Dear Friends,
As we come to 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. For the past ten years, our fundraising efforts have focused 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 restored and preserved this beautiful space in powerful ways, replacing the roof, installing solar panels, upgrading electrical and HVAC systems, 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, hundreds of people participate in our meditation classes and programs, recovery groups, retreats, and community activities, finding opportunities for healing, service, friendship, and connection. 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, and those in mental health facilities and sober living environments. Through these efforts, we bring Buddhist practice directly into the lives of people facing challenges while offering compassion, connection, 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.
Now our focus must begin to shift. Moving forward, our fundraising efforts cannot only be about securing and maintaining the physical building. They must also be about securing the organizational structure that will carry the Dharma Bum Temple into the next generation.
A building alone cannot sustain a community. The Temple also needs strong leadership, healthy systems, financial stability, trained meditation leaders, program facilitators, committed volunteers, thoughtful succession planning, and an organizational foundation built to last. The Dharma Bum Temple cannot be about the leadership of just a few people. It must be about a community, a shared responsibility, and a structure strong enough to continue from one generation to the next.
Without all of these elements working together, the Temple cannot exist for the long term. As we look toward the next twenty years, our responsibility is not only to care for the people who need the Dharma Bum Temple today, but also for the people who have not found it yet.
We think about the college student who may be struggling with depression right now or grieving the loss of a grandparent. We think about the high school student who feels lonely, who is looking for friends, and who wonders if there is anywhere they truly belong. We think about the elementary school child who is being teased or picked on while their parents quietly hope that someday they will find a community where they are accepted exactly as they are. None of them may even know the Dharma Bum Temple exists today, but someday they might need this place. Our responsibility is to make sure it is still here when they find it.
In the future, Temple leadership will change. Meditation class leaders will change. Volunteers will change. The people sitting in our meditation hall will change. But the heart of the Dharma Bum Temple can remain the same: a place where everyone is welcomed, where Buddhist teachings and meditation remain free and accessible, and where people can find recovery, friendship, service, compassion, 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.
As we celebrate everything that has happened during our first twenty years, 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. And if you are able, I 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
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 organizational 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