BAMBI looks back at the previous calendar year and remembers all that has been done and accomplished. Here is a summary of our activities and achievements in 2017 and also a small look into our plans for 2018. By Akiko Cayne and Emma McNerlin In 2017 we continued to bring to you our Bumps & Babies sessions, playgroups including Small World, yard sales, events, activities for older kids, new members coffee mornings, pop-up playgroups, WOMBLES dinners and BAMBI Pattaya activities. We opened weekly playgroups and Bumps & Babies at new locations including a hotel and restaurants, offered an increased number of playgroups, pop-up playgroups and events, and thus saw growth in the number of our membership as well as the numbers of our volunteers.In order to enhance the benefits of a BAMBI membership, most of our weekend and special one-off events, such as pop-up playgroups, Splash Party and Christmas Party, have free admission for members. And to foster a strong team spirit and to give back to our amazing volunteer families, we introduced biannual volunteer appreciation events exclusively for families of BAMBI volunteers. We keep growing and becoming more fun and energetic each year, thanks to the enthusiastic volunteers and their families. We couldn’t do all that we do without the dedication, energy and commitment of our wonderful team of committee members and wider volunteer family. We thank you all for making BAMBI the great organization that it is. As BAMBI membership continues to grow, we acknowledge and appreciate everyone who has joined BAMBI this year, and everyone who has renewed their membership with us. We thank you for your continued support of BAMBI and look forward to serving you in the upcoming year.  

Bumps & Babies

2017 saw continued growth and activity for the Bumps & Babies Team as they took steps to improve services offered to pregnant and postnatal mums in Bangkok. Bumps & Babies welcomed help from new volunteers, Lia and Yaz.In total, the number of sessions offered increased from 91 sessions in 2016, to 141 sessions in 2017. Total attendance continued to grow this year: from 932 session participants in 2016 to 1,786 session participants in 2017.The New Moon Weekly Postnatal Group that began in 2016 is still going strong. In February 2017, Bumps added a regular baby massage session to the New Moon schedule which has been extremely popular.Due to increased popularity at Small World, BAMBI’s only playgroup for 0-18-month olds, additional sessions were added, with Small World sessions on both Mondays and Thursdays.October 2017 saw the trialing of bimonthly, weekend Bumps & Babies meet-up at Steps at Theera, due to requests from our working mummies, although attendance for these events were variable. In December, 2017 Bumps & Babies spread beyond Sukhumvit to serve our Sathorn parents and opened Bumps & Babies Sathorn meetup with Doula Yaz at Jumping Beans Café.Other special activities:

• Swap meet May 2017; Unswapped items were donated to Second Chance Bangkok
• Bumps & Babies session with Grace the Sleep Trainer, June 2017 drew over 50 participants to an overwhelmed Antique Café!
• Beyond Boobs Coffee Morning, October 2017. Donations from the morning raised over ฿7,000 for Cancer Research Thailand, matched by BAMBI. The session helped to launch Beyond Boobs, a new support group for those affected by breast cancer.
• The Bumps team continued to meet with Samitivej Hospital to offer feedback from our members in the hopes of improving the quality of maternity care offered there; this is still ongoing.

> Plans for Bumps & Babies in 2018 

• The Bumps & Babies team will continue to provide support at Antique Café and Jumping Bean Café, but due to lack of demand, the Sunday morning meet-ups at Steps with Theera will not continue.
• Small World playgroups will move under the management of the Playgroups Team so as to allow the Bumps coordinators to focus on the core Bumps & Babies offering of pregnancy and postpartum support.
• At the request of Antique Café, in 2018 Bumps & Babies will now be on Tuesday mornings and New Moon will be on Wednesdays, due to staffing constraints at the café.
• At the end of March, we bid farewell to Fran Safaie, Bumps & Babies Coordinator for over four years and the beating heart of BAMBI Bumps. We thank Fran for her dedication and compassion to all the Bumps & Babies mums over the past four years and wish her well in her new endeavors.
• From April 2018, the structure of Bumps & Babies sessions will change. It will become more informal networking meetups, rather than formal information presentations. The team will still run the meetings and be available for advice and support. This returns Bumps & Babies to its original format, which aims to provide support and friendship to pregnant women and new mothers in Bangkok. 
• The Bumps team plans to restock the BAMBI Library with more relevant and recent titles in the coming year. We will source these secondhand where possible to reduce waste and keep costs down. A budget for this restock has yet to be agreed at committee. 

