Challenge

To attract locally generated funds and community support for a CSO working in environmental preservation, when the community does not recognize the need for environmental services and further, does not feel that it should pay for the services offered by the organization.

Strategy

Children Love the Birds is a CSO in Northeast Thailand, working to curb environmentally destructive practices by educating youth. When the organization first began offering environmental education through music, dance, theatre, and nature walks, it quickly recognized that children were being discouraged from participating in their activities. In the parents' view, this was free time that should be spent generating income for the family.

The organization needed an activity that would convince parents to allow their children to attend, and begin to build community support. The organization also needed funding. Their initial fundraising campaigns faced the same challenge as the efforts to organize youth participation – environmental preservation was seen as a low-priority for the community. Despite this challenge, the leading members of the organization still wanted to find ways to sustain its activities with resources from the community.

To meet both these needs, the organization designed an income generation strategy that hired youth to create bird pins – a product sold by, and unique to, the organization – paying them for their work, while simultaneously integrating educational activities. Parents allow their children to participate because of the income. Children learn a new skill and are educated about the environment. The organization meets both its demand for income (receiving a portion of the profits from the sale) and their need for youth to participate in their environmental activities.

Keys to Success

• Identify specific clients to be served and target audiences to which to market the product:
  Children Love the Birds' initial fundraising campaigns indicated that while the community, particularly the youth, would be their primary clients, the community could not be its target audience for fundraising. Initial attempts at this created a negative backlash among community members as they did not want to pay for a service that they did not see as a necessity.

  To maintain this separation – as well as ensure sustainability of the project – the organization targeted tourists as their primary fundraising market. Tourists not only visit the park in their immediate vicinity – they also visit the four other national parks in the Northeast region. Through them, more parks are becoming familiar with the bird pins – increasing the visibility of the organization. More importantly the supply of tourists is constantly changing – giving the organization a continual supply of potential customers.

• Sell a product that is already popular and has an established market but give it a twist that is unique to the CSO and its mission:
  Several years ago, the founders of the organization had started making pins – at the time, it was simply a fashion fad: they like the pins that political candidates were wearing. Unfortunately, those pins were too expensive for most; so a group decided to produce their own pins. As the group was involved in bird-watching, they made pins which illustrated (in their natural colors) birds from the surrounding area. The pins are colorful, small, and attractive.

  They have since gained a symbolic meaning. As the sale of the pins progressed, they became associated with the organization. "A pin sold is not simply income that can support some of our activities, it's a reminder of our work," notes one staff member.

  Though the pins were initially only intended for internal distribution, they soon found a market niche. A visitor to the preservation suggested giving the pins to members; soon there after, a member suggested selling them – beginning an income generation campaign for the organization.

  It wasn't long before the National Parks in the surrounding area began buying large quantities of the pins to sell at the parks. Children Love the Birds now had its own market. This market has added to the sustainability of the next stage of the project – hiring the youth to produce the pins as a financial incentive to get them involved in environmental preservation.

• Design an education program that will also allow participants to earn income.
  Children Love the Birds initiated a plan that would provide a financial incentive, and thus convinced parents to allow their children to participate. The organization hires local youth to produce the pins. For each pin sold, the youth earns 12 Baht (54 percent of the profit generated).

  As the pins are replications of the birds in the National Park, the youth pin-makers are first educated about local birds, so that they are familiar with the exact colors and patterns they should use. This is the first step in getting the youth involved in the environmental education programs. Once the youth become involved, the organization finds that they stay involved. In their free time, they volunteer for the organization, running environmental camps and other activities. They are also their own marketing vehicle. Youth, excited by the program, invite their friends to participate. Within the community, this excitement also sells more pins.

Results

• Children Loves the Birds sells approximately 2000 pins per year, generating 20,000 Bhat/ year (approximately US $5,000.00). This is 10 percent of the organization's annual budget.

• The youth with whom the organization works are bright and talented, but often these talents go to waste, as they either migrate to the cities or they get into trouble with drugs. The combination of the production, income, and educational activity is instilling confidence in the youth, and to some extent, the organization believes it's giving them a reason to stay in the community.

• As a result of the new relationship between the organization and the community (due to the community's new appreciation for the organization's income generation strategies), the organization has been able to expand its educational work. It is now working in five schools and several pre-schools in eight villages, to teach children about the environment through theatre, music, dance, and video. The children are also given the opportunity to explore the environment through nature hikes and bird watching.

• Local citizens are now attracted to the organization, and show greater appreciation for their services in environmental preservation. Recently, the organization was asked to lead a festival celebrating a community tradition – the organization was asked to sell their pins and bring the children to demonstrate their educational and environmental services.

Case Studies

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