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Job Title: Operations & Development Manager

This position provides operational and fundraising support to the Sacramento Dharma Center (SDC) and its Board with responsibility for Center operations, engaging with donors to raise funds for operating costs and staff salaries, and communicating with the sustaining sanghas and the public. It supports the work of volunteers and assists the board in planning events.

The Operations & Development Manager is a highly interactive position requiring a balance of administrative, fundraising, and communications skills to deal with a broad range of stakeholders. This is a new role and the SDC Board is excited to support the future candidate as they grow and make the job their own. You can learn more about the mission and history of the Sacramento Dharma Center here: https://sacdharma.org/.

Key Responsibilities

1. Donor Engagement:
   • Welcome new donors and maintain relationships with current and potential donors.
   • Re-engage lapsed donors by updating contact information and encouraging continued support.
   • Foster legacy and monthly giving through direct contact, written communication, and social media outreach.
   • Educate members from all three sanghas (particularly new people) on SDC as an organization separate from their sangha.
   • Plan and manage donor events.
   • Update and analyze the SUMAC donor database to plan fundraising activities.
   • Development and implementation of seasonal fundraising campaign.

2. Other fundraising
   • Work with SDC volunteers to create additional funding sources such as grants, events, and an endowment.
3. Communications:
   • Supervise volunteers to publish periodic newsletters to update the community on Dharma Center activities.
   • Update the Dharma Center’s website by creating new content and working with the webmaster on the updates.
   • Create content for messaging to donors, sangha members and the broader community on social media platforms, brochures, and posters. Create content  for internal messaging for sharing during weekly sangha meetings,
   • Respond to inquiries and correspondence from the community.
4. Board Administrative Support:
   • Implement SDC Board initiatives at the direction of the President.
   • Assist the Secretary in maintaining the organization’s corporate document repository on Google Drive
   • Support SDC volunteers, such as the Library Committee and Family Sangha with administrative and technical tasks.
   • Prepare materials for Executive Committee and Board meetings.
5. Scheduling & Space Management:
   • Update the Dharma Center’s website with event and room reservation information.
   • Coordinate space reservations with sustaining sanghas and other renters, ensuring optimal use of facilities.
   • Seek outside rentals to maximize rental income from available building space.
6. Other duties as assigned.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Understanding: Familiarity with Buddhist practices, values, and ethics.
• Knowledge: Project management and fundraising methods including social media platforms. (Preferred) Experience with nonprofits and nonprofit development.Basic financial literacy skills to support the board Treasurer.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in MS Office, WordPress, Google Workspace or other collaborative tools.
• Interpersonal Skills: Ability to work with diverse teams, resolve issues collaboratively, and demonstrate sensitivity to diversity and generational differences.
• Communication Skills: Strong organizational, communication, and writing skills for creating reports, newsletters, and marketing materials.
• Fundraising Skills: Demonstrated experience with a successful fundraising campaign with donors. Ideally, some grant writing experience.

Hours and Compensation

• Schedule: 30 hours per week including some evening and weekend events; schedule is variable.
• Salary: $50,400/year.
• Benefits: Possible health care stipend available.

Location

Sacramento, CA.  Some work from home and  via Zoom meetings is allowable. Presence at SDC is required for sangha weekly meetings and in-person events.

To apply

Send a resume and a 1-2 page cover letter in PDF to Diana Cassady, SDC board member: SacDharmaCenterJob@gmail.com. The cover letter should include examples of your work that demonstrate your experience relevant to this job announcement. This position will be open until filled.

Imagine

In 1980, not long after Jim Hare had moved from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco, John Lennon was killed. The next day at the S.F. Zen center, all attendees of the morning service were invited to come to the altar and offer incense in honor of the former Beatle. This heartfelt offering for someone Jim admired and respected confirmed his decision to move for the sake of practicing in community.

About three decades later, now living in Sacramento, Jim had a spark of imagination—maybe if three local sanghas pooled their resources, they could buy a building—creating a permanent home for Buddhist practice in this region. Now, eight years after moving into Sacramento Dharma Center, we are working to secure its future.

Securing the Legacy

Since its founding, the Dharma Center has truly become a place for “Buddha’s wisdom and compassion in community.” The best way to continue the legacy is to reduce—maybe even eliminate—the mortgage, our biggest single expense. Free of this $3,000 monthly burden, it will be easier to transition to leadership by a younger generation. Newcomers want to serve, but with family and career responsibilities they do not have as much time to devote as the (mostly retired) founders. The move from an all-volunteer staff to a paid staff is the way of the future.

Within Reach–A Debt-Free SDC

Three years ago, we began a fundraising campaign to pay down $150,000 on our mortgage before we had to refinance in 2026. Astoundingly, with two years to go we have already paid down $250,000 of debt and now owe just under $132,000!

We need your help to continue this success. This year, four amazing donors have together offered $1 to $1 matching funds up to $42,000. This sets our campaign goal at $84,000. We humbly ask for your support to meet or go beyond this goal.

No Discouraging Words

Now it can be told—Jim Hare of Valley Streams Zen Sangha was the uncredited interviewer and writer of our prior profiles of Helen Hobart and Barbara Colton. This year, Dell Richards turns the spotlight on him.