 

Playgroups

By the end of 2017, BAMBI had running eleven steady and popular playgroups in Bangkok, including five (with *) that were opened in the second half of 2017:

• Bang Na Playgroup (Berkeley International School)
• Bearing Playgroup* (St Andrews 107 International School)
• British Club Playgroup (British Club)
• Daddy’s playgroup (Bright Skies International School)
• Ekkamai Playgroup (Bright Skies International School)
• Little Birds* (Blue Parrot Cafe)
• Novotots* (Novotel Sukhumvit 20)
• Sukhumvit 31 Playgroup (First Steps International Pre-School) 
• Sathorn Playgroup* (La Petite Ecole International School)
• Sawatdi Playgroup (IPC International Kindergarten)
• Small World Sathorn* (Jumping Beans Cafe)

In total, 5,030 families attended the various playgroups in Bangkok throughout the year.In December 2017, both Riverside (Shrewsbury International school) and Little Green Thumbs (IPC Green International Kindergarten) playgroups had their last session. Riverside Playgroup was closed because the attendees were those that went to the regular one run by Shrewsbury prior to it being a BAMBI playgroup. This playgroup has reverted back to its original non-BAMBI school playgroup. Little Green Thumbs closed because we were unable to find volunteers to lead the playgroup after a six-month search.In December, we opened Small World Sathorn due to expressed interest from members attending playgroups in Sathorn area. Small World Sukhumvit will in 2018 be separated from Bumps & Babies and both Small World playgroups will be under the management of the Playgroups Coordinator. All BAMBI playgroups would not happen without our busy playgroup volunteers. To thank them and so that they could exchange information, four Playgroup Leaders Breakfasts were organized for all playgroup volunteers (28 persons).

> Plans for Playgroups in 2018 

• During 2017, we noticed that the amount of food provided for snack time was inadequate in some playgroups. We altered the registration sheet to record how many children attend, and hope that this information will allow us to plan for better quality as well as adequate quantity of snacks at every playgroup.
• We are continually looking at opening new playgroups and improving our current ones to adapt to the demographics of our membership, especially in locations that our members live and on days that BAMBI does not have any playgroup. 

 

BAMBI Pattaya 

BAMBI Pattaya expanded its offering of playgroups to every Monday: at Holiday Inn on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, and, since October 2017, BAMBIni playgroup on the 2nd and 4th Mondays at Miss T’s Cupcake Shop. The latter playgroup is specifically for babies, newborn to 18 months.The BAMBI Pattaya team also organized other activities including a Mum and Baby Yoga Session, a Halloween launch for BAMBIni playgroup and a baby and toddler book sale, and the ever-popular Christmas Party. The charity focus remains strong with the Pattaya team, with a total of ฿9,344 cash donated to The Hand to Hand Foundation, a local Christian organization that aims to protect those in need, regardless of their race, age or religion. It provides services such as helping the poor and underprivileged acquire legal documentation, offering them food, clothing and education. The Pattaya team also supported HAVEN Center and started the Clothes Box Donation Drive for underprivileged kids for Christmas. We posted information on our BAMBI Pattaya Facebook page and also the local Facebook page Pattaya Little Monkeys to call on members and local community to donate a gift-wrapped clothes box for Christmas for underprivileged kids of HAVEN Center. We donated three clothes boxes on behalf of BAMBI Pattaya and collected 40 boxes from our BAMBI members, non-members and local community people.

> Plans for Pattaya in 2018 

We will be looking for volunteers to join the team as some volunteers moved away. To increase attendance, we plan to distribute flyers in different languages at various international schools in the Pattaya area to stimulate interest among mums who have preschoolers or newborns in attending BAMBI playgroups when their older kids are in school. We are also thinking of starting a Daddies’ Playgroup but will gather more information first as most daddies are usually available on weekends.  

