The Thai Peace Foundation (TPF) is a registered foundation in Thailand started in 1998 by a group of Thai and American Christians dedicated to helping develop poor and marginalized Thai people and their communities socially, economically, physically, and morally. Over the years the TPF has contributed to the development and well-being of many Thai people and communities, mostly in the Bangkok area.

Current projects of the foundation include the Hosea Project, Sharing Joy Project, and Kingdom Kids Program. The TPF partners with a Thai NGO, a Thai church, American churches, and Converge. In order to successfully deliver these program there are overhead costs that must be paid.

Traditionally donors have been reluctant to provide funding for overhead costs, preferring to see their donations flow directly to those the foundation serves. While we all want to run lean organizations and deliver maximum benefits directly to those in need, this mindset has in some cases had unintended negative consequences for the people that everyone wants to help. Thankfully, this attitude is changing.  

In an article published by the National Council of Nonprofits entitled “(Mis)Understanding Overhead” they wrote:

“Enlightened donors and grantmakers recognize that administrative costs (called “indirect costs” when government dollars are involved) are essential in order for charitable nonprofits to be financially sustainable, but for too long, “overhead” has gotten a bad rap and been inappropriately used as a measure of a nonprofit’s effectiveness. The assumption that overhead is “bad” reflects a mis-appreciation of the reality of what it costs to deliver a nonprofit’s mission.

Views of Overhead are Changing

The belief that overhead is negative is changing. Indeed, more people are realizing that costs may have nothing to do with how effective a nonprofit is. In fact, overhead that is too low can be of more concern. Instead the focus is shifting toward a nonprofit’s impact and effectiveness. It is our hope that everyone who invests in a charitable nonprofit’s mission – the staff and board of a nonprofit, as well as individual donors, businesses, private foundations, and government – become aware that operating a charity is not free (gasp!). It costs something to deliver a nonprofit’s mission.”

You can read the whole article here.

Funds donated to the "Thai Peace Foundation Vision and Mission Program" will be used to pay for overhead costs related to relaunching and administering the foundation. The most significant costs this year (2020) are relocation costs of the TPF office, training of new staff, upgrading office equipment, one staff salary and benefits, and office rent.

The Hosea Project is a project of the Thai Peace Foundation, a registered foundation in Thailand. This project was used as a follow-up to our Sharing Joy Project which is an ongoing Covid-19 relief effort aimed at helping women in prostitution in Bangkok who have lost their jobs and are lacking the basic necessities of life.

Working with a Thai church, the Hosea Project offers full scholarships to women to attend ongoing classes provided by the TPF. These classes aim to equip them to find and succeed in jobs in the formal economy, thus freeing them from the bondage and hopelessness of their current situation.

Currently six Thai women are meeting for class three times per week, one hour per day. Each session lasts two weeks. This allows existing students to continue learning, new students to enter, and facilitates loving, mutually beneficial, and long-term relationships between us and the women we serve.

The early feedback from the women, staff, and volunteers has caused us to think that this project could be extended if there was sufficient demand and the goals of the project were being met.

Funds donated to this project will be used to provide full scholarships and, transportation stipends for students who are not able to pay for transportation to and from classes. When the project ends any unused funds will be used for other TPF projects.

The “Sharing Joy” Covid-19 relief project is a project of the Thai Peace Foundation (TPF), a registered foundation in Thailand. It was started to help meet the needs of women (and some men) working in prostitution in Bangkok. Due to government restrictions most of them are not working and thus have no money for shelter, food, and other basic necessities. And many rural poor families depend on the money the women send them from Bangkok each month.

The TPF is working in partnership with two Thai churches, an American church, and a Thai NGO that specializes in working with women in prostitution. We are raising funds to buy essential items to give to the women during this crisis. We are also offering them full scholarships to attend ongoing classes in the TPF’s “Hosea Project” which aims to equip them to find and succeed in jobs in the formal economy.

This relief project is projected to end when the crisis passes and the Thai government opens up the country to foreign travelers. We don't know when that will happen, but expect the ban on most foreigners to possibly continue through the end of 2020.

Funds donated to this project will be used to provide food, toiletries, and other essential items to women in need. When the project ends any unused funds will be used by the TPF for other projects aligned with our vision and goals.

Initiating church planting movements among the poor requires partnerships between native church planters, local Thai churches, and missionaries. Each party will each bring vision, resources, gifting, expertise and labor to the partnerships. This project will benefit four distinct groups of people:

1. Unreached and mostly unevangelized communities;
2. Poor and marginalized communities;
3. Native church planters;
4. Local Thai churches;
5. Other church planting missionaries and missions organizations.