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Funding / support for Buddhist project with recovering addicts
mindatrisk
Veteran
Heya,
Over the last year i've taken some recovering addicts from where I work over to a local Buddhist centre to do a week working visit. Everyone who has been has absolutely loved the experience, and many have come back for repeat visits, and it is something that I would love to be able to continue and develop. The problem is that I need to take holidays to have the time to take them over, and obviously I only have so many holidays a year.
What i'd like to be able to do is to take a group of recovering addicts every other week. The Buddhist centre are up for it, the recovering addicts are up for it, and I certainly am, it's just a matter of raising funds so I could make it my job, which would be the only cost involved. I currently earn £15,000 a year doing my job, which is fine, so essentially i'd need to raise about £15,000 a year.
Does anyone have any ideas how this could be achieved? Are their Buddhists who sponsor and fund such projects? Would I be better off registering as a charity and doing it that way? It's a wonderful opportunity and so much good has come from it already. One lad who I took had no previous interest in spirituality at all, but has since bought Buddhist books and talked about moving to the centre, so it really has had significant benefits already just in the few visits i've managed.
Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you kindly.
Over the last year i've taken some recovering addicts from where I work over to a local Buddhist centre to do a week working visit. Everyone who has been has absolutely loved the experience, and many have come back for repeat visits, and it is something that I would love to be able to continue and develop. The problem is that I need to take holidays to have the time to take them over, and obviously I only have so many holidays a year.
What i'd like to be able to do is to take a group of recovering addicts every other week. The Buddhist centre are up for it, the recovering addicts are up for it, and I certainly am, it's just a matter of raising funds so I could make it my job, which would be the only cost involved. I currently earn £15,000 a year doing my job, which is fine, so essentially i'd need to raise about £15,000 a year.
Does anyone have any ideas how this could be achieved? Are their Buddhists who sponsor and fund such projects? Would I be better off registering as a charity and doing it that way? It's a wonderful opportunity and so much good has come from it already. One lad who I took had no previous interest in spirituality at all, but has since bought Buddhist books and talked about moving to the centre, so it really has had significant benefits already just in the few visits i've managed.
Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you kindly.
2
Comments
May all beings be well and happy.
May all beings be free of suffering
May all beings come to know the true dharma
What service is offered?
How much do you need to break even?
How much to make a profit?
What are your numbers? projected turnover etc.
Where will the funds that pay you come from?
Any income generated already that you can scale up?
Is there an income line generated from the activity?
Not that I can think of.
What service is offered?
I'm a support worker, so my support and all that entails.
How much do you need to break even?
Each individual would cover their own travel expenses, and once at the centre accommodation, food and classes are covered by work (gardening, cooking, cleaning etc.). So i'd need my own travel costs (approx £40 in total per week), and it would be nice to be able to buy the group a coffee etc. at the train station, so maybe £20 for that.
How much to make a profit?
I don't want to make a profit. A living wage would be sufficient.
What are your numbers? projected turnover etc.
26 weeks a year with a group of 5-8 per week visit (including myself) which will include repeat-visitors. So, something like, say, 130 unique visits a year, plus around 40 - 60 repeat visits. If I met someone else who could do the other 26 weeks of the year then that could be an option too, in which case potentially double those figures.
Where will the funds that pay you come from?
My question too!
Any income generated already that you can scale up?
Nope.
Thank you.
And thinking outside the box, what about starting a Buddhist recovery meeting? A weekly thing maybe where a bunch of your guys/gals meet up with a teacher? It could be self supporting (like A.A.) where at the end you pass a hat and people give what they can. Rooms for rent for this purpose can be found fairly cheaply (Church basements/scout huts/hospitals/council offices).
We rent a council meeting room for very little money; about £5 per week. We leave it cleaner than we find it.
And I think it's great that you care for these people. Quite often alkies/addicts are looked down upon as dross.
A Buddhist recovery meeting would be good. We have some Buddhist presence within our town. I have suggested a regular meet up for those who have attended the centre for a working visit - be it a weekly meditation group, morning coffee meet, etc. And i'd be able to host anything like that in the building where I work. There is a definite need for after care and support as the experience can be quite profound and returning home to regular life can be quite difficult.
Thanks again.
The challenge you have is that even at 130 unique visits at say £5 a pop is £650 over the entire year. If you need £60 odd per visit then say you have 6 people each time it's £10 each (that's if you have 6 every time) and at 26 weeks at £60 a pop you have £1,560.
You will need a profit to convert your maximum income to a living wage of say £15k a year - broadly from the figures above you'll need to scale up by a factor of 10.
Maybe work on it on the side and see what you can do with it, even if it remains a sideline.
Or maybe volunteer for the centre - they may cover your travel expenses in centre-related-activities...
Seeing as you've already had some success with it, chances are you could make up a pretty decent proposal. The easiest way to gain credibility would probably be to have the center "employ" you rather than try to register as a charity. It's a lot of red tape.
I am just finishing my theory and in January will be going into clinical for my PSW diploma and am just actually studying this very thing at the moment.
I think it's a great idea if these obstacles can be overcome and obviously if the clients aren't made to feel any pressure.
My employer already knows and supports the visits as the feedback has been so fantastic, but i'd be looking to leave my job to take this up fulltime anytime, although good relations with drug and alcohol services is vital.
If you'd like to continue this dialogue with regards your studies and interests then let me know... if it helps in any way. Thank you again.