Activities for Older Kids

BAMBI Activities are different from playgroups in several ways. They are for older kids, they have a theme and are more structured than playgroups and each activity is once a month. Some activities also have a limit to the number of participants depending on the venue size and type of activity. For this reason, registration is required for BAMBI Activities.In 2017, all BAMBI activities were well-attended and there were requests by parents for more. In June, BAMBI started offering Cooking Class, its third Activity, and held five sessions in 2017. BAMBI Activities finished 2017 with three activities for kids 3-6 years old: Football, Explorers Club, and Cooking Class.

> Plan for Activities in 2018 

In 2018, BAMBI Activities aims to add at least four more activities and expand the age range up to 8 years old. In the long term, we hope BAMBI Activities can become as popular as BAMBI Playgroups.We also want to create a clear identity for Activities (Activity Groups) that is distinct from Playgroups. Activities in the pipeline include: Drama and Music Adventures, Yoga for Kids, Dance, and World Explorers. Others in development are: Art, Music, Basketball, Creative Workshop for Kids, Reading and Storytelling, Science Club, Magic and Illusion, Inline Skating, Animation for kids, Makers Club, and Tennis.The BAMBI Activities team welcomes suggestions to improve existing activities and ideas for new activities and activity leaders. We are also looking for more volunteers to add to our team. 

Events

In 2017, BAMBI events were limited by the continuing observance of the official mourning period for the late King His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This included the cancellation of the BAMBI annual Halloween Party in October for the second year in a row. The BAMBI Events team did however organize three events in 2017.

• In January, a New Year Riverside Fair and Bazaar was held at Shrewsbury International School, which had 150 families in attendance. 
• April 2017 saw the return of the BAMBI Splash Party at British Club. Thanks to our volunteers and sponsors, 88 families enjoyed a great party and performances with hula and ukulele. 
• In December BAMBI partnered with IPC International Kindergarten to host a Christmas Party and Tree Lighting Ceremony. The event was organized at short notice but was a wonderful success with 152 families in attendance, lots of fun festive activities and a visit from Santa James from Bangkok Dolphins.
• In addition to these events, BAMBI also had a presence at the 2017 Living in Bangkok Fair in February 2017 at Bumrungrad Hospital. 

> Plans for Events in 2018

In January 2018, the Events team held a Charity Concert to celebrate 35 years of BAMBI. The event was the first of its kind and a big success, raising funds for the Immanuel String Orchestra based in Khlong Toei, and welcoming almost 100 families. There are three events scheduled for this year

• Splash Party, May 2018 at Wells International Kindergarten 
• Halloween Party, venue and date TBC
• Annual Christmas Party TBC  

This year we are also planning the return of BAMBI Bazaar, most probably at the end of autumn.  

New Members Coffee Morning

We reduced the twice-a-month new members coffee mornings to once a month, due to our team’s increased responsibilities to organize pop-up playgroup events. With an increase in the number of regular weekly playgroups available, almost everyday of the week, our new members were also much busier than ever!We concentrated on doing each monthly coffee morning well, by offering interesting activities, speakers or new meeting places. We moved the coffee mornings to schools other than IPC, i.e.: Pallies and La Petite Ecole, and rotated between Sukhumvit and Sathorn areas.  

Pop-up Playgroups

It was a busy year for Pop-up Playgroups, with nine weekend Pop-up Playgroups held from March to December 2017. This format has proved very popular both with hosting schools and with young families, who now have greater options for weekend activities. The most popular Pop-up was held at NIST and was attended by 110 families.A team of three volunteers were in charge of organizing both monthly New Members Coffee Mornings and monthly pop-up events. The team visited the potential schools, formalizing the agreement on set-ups, creating of PR and media materials, and finding volunteers to welcome and register members on site. 

