Dharma Refuge
Capacity-​Building Capital Campaign

(You will be given the option of choosing your preferred method of payment;
​credit card, bank draft, or check,.)

​Dharma Refuge is in the midst of its first-ever Capacity-Building Campaign.

We have shifted from being an all-volunteer organization and have hired a half-time Meditation Center Administrator.  Beginning in 2021 we also hope to begin paying a salary to our teacher, Sue Kochan, who has served on a voluntary basis since 2005.

Following 8 months of research by our Board of Directors, including examination of operations and finances of meditation centers in New York and elsewhere, we determined the following:
  • We are a fully developed Dharma Center, no longer an informal sitting group.
  • We are in solid financial shape. Our core income in 2019 matched our core expenses, and we have 9 to 12 months of  reserve in the bank to cover operations, the amount recommended for healthy nonprofits.
  • Our programming and membership growth have exceeded our ability to rely on an all-volunteer infrastructure. We need to either significantly cut back on our programs and services to better match our volunteer resources, or begin supplementing and supporting our volunteers with paid administrative staff.
  • Our dues (donation) structure and special program fees have been significantly lower than other comparable groups. Relying on dana (voluntary giving) to support Sue and guest teachers has not been producing adequate income for them.
  • To create a sustainable future at current programming levels we need to begin paying our teacher.​
Picture
Photo courtesy of sangha member Deb Piece
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
—Dalai Lama


If we have no peace, it's because we've forgotten we belong to each other.
—Mother Teresa
The Great News!
 
So far, 100% of our Board of Directors and 25 other sangha members and friends have contributed or pledged over $17,000 to the Capacity-Building Campaign. Donor amounts have ranged from $50 to $2,000. We invite you to make a contribution or pledge and support our vision.,

As a result...
We are conducting a Capacity-Building Capital Campaign with a goal of $20,000-$25,000 to raise one year of salary and related expenses for our half-time Meditation Center Administrator and a portion of a salary for our teacher Sue Kochan.  

We have instituted changes in dues and program fees that should bring us increasing income over the next several years, and  hopefully will prove adequate to support our administrator and also begin providing a salary for Sue.
​

Please help us make 2021 a memorable year for Dharma Refuge - join our effort to ensure that we will be around long into the future, living our vision of helping to create “a world of Bodhisattvas.”  ​

(You will be given the option of choosing your preferred method of payment;
​credit card, bank draft, or check.)