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.
Donation bowls
We always 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 Virgin Money 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 – Manchester Buddhist Centre’s details are: Royal Bank of Scotland, Account 11696847, Sort Code 16-34-27, reference MBC standing order. Please let us know so we can make sure it came through properly – sal@manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk.
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One-off online giving
We’re also grateful for one-off donations through our Virgin Money single donation page. Please gift aid your donation if you can.
A free way 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.
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.
Give things as well as money
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 raise over £4,000 a year from the ground floor second hand books shelves, and we’d love the books you no longer need, any subject! Crafts and shrine goods welcome for regular stalls too, also Dharma books for the library, especially from the Triratna Buddhist tradition.
Fundraising events
Join in with fundraising for the Centre through our Virgin Money Giving pages. Take part in an event yourself, organise one or sponsor others.
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. 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 on Tuesdays
Clean-up Tuesdays are a great place to start – an hour on Tuesday lunchtimes keeping the Centre beautiful and spending time together – see What’s on.
Interested in volunteering?
Please contact Chandana on 0161 834 9232 or Chandana@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 Young Indian Futures and 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 2018, the latest twelve month period we have figures for, with short summaries in the boxes:
- Read the full 2018 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
- 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
- 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
Opening Times & more
Opening Times:
Mon: 10am - 5pmTues, Wed, Thurs: 10am - 7pm
Fri:, Sat: 10am - 5pm
Bank hols: Usually open - see calendar for changes
Charity reg no: 514937