Dear Friends,
As we near the close of 2026 and prepare to celebrate twenty years of the Dharma Bum Temple, we are filled with deep gratitude for everything this community has made possible. For two decades, countless people have come through our doors to meditate, recover, serve, grieve, heal, build friendships, and find a sense of belonging, all for free. What began as a small community in downtown San Diego, has grown into something far beyond what we could have ever imagined.
For our first ten years, we operated in a very small space doing our best to serve the community with limited resources. Then everything changed when we had the opportunity to secure a permanent home in 2016. For the past ten years, our fundraising efforts have focused primarily on purchasing, restoring, and repairing a building that will be one hundred years old in 2027. Those efforts have helped ensure that this historic space is safe and able to continue serving the community.
Together, we have accomplished so much. Because of your generosity, we have preserved this beautiful space in transformative ways, replacing the roof, installing solar panels, upgrading electrical and HVAC systems, restoring and fabricating antique windows, repairing plumbing, restoring original flooring, renovating retreat spaces, and creating peaceful outdoor environments, including our new Zen garden. Nearly every corner of this Temple has been touched by your support. And still, the work continues.
At the heart of the Dharma Bum Temple is our commitment to making Buddhist teachings and meditation freely accessible to everyone. Each week, approximately five hundred people participate in our meditation classes and programs, recovery groups, retreats, and community service activities. Our commitment to Engaged Buddhism also extends far beyond the Temple walls through outreach to people experiencing homelessness, individuals in prisons, students in schools and colleges, senior living communities, the LGBTQ community, and those in mental health facilities and sober living environments. Through these efforts, we bring meditation directly into the lives of people facing challenges while offering compassion and meaningful support. This is the work that gives our Temple its purpose, and it is the work we must ensure continues for generations to come.
Moving forward, our fundraising efforts cannot only be about maintaining the physical building. They must also be about securing the institutional foundation that will carry the Dharma Bum Temple into the next generation. The Temple needs strong leadership, healthy systems, financial stability, trained meditation leaders, program facilitators, volunteer management, and thoughtful succession planning. The Dharma Bum Temple cannot be about the leadership of just a few people. It must be about a shared responsibility and a structure strong enough to continue from one generation to the next.
In the future, the Temple leadership will change, meditation class leaders will change, volunteers will change, and the people sitting in our meditation hall will change. But the heart of the Dharma Bum Temple will remain the same: a place where everyone is welcomed, where Buddhist teachings and meditation remain free and accessible, and where people can find compassion, recovery, friendship, service, and community. It can remain a place where someone who has spent years wondering where they belong can walk through the doors and finally feel that they have found somewhere to call home. This fundraiser is about helping create that future, while we ensure we take care of the current operating expenses.
As we celebrate everything that has happened during our first twenty years, we also face the reality that expenses continue to increase. We are asking the community to help us raise $75,000 by the end of 2026. This will allow us to cover monthly expenses and strengthen the long-term sustainability of the Dharma Bum Temple.
If you are already a monthly donor, thank you! Your steady support is the foundation of everything we do. If you are able, we invite you to join this year-end offering with an additional one-time donation. For those who have not yet contributed, please consider supporting this effort in whatever amount is meaningful to you. Every donation helps us continue this important work and build a lasting future for our community. We ask you to please consider making a year-end tax-deductible donation at this time.
WAYS TO DONATE:
Fundraising Campaign: Click Here
Dharma Bum Temple Website: Click Here
PayPal: Click Here
PayPal Giving Fund: Click Here
Facebook Campaign: Click Here
Venmo: @dharmabumtemple
Mail a Check: Checks payable to Dharma Bum Temple and mail to 4144 Campus Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103.
Donate in Person: Checks & cash may be placed in the donation boxes in the Temple's main hall or in the Buddha for You Meditation Hall.
It is with deep gratitude that we thank you for believing in and supporting the Dharma Bum Temple. Over the past twenty years, this community has become a living expression of compassion, wisdom, service, and belonging, reaching far beyond the walls of our Temple. Your generosity allows us to care for our historic building, sustain our programs, expand our outreach, and strengthen the institutional foundation for our future. Together, we can honor everything this community has become while ensuring that the Temple remains a place of refuge for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Zlotnik
Co-Founder & CEO
Dharma Bum Temple