> Pop-up and New Members Plans for 2018

• We continue to see Pop-up Playgroups as beneficial for our members. We plan to offer pop-up events in schools in areas that we have not yet covered, in order to assess whether we can also expand our membership recruitment and services in those areas, such as Sathorn, Nichida and Huay Kwang. Other options may include tennis schools, art schools, etc.
• We will continue to hold morning coffees for new members once a month. Since several regular playgroups are held on Mondays, the coffee mornings will be on the last Wednesday of the month. We will continue to rotate between Sukhumvit and Sathorn areas, as most of our new members are travelling from these two areas. 

 

BAMBI News Magazine 

Eleven issues (including a July/August combined issue) of BAMBI News magazine were published this year for delivery to members’ homes and for distribution at BAMBI playgroups and events. Most of the PDF versions were available for download by members via the website, and some articles were shared on Facebook.Over 50 volunteer writers contributed to the magazine over the year, and the works of four photographers graced the covers. Topics covered included pre-and postnatal issues, education, health, recipes, fitness, crafts and activities, parenting advice, travel and more, with some translated into Japanese.A total of two volunteers served as Editor, five as Assistant Editors, two as Japanese Editors and one as Photo Editor throughout the year; at least four of these volunteers have been with the magazine for nearly two years so we are happy to have a strong and steady team.

> Plans for BAMBI News magazine in 2018

• This year we have an overarching theme for the magazine which is based on the New York Times Bestseller, ‘The Happiness Project’. Using the basic framework, we have tried to include articles that go beyond parenting and include more self-care, relationship building, and personal growth features.
• We intend to include a Kids Speak section allowing the older kids who attend BAMBI activities to share their experiences with us, thus enabling a feedback process, as well as a special book reading corner that provides our readers with book reviews or lists of good books both for children and parents.
• We also look forward to making the magazine articles more accessible, when the new BAMBI website is launched.

 

Charities

This has been an exciting year for the Charities team, with multiple projects in Bangkok and greater Thailand supported through money donations, exposure at our events or in the magazine, or donations of items such as clothing or gifts for children.All the identified charities work with vulnerable children and families in Thailand, following our aim to ‘act local’ to support those less fortunate in the communities that make BAMBI families so welcome in Thailand.

Charities Supported in 2017 March 2017: Yard Sale in aid of Operation Smile Thailand BAMBI teamed up with the Year 12 IB Students of St Andrews 107 for an alfresco yard sale on 4th March, with 18 vendors selling various pre-loved items. Two tables managed by the school children and parents support group were solely dedicated to charity. All proceeds from this table, doubled up by BAMBI for a total of ฿36,000, were given to Operation Smile Thailand, which provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities for children throughout the country. Our donation funded one full cleft lip and palate repair and ongoing speech therapy and support, transforming the life of a child and family. Total donation: ฿36,000  May 2017: Always Reading Caravan at BAMBI Sawatdi Playgroup Yoshimi Horiuchi is a blind bookaholic from Japan based in Northern Thailand who founded Always Reading Caravan, an organization committed to promoting the joy of reading and learning in Thailand. Yoshimi visited BAMBI Sawatdi Playgroup and talked about the importance of reading to children. There was also a book sale by Second-hand English Books for Kids on that day. Ten percent of book sale proceeds and donations to the BAMBI playgroup were donated to one of Always Reading Caravan's projects, "Early Childhood Literacy". Total donation: ฿5,100  June 2017: BAMBI Bumps & Babies Swap Meet On Saturday 3rd June, BAMBI Bumps & Babies held its first ever Swap Meet, where families had the opportunity to swap baby clothes toys and goods. All un-swapped goods were donated to Second Chance Bangkok for redistribution to local families in need.   August 2017: BAMBI Helps Women “Dream Big” BAMBI continues to partner with Central Thailand Mission to support projects at the Emergency Home, which provides shelter and support to young mothers and pregnant women who have been victims of rape and abuse or who have left home, and helps them to care for their babies and make positive steps towards an independent future. In August 2017, we provided ฿30,000 financial support and donations of baby goods from BAMBI Bumps mums to fund the annual Mother’s Day “Dream Big” event. This provided children’s entertainment and spot prizes for the teams who created posters celebrating the importance of setting goals and building self-esteem.Total donation:  ฿30,000  October 2017: Bumps & Babies Breast Cancer Coffee Morning New Moon turned pink on 17th October to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The usually popular weekly Bumps & Babies gave way to a charity coffee morning at Antique Cafe to launch Beyond Boobs, a new breast cancer support group for sufferers and survivors of breast cancer. The new group has been founded by two young breast cancer survivors, Rasee Govindani and Maria Villalobos, who both spoke candidly and very movingly about their experience of breast cancer and the support they hope to offer other women in Bangkok who receive a breast cancer diagnosis.Total donation: ฿15,000  November 2017: Yard Sale in aid of Central Thailand Mission The charity table was once again a huge success at the BAMBI Yard Sale, with CAS students from St Andrews International School Bangkok selling items that had been generously donated by BAMBI members and the school’s community. We also had the Central Thailand Mission “Sharity” shop offering their exclusive donated products for sale. The charity table raised over 12,000 baht which will be added to the door entrance fee and vendor table fees to donate towards Central Thailand Mission’s new storage facility.The remaining donated items were used for Christmas presents for children of the Mercy Centre and the Rangsit Baby Home, donated to refugees in Bangkok, or to be used as prizes for the Central Thailand Mission Christmas party.Total donation: ฿50,000  Christmas 2017: The Giving Tree Foundation For the Christmas season 2017, BAMBI teamed up with the Giving Tree Foundation and Terre Karen to produce gift bags for children in Karen villages in Northern Thailand. BAMBI families were matched to an individual child to make the gift bag specific to their wishes and needs and we were delighted that over 80 families were so generous in donating these presents to the children. In addition to this, BAMBI used charity donations and funds to provide another 50 gift bags. Total donation (cost for bags/transport): ฿57,647.25

