Statement regarding Appeal for Funding Assistance
Although we are not about to close the doors and are able to survive from our own private funds for many months of little income, we clearly see we will need assistance to last through an expected lengthy recovery period over the next few years. As a totally privately funded research organisation consisting of a small group of dedicated people providing free in-depth research for families of former WWII PoWs, we consider our future while we await the return of international travel.
Seeking Funding assistance by donations:
With serious uncertainty regarding Covid related effects on international travel persisting well beyond anything expected at the beginning of the pandemic (now well over a year ago), we foresee that TBRC will not have sufficient reserve funds to cover costs until full resumption of overseas visitors to Thailand providing sufficient revenue to cover operational costs.With the state of the world regarding Covid still very volatile, the rate and timing of the recovery process will be influenced by the various Government reactions to the pandemic. It is reasonable to expect recovery to be a slow start in the first year, building strongly in the second and third years and perhaps not close to "previous normal" until 2024/2025 at best.However, we have people who have pre-planned Pilgrimages with us now awaiting new travel dates as soon as the situation becomes clear and we are still planning and offering new Pilgrimage tours with interested PoW related families on an ongoing basis. So there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future with many people keen to travel as soon as possible. Our priority is therefore to have funds to survive until our visitor revenue can cover our costs.
Current Assistance:
We have had various discussions and offers of assistance from similar organisations, including COFEPOW and MVG, who have generously offered their full support. Other such organisations in the Netherlands, Australia, USA and elsewhere are also generously assisting which greatly helps as a means of reaching a broader audience.While do our best to help ourselves, we are extremely grateful for some assistance to help keep our Research Facilities and Team together for the long-term benefit of related families of former PoWs. Our hope is to reach as many people as possible over the coming months and multiple small donations can combine to be a significant help in meeting our ongoing expenses until things get back to normal.
Making Donations easy and inexpensive:
While we have many families of Far East PoWs who recognise the great value of our work over almost 20 years, it us not often easy/inexpensive for the average person to make overseas payments to TBRC in Thailand from various Countries. Currently the best method of making donations to us is the non-bank service provider known as "Wise" https://wise.com/
It is very economical, fast and efficient for International Money Transfers(IMT) by on-line users with best known exchange rates to Thai currency and they charge negligible fees. The exchange rate is so much better that it can cover their small fee meaning full funds are received as intended and also arrive in our account within minutes. It is a bank-to-bank transfer meaning the payer makes the money transfer from their bank account and “Wise” pays direct to TBRC bank account.
To make a payment, go to https://wise.com/ and get instant, fully transparent advance information on your transaction by inserting the required amount in the box and selecting the “to” and “from” currencies as indicated. Then click on "Get started" and step through the "sign up" process and continue as required.
Of course there is always Online Banking (if set up for international) to make overseas transfer of funds or via a bank branch (extra fees apply). If transferring through a bank, funds are best sent in your own currency (converted at our end)
For making IMT transfers IN ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES (e.g. GBP, EUR, AUD, USD, CAD, NZD, THB, SGD, JPY, HKD, MYR) to TBRC, our bank account details are as follow:
TBRC Email address: admin@tbrconline.com (for confirmation and notification)
Bank A/c name: T.B.R.C. Co. Ltd
Bank: BANK OF AYUDHYA pcl (Krungsri Bank)
BRANCH: KANCHANABURI,THAILAND
Current A/c No: 1520 01323 6 [10 digits, no spaces for digital/online use]
SWIFT Code (11 digit): AYUDTHBKXXX
Note: Some systems require 8 digit SWIFT Code in which case delete the last “XXX” which simply means “Head Office”.
SWIFT Code (8 digit): AYUDTHBK
We look forward to continuing our valuable work indefinitely for the benefit of all families of former PoWs of all nationalities who we believe have a right to know their relative’s locations and experiences during captivity.
Your understanding, friendship and support is always greatly appreciated.
