It's never too latex to start a business

by Gemma Ware
Professional Fundraising, December 2006

Everyone who made it to the closing plenary of the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in the Netherlands last month got a flower. Why every flower was a dull yellow colour and smelt of rubber became clear when the final speaker, Mechai Viravaidya, revealed that they were made of condoms.

Cabbages and Condoms, Mechai’s restaurant and luxury hotel resort near Bangkok, has made him a household name in his native Thailand. His aim is to make condoms as commonplace as cabbages. Guests at the restaurant get condoms instead of after-dinner mints, and can buy t-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as ‘Weapons of mass protection’ and ‘In rubber we trust’. But as well as promoting a humorous safe sex message, his condom-related merchandise is designed to make money for his organisation, the Population and Community Development Association.

Mechai founded the association in 1984 to promote family planning and safe sex throughout rural communities in Thailand. It has grown into one of the country’s most diverse and innovative NGOs, and now funds health services, water development and environmental conservation projects.

“We believe that the only road out of financial uncertainty for NGOs is through doing business,” Mechai told the conference, as he brandished a bunch of the flowers made from out-of-date condoms, which sell for a $1 each. “Many donors still have restrictive rules and political and philosophical concerns about funding NGO businesses,” he said, but he called on NGOs to look at trading opportunities as a means of providing long-term financial sustainability to funding problems.

Traditional forms of fundraising, such as money from individuals, trusts and foundations is a “pond that will eventually dry up”, he said, as too will funding from corporates. Trading, however, is more flexible and has the potential to make NGOs “much more financially efficient to do what they want,” he said.

Mechai certainly made an impression on the IFC delegates – just as he has on the Thai public. There he is so famous that the word ‘Mechai’ has been entered into the Thai dictionary as slang for ‘condom’.

IFC in numbers

The International Fundraising Congress, hosted by the Resource Alliance, took place in Noordwijk, just outside of Amsterdam, Holland between 17 and 20 October 2006. Here's a snippet of the action…

• 914 attendees from 55 countries
• 11,533 miles – the furthest distance travelled to get to the IFC, by two delegates from New Zealand
• 75 speakers and 61 different sessions over 4 days
• 24 exhibitors and sponsors 
• £5,750 – raised in an auction during the sponsors’ dinner for the Guy Stringer Development & Bursary Fund, which supports fundraisers in the developing world
• 395 bottles of wine were drunk at the Gala dinner and there were 110 people still on the dance floor at 3am