 

> Plans for Charities for 2018 

A number of worthy causes and projects have been identified by our BAMBI Charity Coordinator. We have already raised and donated ฿100,000 from our BAMBI Birthday Charity Concert to Immanuel String Orchestra to purchase new instruments. Yard Sales will continue, with the same committee member now organizing Yard Sales and leading BAMBI’s charity efforts. 

Media

In 2017, BAMBI had two Media Coordinators at different times, who helped BAMBI keep a consistent Facebook presence and connect with BAMBI members.As of today, BAMBI’s Facebook page has 6,900 ‘likes’. Most of these are organic ‘likes’ that do not come as a result of ads/promoted posts. Our highest clicks are 'Website Clicks', meaning from Facebook, they continue on to the BAMBI website. Ten admins/editors from among the committee members help update Facebook.To get the word out on BAMBI events, paid advertisements for major events like Yard Sales, Splash Party and Halloween Party were placed on Facebook. BAMBI enewsletters were sent out to those subscribed. The Media Coordinator also sent flyers and details of upcoming events to various Women's Clubs in Thailand by email, which these clubs then repost on their e-newsletter and/or Facebook. These have resulted in satisfactory turnout at all events. 

Membership and Database 

The year 2017 saw a significant increase in the membership numbers at BAMBI, up from 761 at the end of 2016, to 964 at the end of December 2017. It is thought this is due in part to the increased number of playgroups and new offerings from BAMBI (e.g. pop-ups), but also from the restructure of suggested donations per session from ฿150/250 (member/non-member) to ฿100/300, and also the decision to make many of our weekend offerings free to members. Renewals this year accounted for only 19% of our total membership, with new memberships accounting for 81% of all members. In previous years the split has been 30% renewals to 70% new members. As usual, new members mainly joined at our playgroups (43%), with Bumps & Babies accounting for 11%, and new members coffees/pop-up playgroups 10%. This year 15% of new members signed up via online/bank transfer, down from 20% last year.Renewal membership management was changed during 2017 so that all renewals were processed centrally by the Database Coordinator, as previously members were not using the activation codes to make their membership live on the database. In 2017, the process for adding a new member and renewing membership was documented in a simple flow chart and communicated to all volunteers responsible for issuing BAMBI membership cards, both new and renewal. This documentation now forms part of the Playgroup Leader training. 

