L&U What We Learned

What we have learned
We maintain Sangha as a refuge
Not everyone in Sangha will want to be involved in or give to this project. Many of our members are involved in community service, and Sangha to them is a place to come for renewal, to not be involved in a service project. We learned how important it is to respect that Sangha is a refuge. We only fundraise in ways that are unobtrusive and have been clearly agreed upon by the general Sangha membership.
We ask for contributions in several low-key ways
 We remind people of our project in our bi-monthly newsletter.
 We send an invitation to members at year’s end to give to Love and Understanding.
 We include a check-off option to give to Love and Understanding on the registration form for our annual retreat.
 We sell cards and canvas grocery bags at our annual retreat and make them available on a sidetable at weekly Sangha meetings.
 We invite members to also contribute to the Love and Understanding Project through loving-kindness meditation and other intentional devotions.
We as a Sangha decided to designate a Sangha member to receive Sangha members’ donations.
We decided at our annual business meeting that we would like to know how much money we collectively donate each year, and so decided on one well-respected member of Sangha to receive the donations. Our sense is that members like knowing how much our Sangha is contributing and it helps us to raise more money for the project. SnowFlower Sangha is a well-established Sangha with roughly 100 active members. In the simple ways listed above, in 2010 we raised more than $5000:
 Response after annual fundraising letter—$2690
 Sale of bags and cards at our retreat and available unobtrusively at Sangha meetings— $1780
 Donations on retreat sign-up form—$800
We have a core committee
Our committee meets every month or two, depending on the time of year and project. We meet before our Friday evening Sangha meeting, each bringing our dinner along with us. We have found that this structure helps us to keep attention on the project and our next steps.
Websites of interest:
http://snowflower.org/
http://deerparkmonastery.org/giving/love-and-understanding-program-in-vi...
http://www.maitreya-fonds.de/mfportal/default.aspx