Join in and Give
Supporting the Buddhist Centre
As a charity (registration no. 514937), we rely on the generosity of everyone who values the Centre to keep our doors and activities open to as many people as possible. We can all give in many different ways.
In Covid-19 times
We believe the Buddha’s teachings around interconnectedness and compassion are more relevant than ever in these uncertain times, when we all need to share love and support even more. We want to offer as much as we can for as long as can. These are very difficult times financially for charities though, and being so restricted in our opening times and activities since March 2020 means we have lost much of our income but not much of our costs. So if you value our Centre and community, please think about making a regular or one-off donation here if you can – choose Donate with Card if you don’t have a PayPal account. Thank you!
Donation bowls
When we’re open, we welcome cash donations in the Centre’s donation bowls. Or you can make a card donation by telephone or at reception.
Monthly donations
Regular monthly donations are particularly helpful as they enable us to budget effectively. No amount is too big or too small and if you are a UK tax payer you can gift aid your donation, whether online or off. You can set payments up online through our PayPal regular giving page, or use a standing order form – print a copy here or get one at the Centre, and please pass the completed form direct to us, not your bank.
You can also arrange it direct through your bank – please mail finance@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk for our details.
- Read our Privacy Policy
One-off online giving
We’re also grateful for one-off donations through our PayPal donation page. Please gift aid your donation if you can.
Free ways to help
Set up a free account with Give as you Live and each time you shop online, a donation goes directly to the Centre at no cost to you or us.
If you shop with Amazon, please consider registering with Amazon Smile, a scheme where Amazon makes a donation to a charity of your choice, every time you buy something. Manchester Buddhist Centre is registered with this scheme. Go to www.amazonsmile.co.uk and type in Manchester Buddhist Centre under the Pick your own organisation tab.
Leaving a gift in your will
If you are thinking about making a will, please consider including a bequest to the Centre. Satyadasa offers a will-writing service for UK members and friends of the Triratna Buddhist Community, and his website has useful information on why and how to make a will: Greengate Wills
Give things as well as money
When we’re open we always need fair-trade tea bags, soya milk, loo rolls, heavy duty bin bags and so on. Helps keep our bills down, and drinks freely available to visitors.
We usually raise over £4,000 a year from the ground floor second hand books shelves, and love the books you no longer need, any subject. Also Dharma books for the library, especially from the Triratna Buddhist tradition.This is all on hold while the Centre is not open full-time, but crafts and shrine goods may still be welcome for our regular stalls depending how things go.
Fundraising events
A great group of walkers completed last year’s Three Peaks National, and the crafters work through the year for December’s stall, bringing in £1,000 in 2019. Read Sal’s account of our latest skills auction too. Get in touch if you are ready to organise another sociable event. Or you could copy one of our friends who just raised £200 by asking for donations to the Centre for her birthday!
Thank You!
Sharing our Time and Skills
Working together
The Centre depends on a lot of us giving our time and energy freely. If you are a regular at the Centre, and have completed some Buddhism courses here, or often come to Saturday’s Tools for Living your Life, let us know if you’d like to join us.
We need people to join in with cleaning, decorating and making events go smoothly, and sometimes to take on specific skilled tasks. While we are operating at least partly online, we also have volunteers hosting many of our Zoom events. It’s a chance to be at the heart of things, make friends and know that our actions make a difference to hundreds of people every week. Some of us do regular slots, others just now and then.
Cleaning together
Clean-up Tuesdays are happening again after a long Covid-caused break and there’s more to do now than ever! These are a great place to start – an hour or so on Tuesday lunchtimes keeping the Centre beautiful and spending time together. A small group of Sangha members are now cleaning regularly on Tuesdays from 11.30 am to 12.30. If you can join us then just turn up at that time or email us at info@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk . Look out for Saturday afternoon sessions too.
Interested in volunteering?
Please contact us on info@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk
Our Centre was built on Generosity
Through our own Efforts
In the 1990s a committed group of men and women, mostly working for free, transformed a run down Victorian warehouse into a beautiful jewel. Since then, hundreds more have given time, skills and money to help the Centre communicate Buddhist teachings and meditation to thousands of people. Manchester Buddhist Centre is a registered charity with no outside funding or wealthy benefactors.
Continuing Generosity
We get some income from courses, events, room hire and rents from others in the building, but these don’t cover all our costs. We rely on the generosity of our Sangha, visitors and supporters to join us in keeping the Centre and its activities alive and growing.
Generosity in the Wider World
Compassion, generosity and the importance of connections between us are central to the practice of Buddhism and many of our community give time and money to international causes, such as Karuna or work with local charities or in chaplaincy.
Combining a spiritual practice with action for change in the wider world has become known as socially engaged Buddhism. and this is our focus in Buddhist Action Month every June.
About our Finances
Our income and spending
Here are the details for 2019, the latest twelve month period we have figures for, with short summaries in the boxes:
- Read the full 2019 report and accounts in pdf format
- Our Charity Commission returns (search on 514937 in search for a charity, not in the general site search)
Where does the Buddhist Centre's Money come from?
Income 2018 (2019’s figures to follow)
- Bookshop sales – £62,751
- Classes and events – £67,325
- Room hire – £8,889
- Donations including gift aid – £86,711
- Rental income (right livelihood businesses) – £47,425
- Rental income (spiritual communities) – £62,157
- Investments – £51
- Total income – £335,258
Where does the Money go?
Expenditure 2018 (2019’s figures to follow)
- Staff costs – £182,203
- Bookshop stock & expenses – £40,289
- Services / Utilities – £43,602
- Maintenance / H & S – £15,975
- Loans / mortgages / interest – £3,429
- Administration – £15,360
- Depreciation – £20,508
- Governance costs – £5,202
- Other costs – £31,082
- Total expenditure – £357,650
Stan Kukalowicz Retreat Bursary Fund
Stan Kukalowicz
Stan was a much-loved member of our Sangha who sadly died in 2014.
Stan had always wanted to help those in need. He had been keen to set up a fund to help Sangha members in financial difficulty to get on retreat and also wanted to encourage our practice of generosity. Stan touched the lives of many people so a bursary fund in his name seemed a fitting tribute. The fantastic generosity of Stan’s friends and family after his death enabled us to do this and the fund is already helping the Sangha just as Stan hoped.
About the Retreat Fund
The fund is mainly to help people who couldn’t normally afford it to go on a Manchester Buddhist Centre weekend Sangha retreats – mixed, men’s or women’s. Any money left can help Sangha members otherwise unable to go to a Triratna retreat centre. If you’d like to give to the fund, please contact reception.
Applying to the Fund
Who can apply?
- Anyone who has completed a Buddhism Level 2 / Going Deeper course, for money towards a Manchester Sangha retreat
- Mitras and Order members, for money towards a Triratna retreat centre retreat
- Maximum is £200 per person per year
How to apply
Contact one of our Mitra Convenors: vishangka@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk or suryaka@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk
Manchester Buddhist Centre
16-20 Turner Street
Northern Quarter, M4 1DZ
0161 834 9232
Please contact us by email when we’re closed.
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