Make a Donation

Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture supports the transformation of spiritual teachings into experience through contemplative retreat. The special stewards of this 70 acres of land are dedicated to nurturing the foundation of this beloved and magical place so that it’s strong enough to hold others in this space for many generations to come. Will you please consider becoming a supporter today?

 

We appreciate any help you have to offer, whether it be donated materials, volunteer time, or financial contributions.  There are several ways to donate, including by check, credit card, and paypal. Vajrapani Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, Taxpayer ID number 51-0181149. Mailing address PO Box 2130 Boulder Creek, Ca 95006. All financial contributions are fully tax deductible and will be acknowledged as such.

 

If you’re interested in finding out more, sponsoring other projects at Vajrapani, considering a planned gift through our legacy program, qualified charitable distributions, or appreciated securities, please email: director@vajrapani.org

New Heartbeat and General Fund Donation

We are in a unique space in time where we can breathe and rest in the exhale. A time to feel our heartbeat and the heartbeat of the land. In this moment, we have time to tend to the foundations of Vajrapani. It’s a spectacular chance for us to truly nurture this precious retreat container: a unique place that benefits so many.

 

For so many of us, Vajrapani has offered a rare opportunity to exhale, to sit with quiet and clarity, to deepen our learning, to discover peace and to connect with others. For many, it has offered an essential space for healing. There is something magical here. 

 

Vajrapani’s Heartbeat Fund has been set up to enlist your help in caring for our land and letting its magic shine. We have a list of projects that are about access; that are about taking care of our extended family; that are about being ready to safely meet the next extreme weather event that might emerge, and that are about caring for the Institute’s aging structures. In this time of ‘collective exhale’, will you please consider making a year-end gift to fuel Vajrapani’s vital heartbeat?

Compassion Wheel Donation

Your contribution to the prayer wheel project will help spread much needed compassion and healing to our planet. The benefits will travel out to the world and will also travel with you for this life and on to the future.

Monthly Donor Support

As a monthly donor, you provide the financial foundation that allows Vajrapani Institute to count on reliable and consistent annual support.  Our monthly operating costs average out to $60,000 per month. Vajrapani Institute sustains stewardship of 70 acres of “off-the-grid” land and multiple facilities, staffing in compliance with CA labor laws along with added benefits, staff housing, sponsors scholarships for retreats, hosts multiple International teachers and high Lamas and continues to improve its infrastructure development. Operating revenue comprises about 60% of our annual operating budget, and monthly donations and gifts make up the rest.

 

Set up a Monthly Donation by becoming a member.  

IRA Charitable Rollover

If you are 70 1/2 years or older, you can transfer up to $100,000 ($200,000 for married couples, if each has their own IRA) from your traditional or Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) directly to a charity. The transfer can count towards your required minimum distribution and you avoid any income tax on your Qualified Charitable Distribution.

 

If this is the case for you, please consider making a direct QCD from your IRA to Vajrapani. The IRA charitable rollover is especially useful if you itemize and exceed your maximum charitable deduction, or if you don’t itemize. Directing your IRA to charity can also help reduce your heirs’ tax burden.  You can set this up directly with your IRA plan custodian.

Legacy Giving

It is easy and profoundly important to express your end-of-life wishes close to your heart.  Remembering Vajrapani Institute in your will, living trust and memorial instructions is one of the kindest ways to make a timeless and significant impact on the mission you believe in.  The teachings put us in direct contemplation of our impermanence, and by taking this to heart we can plan during peaceful times so that our wishes are clearly followed by those who love us.  With your Legacy Gift, your memory will become part of Vajrapani Institute’s long history. Careful estate planning not only perpetuates your values and wishes and it can preserve your wealth and lower estate and income taxes for your loved ones.  Join our Board of Directors in reviewing your estate planning this year and consider the following:

 

  • Remember Vajrapani Institute in your Will or Living Trust 
  • Consider bequeathing property, stock, retirement accounts, insurance, and dharma items to Vajrapani Institute
  • Propose charitable memorial gifts be given to Vajrapani Institute in lieu of flowers.
  • Planned Giving

Want to Donate Offline?

If you prefer to make your donation over the phone or if you have questions, please contact our office:
(800) 531-4001, Ext. 1.
office@vajrapani.org.

 

You may also mail a check to:
Vajrapani Institute
PO Box 2130
Boulder Creek, CA 95006

Other Donations

Have a special skill that we can use? Please call our Center Manager at 800-531-4001 x 2 to volunteer or apply for our Work/Study Program.

 

If you want to make regular donations consider becoming a member. If you would like to include Vajrapani Institute in your will, make a non-cash donation such as a stock transfer, or join us in spiritual commitments, visit our gift acceptance policy page.

Sangha Scholarship Fund

Financial accessibility to our retreat program is a core value. Sangha are our fellow travelers on the path of the Dharma. Vajrapani Institute’s Sangha Scholarship Fund is used to provide full and partial scholarships to both the lay and monastic Sangha who wish to receive teachings or do retreat on our land.

 

In most Buddhist countries, monastics are completely supported by the community. In the West, where this tradition is not yet established, many monastics are left to fend for themselves and it can be difficult for those of the lay community to access the Dharma, which is still considered a luxury in our culture.

 

Vajrapani Institute offers around $17,000 worth of retreat time to sponsor the Sangha annually.

 

Help us cover the cost of offering the most precious gift of the Dharma to our precious Sangha community.

Retreat Scholarship Fund

Vajrapani offers a number of discounts and partial and full scholarships to our retreats every year. We also offer 4-5 “Pay-it-Forward” retreats which are offered free of cost and encourage attendee to pay the generosity forward.

All of this is possible through the kind support of generous benefactors. By becoming a donor, you enter a circle of friends committed to making our retreats as accessible as possible to wider audiences.

Become a benefactor of retreat today!

Upcoming Retreats

“All Into One”: An experiential retreat on Calm Abiding and Emptiness based on Guru Yoga and the 3 Principal Aspects of the Path

Venerable René Feusi

April 25 - May 5, 2024
About the Retreat We are so pleased and honored that one of our most precious teachers is returning again to Vajrapani.   This retreat is a rare opportunity to meditate with Venerable Rene more deeply on the teachings he gave last year in the Bay Area on Guru Yoga as a basis for realizing Mahamudra or realizing "mind as it is."   Utilizing once again the Guru Yoga practice, The Hundred Deities of the Land of Joy, as the life force for collecting merit and clearing obstacles on our spiritual path, Venerable Rene will also offer experiential teachings and meditations…

Online Book Club – Vol 4: Following in the Buddha’s Footsteps

Venerable Gyalten Chimé

May 8 - June 26, 2024
When On Zoom Every Wednesday for 8 weeks 6:30 - 8:30pm Pacific Time Zoom Link will be sent a day before the Wednesday night class.     Prerequisites: None – Open to all students   It is recommended that participants read the first few chapters prior to the first Book Club session on May 8th.   About the Book This weekly online book gathering will feature facilitated conversation, discussion and meditation sessions with Buddhist monastic Venerable Chimé.   Delve into the substance of spiritual practice in this fourth volume of the Dalai Lama’s definitive series on the path to awakening,…

Our Blog

  • Spring has officially arrived and with it a sense of renewal, a spark of hope. Trees are leafing and blossoming. So many wildflowers dot the hillsides. Bees are buzzing and early morning birds chatter like townsfolk exclaiming the beauty of this valley.  Living a quiet......

Vajrapani Institute is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition www.FPMT.org