> Plans for Database in 2018 

With the project underway to build a new BAMBI website, it is hoped that the usability and functionality of the current database will improve, and that the online membership process can be streamlined to allow attachment of proof of payments as the decision was made not to allow credit card payments directly on our website.  

Website

In 2017, we selected a vendor to build BAMBI's new website. The contracts were signed in the middle of 2017 and by the end of the year, we had gathered input from a small group of key internal stakeholders and agreed on a wireframe and design for the new site. Much of the updated content has been written and is ready to populate the new site, once it’s built. 

> Plans for Website 2018 

The new BAMBI website should be built and available for testing in May 2018, when we can begin to proof and check the content. We also plan to review and improve our email system to accommodate the growing complexity of our communication requirements, with each playgroup now requiring its own email address. With the churn of volunteers moving through the organization, it is important that we have safeguards to protect members’ information and avoid sensitive information being forwarded to personal emails. Cost-effective solutions will be discussed and brought before the committee for approval after the launch of the new website.  

Benefits

We worked on maintaining the current benefits offered to members and trying to increase new offers. By the end of 2017, member discounts were increased by 20 percent. We also now have a small section added for Pattaya as well.

> Plans for Benefits in 2018

• BAMBI will continue to identify opportunities to increase member discounts.

 

WOMBLES

WOMBLES started 2017 with new ideas where some dinners were integrated with an interesting activity such as a cooking class, interesting performer, art workshop etc.

> Plans for WOMBLES in 2018

We may consider including daddies in some WOMBLES events, and will keep looking for new workshops and interesting activities that we can work on together to foster good relationships among parents. 

Committee Management 

Since Emma and I took Chair and Vice-Chairwoman roles in May 2017, we have been working closely together and tried to develop a stronger team by focusing on what we can do well and streamlining the processes within BAMBI.

• We decided to change and increase the ways we recognize volunteers contribution to BAMBI by introducing biannual volunteer appreciation events. We had a family fun morning at Funarium and a Christmas Reading afternoon with Santa at Sofitel Hotel. These events were well received and gave volunteers an opportunity to network and build a stronger sense of team spirit.
• Monthly meetings: We increased the catering allowance to committee members hosting our monthly meetings from ฿1,000 to ฿2,000, as approximately 15 people attend each time. We also used Antique Café to host the committee meeting once per quarter to reduce the burden of hosting on committee members.
• Playgroup: With the increase in number of playgroups across several locations in Bangkok, we created positions for playgroup assistants to support the Playgroup Coordinator in organizational and administrative tasks, leaving the Coordinator free to source new locations for playgroups. 
• To support the Treasurer we increased the treasury assistants to two, to systemize and streamline the financial process and to further build on the financial rigor that was developed by Megha in her time as BAMBI Treasurer in the wake of the 2015 fraud. 
• New Members/Pop-up: The number of assistants were increased to handle big numbers of turn out on the weekend.

As a result, the number of our volunteers has increased, and we have over 60 volunteers at the end of 2017.With this new level of complexity, and for BAMBI to be run efficiently and ethically, it became operationally necessary for all our volunteers to have guidelines on their representation of BAMBI in the community. To this end, the Chairwoman and Vice Chairwoman have drafted a Statement of Values (see below) which has been ratified by the voting committee and was submitted for inclusion as an addendum to the BAMBI constitution.

