Letters and Pictures Cancel Title is required

Revised version of my original post:  I am noticing possibly a new CI procedure with letters and pictures from the kids. Pictures get attached to the letters. I'm OKAY with that, but there seems to be an attempt that when there are more than 2 pictures, practice is to fit all the pictures on the top half of page 1 anyway. I received one with 6 pics on the top half of the page with 4 pics on the left side/portrait orientation and 2 on the right/landscape orientation.  I think the top half of a page is good for 2 pictures or maybe 4 pics max if the orientation is landscape. Trying to fit more than that makes the picture go too small.  Would it be too costly to allow the extra pics to go beyond the top half of a page? OR MAYBE, just go back to original procedure where pictures are attached to the email separately instead of within the letter. 

I would also like to know what happened to the SOA report that used to come with the Extra Gift letter. The report would list what the child received and when the gift was given to the family. And often, the report would be used to answer any questions I sent with the Extra Gift or the staff may make a comment on the family's current situation (ie: recent job loss, separation, no longer attending school, etc) that I would never have known.  It also helped with my record keeping. And I have also noticed that they are attaching the pictures to the letters, which I am not appreciating. For one reason, the pictures are small and second, I used to be able to print out the picture when I would make photo books for the children. I don't see how I can re-print these photos other than by photocopying which will decrease the quality of the photo.  Why weren't we told about this change? I can understand wanting to save money, but this doesn't make the EG reports feel very special anymore. Maybe it's just me!?

No, it's not just you... My last two EG follow-ups were like that. Photos are important to me, both the ones I get and the ones I send to my sponsored children. I don't want them to be shrunk.

I e-mailed the Care Team and asked for the original photos (they did send them to me) and in that same e-mail I let CI know that embedding the photos into the PDF follow-up reports rather than attaching them separately as JPG files wasn't a change I was in favour of.

I thought they were working on a way for the photos the sponsors send to their children in the letters written via the online templates to be larger and instead they found a way to make the EG photos the sponsors get smaller. LOL

That seems like a step backwards, but hopefully that change will be discontinued and they will return to sending the photos as JPG files again.

I also recently received follow ups to some of my Christmas EGs with this new format. It is really disappointing to see this new change and I fail to see how it saves costs or time. The child and their families still spend time writing a letter and taking photos. Instead of simply mailing this on in it's original form to sponsors, somebody now takes the time to put it all into a pdf letter format with shrunken down photos. 

Of course, EGs are primarily given for the care of the child. But it is also a way for sponsors to feel a link with their sponsored child and give us evidence of the positive change we can make. This change does very little to encourage giving EGs in the future from the sponsor's own perspective. 

liro: SOA report is long gone. I forget when that change was but it was pre-pandemic I think. I miss those too.

I got an EG as well with just two pics at the top of each letter. I am going to reach out to care to see if they have the original photo files at all just so I can print them. It's a real bummer of a change because I like seeing the larger photos and can zoom in on what they got. Also, having more than 2 pics per EG would be nice considering I'd usually get an average of 4 (I asked for a "family photo" with each Christmas EG which they've usually obliged but no such luck with this format). 

Looks like they have implemented this so they can send the EG as a new letter within the 'Message Center' rather than a manual email to save costs. I just received the EG letter there. More about cutting costs rather than providing a good sponsor experience! Definitely a downgrade for us!

It is most definitely a change that I don't like at all. I am very disappointed because I can't make out what the child from Mexico wrote on her letter. I can read and write in spanish thats why I like having a physical letter.

I just got my EG letter from my child in Zambia.  It was sent to my email and not in my message center.  This particular one did not have any pictures, but I would prefer pictures separate from the letters as well.