IJM’s work around the world throughout the year. However, due to our efforts to save costs, we do not send confirmation thereafter for each following month’s donation. We are, however, continually grateful for your ongoing support!

Each year, IJM UK decides which specific IJM field offices around the world the UK office will support. If you would like to discuss any restriction on your gift then please contact us by emailing [email protected] to discuss your donation further.

IJM UK receives funding from individual donors, churches, community organisations, corporations, law firms, government agencies and foundations.

An outside accounting firm conducts an annual audit of IJM UK’s finances. In addition, an all-volunteer Board of Directors sets policies and procedures and monitors the budget and expenditures. IJM UK is a registered charity and company and also a member of The Fundraising Standards Board. We are therefore committed to financial responsibility, accountability and transparency (read our Fundraising Promise). You may also view our recent annual reports.