BAMBI STATEMENT OF VALUES BAMBI is a project of Childbirth and Breastfeeding Foundation of Thailand (CBFT) a non-profit networking and resource organisation dedicated to ensuring the best possible start in life for babies. BAMBI is built on the principle of offering support and companionship to parents in Bangkok, throughout the early years of parenting. Providing networks of meet-ups and events catering for families with small children our aim is to provide encouragement and friendship through the common bond of parenting.  We exist to service the needs of our members and where possible to provide funds to charitable efforts that help to support families in need in Bangkok. We operate solely thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers who recognise the value of our aims and give their time and skills freely to support BAMBI and its members.The Committee and wider volunteer community at BAMBI recognise the importance of conducting our efforts in a spirit of fairness and integrity and as such we are committed to: Act honestly, truthfully and with integrity in all our efforts for BAMBI Reserve the right to refuse to advertise or collaborate with any Third party whose products or services are not aligned to the values of BAMBI and Breastfeeding Foundation of Thailand  Not profit personally; either directly or indirectly from a third party, through offers of discount, monetary incentive or non-financial benefit unless same benefit is available to all BAMBI members.   Declare all third-party gifts with a monetary value above 1,000bht to the Secretary for committee approval. Not offering endorsement by BAMBI to any third-party company providing services to BAMBI or its members, and not allowing direct selling or overt marketing of goods or services at any BAMBI event or through BAMBI publications (print and online).  Treat fellow volunteers and users of our services with respect and dignity. Act with fiscal responsibility, prudently using funds to enhance our members’ experience and supporting charitable causes relevant to our values.  Protect the Confidentiality of member personal information, never sharing this with third parties.  Conduct our efforts in an open transparent manner, making decisions democratically as a committee with the best interests of our members in mind. Operate within the Law  Investigate any alleged breaches of this code in a fair and timely manner.     POSITION ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST It is recognised that volunteers have broad interests outside of BAMBI and may participate directly or indirectly in a range of community and business activities. We value the contribution and perspective that such experience brings to BAMBI but also recognize the potential for conflicts of interest to arise. In all such cases, volunteers are required to immediately declare any interests which directly conflict with their role within BAMBI to the Chairwoman who reserves the right to disclose such interests to the committee for consideration.

 

Treasurer's Report

By Mari Someya, Treasurer

Unit: Thai Baht	2016	2017	% Change
Gross Income (A)	1,816,481	2,346,938	29%
Expenses (B)	(1,188,057)	(1,780,539)	50%
NET SURPLUS (A-B) *	628,424	566,399	-10%
Special Inflow **	300,000	4,198,558
GRAND TOTAL	928,424	4,764,957
Net Surplus (Expense) Classification
Playgroups	174,855	(75,351)	-143%
PG attendance (no. of families)	4,624	7,806	69%
Memberships	749,650	1,180,101	57%
Events	66,122	52,713	-20%
Website	(8,050)	(139,116)	1628%
Rental	3,300	5,900	79%
Sponsors	19,600	14,700	-25%
Pattaya	37,557	8,032	-79%
Committee/ BAMBI Expenses	(399,630)	(480,579)	20%
Others (special inflow)	300,000	4,198,558
Charities Contribution	(70,000)	(159,447)	128%
Closing Bank Balance (31st December)	2,032,582	6,712,352
* Net Surplus does not include charities contributions and special inflow**Misappropriated funds returned to BAMBI as per settlement of criminal case Black no. Aor.3598/  2558, Red No.Aor.2082/2559 net of lawyers fees.

 2017 was an eventful year for BAMBI. BAMBI opened 10 new playgroups and discounted the entrance donation for members from ฿150 to ฿100 at all regular playgroups. Pop-up playgroups became regular events and brought new members, as entry is free for members.As a result, attendance rose by 69% as playgroups became more accessible and affordable. Furthermore, it boosted our membership by 104% as more families recognized the value of becoming a member by enjoying discounted rates at our playgroups and events.Overall, net surplus fell by 10% from 2016 due to higher expenses. We spent more on better services for our members to vary playgroup venues, new toys and accessories, and investment into our new website. We also stepped up our contributions to charity projects and on recognizing the work of our volunteers.Finally, we achieved a satisfactory closure to the long-standing court case and received ฿4.7 million towards the settlement. We plan to utilize these funds to better serve our members and local community in Thailand in the years ahead.We welcome any questions you may have on the above information. Please write to us.

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The views expressed in the articles in this magazine are not necessarily those of BAMBI committee members and we assume no responsibility for them or their effects.BAMBI News welcomes volunteer contributors to our magazine. Please contact editor@bambiweb.org.