Birmingham Buddhist Centre Coronavirus Emergency Appeal: Keep our Sangha Heart Beating

At the heart of the Birmingham Buddhist Centre is our sangha, our community. So when the current pandemic meant closing our building we found new and creative ways of keeping our sangha alive online. This has been an essential refuge for many of us - helping ourselves, as well as many others, to practise the Dharma and stay grounded, creative and resourced in these uncertain and challenging times. For us to continue to keep our sangha heart beating through this time we urgently need your help to raise £10,000 by giving a donation here today.

Closing the Buddhist Centre means we’re not able to offer our full programme of Dharma activities or share our beautiful space for room hire, school visits and with Birmingham carers. This is a real loss, not only in not being able to offer these activities to the world but also a significant loss of income. We are estimating a £30,000 loss of income as a result of the Buddhist Centre being closed - based on being able to open slowly later in the summer.

So as well as working hard to support and inspire the sangha through this challenging time by giving the Dharma online, we have also been considering very seriously how to minimise expenses to try to prevent a financial crisis. We hope to recoup £20,000 through some drastic cost saving measures, such as furloughing half of the Centre Team, as well as the reduced running costs with the Buddhist Centre being closed. However, we do need your help to raise £10,000 so that we can keep essential staff working and the Buddhist Centre financially stable through this challenging time.

As I said earlier at the heart of the Buddhist Centre is our sangha, our community. As a sangha we already give very generously, with people giving when they come for classes as well as 103 people giving by standing order every month. I would like to express a heartfelt thank-you to you for your generosity which raises 45% of the income we need every month to keep the Buddhist Centre staffed and thriving. But at this unprecedented time when the Centre is closed and other sources of income are unavailable, we really need extra help from you.

It would be really great if you can help us by giving a donation today (hyperlink to giving page). This will allow us to continue to give the gift of the Dharma, supporting our sangha and many others to transform their hearts and minds, resourced with the tools needed to meet life’s challenges and to discover its joys. £10,000 is a lot of money but if those of us with the financial resources give larger gifts of £1,000 or £500 and others give smaller but still significant amounts of £250, £100 or £50 we can raise the money needed together.

As I have said on previous occasions, we aspire to give the gift of the Dharma with no ‘shoulds’ attached, so please don’t feel that you ‘should’ give. The Buddhist Centre is a collective project which invites and rests on your contribution and we encourage everyone to give what they can and take what they need. We would be grateful if you would think seriously about whether you can help us to keep our sangha heart beating at this unprecedented time.

Thanking you in advance for your support and your generosity.

Yours in the Sangha,

Singhamati

(Chair of the Birmingham Buddhist Centre)