Within days of his retirement in 2008, Jim Hare left home for a three-week intensive retreat at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. On returning to Sacramento, he began a series of one-on-one conversations with acquaintances and friends within the Buddhist meditation community. Jim put forth a vision for a shared home for Buddhist practice, and asked, “Do you share this vision? Would you be willing to work on this together?” No one said a discouraging word, and from those conversations the effort to create the Sacramento Dharma Center was born.

Many hands have shared the work since those early days. After a year spent fleshing out the vision and forming a new nonprofit, the next order of business was to begin raising money.

“From the inception of the board in 2010 to 2016, we were always fundraising, which was very difficult,” Jim said. “We had to find the courage to ask people to give money for a vision.” After taking a workshop called “The Soul of Money,” the original board members began making the rounds to Sangha members, asking for pledges of $5,000 from each. Thanks to those initial donors and a few who were inspired to make larger donations, the board ultimately raised nearly half a million dollars to put towards a down payment.

Jim decided to leave the Dharma Center Board in 2015 to concentrate on Zen priest ordination. “I put a lot of time and effort into the beginning of the Dharma Center, but I was becoming more convinced that it was ‘now or never’ to complete the priest ordination that my teachers were encouraging.” Jim received the precepts in 2016 in a ceremony attended by many Dharma friends. He continues to stay involved in SDC committees. Last year, Jim and his wife Karen Hamilton designed and helped tile artist Shelby Kennedy install the new monument sign near the front entrance.

“The stability of the Dharma Center may be taken for granted now. But as our volunteers and donors get older, we need to do everything possible to ensure that stability continues. Paying off the mortgage in May 2026 will greatly contribute to that goal.”

“Compared to the first 25 years — when we had to deal with renting from other churches, synagogues, and temples—it has been such a boon to have a place we can use all the time. We are offering so much more than we could think of doing back then. We have created a refuge for Buddhist practice; a refuge that serves the Sacramento community.”

Owning the Dharma Center outright is within our grasp. With the help of generous donors like you we can pay off the mortgage in 2026 and leave a debt-free Dharma Center to serve a new generation of practitioners and seekers.

Thank you,

For the Dharma Center Board

P.S. Please return your donation in the enclosed envelope (indicate “Mortgage” on the memo line of your check). Or click the Donate button at the top of our homepage: sacdharma.org.

P.P.S. If you are 70½ or older and have a Traditional IRA, you can donate to the Sacramento Dharma Center by making a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA, and you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw. This article explains how to do this: https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/can-i-use-money-my-ira-donate-charity/

When Susan Orr was the Sacramento Dharma Center’s Board President, she signed-off her emails with the single word: Onward! – expressing her cheerful optimism that we would succeed in our quest to buy a building. And it is onward that we continue to go, though without our beloved Susan, who died in 2018. And as of this year, without Linda Dekker, who served SDC so selflessly from its inception through 2021.

Our founders thought of the Dharma Center as a legacy project, something precious they could leave to future generations – a home for Buddhist practice. Our current Board is committed to preserving and extending their legacy. One goal is to leave the property debt-free by paying down the mortgage. A second is to nurture younger leaders who will carry on managing, improving, and defining what the Dharma Center will be.

To accommodate the needs of younger leaders, the Dharma Center will need more paid staff and services. This is already happening and stretching our budget, and these needs and costs will undoubtedly increase. This is the reason why paying off the mortgage – our biggest single expense – remains a top priority.

Asking for Your Help

Two years ago, we began a five-year fundraising campaign to pay down the balance of our mortgage, which now stands at just under $300,000. We’ve had two tremendously successful campaigns, raising over $70,000 each year, all of which went to pay-down the mortgage to its current level.

The goal is to keep replicating this success. This year two donors have together offered $1 to $1 matching funds, up to $25,000. This sets our campaign goal at $50,000. We humbly ask for your support to meet or go beyond this goal.

‘The Way is to Volunteer’

The Sacramento Dharma Center (SDC) thrives due to the effort of volunteers and committed donors. Among the people who check those boxes, Barbara Colton stands out. Barbara, stepped into the role of SDC Board President in early 2019. She will finally “term-out” of her Board position early next year, so we asked her to look back at her spiritual path and her motivation for such long service.

SDC: Please tell us about your personal path of practice.

Barbara Colton: I came to the Dharma late in life, beginning with yoga practice in the 1990’s. My first meditation retreat was at Chochmat HaLev, a Jewish spiritual center in Berkeley. Though my spiritual bones were not very strong, I persisted and began to attend retreats at Spirit Rock, the Insight Meditation Center in
Massachusetts, and started going to Sacramento Insight  Meditation (SIM). I completed the two-year Dedicated Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock, which included five long retreats, as well as the Heavenly Messengers Program with Frank Ostaseski, which provided support for my work then as a hospice volunteer.

SDC: What motivates your spirit of service?

Barbara Colton: I’ve learned that if you want to get involved in something, the way is to volunteer. Shortly after I joined SIM, I volunteered to set up the meditation hall; eventually I was on the SIM board. I wanted to experience how a board could work based on Dharma principles. When the SDC Board President position
became vacant, I told the Board that “president skills” were not my strong suit, but I would do it. I hoped to improve my leadership skills and to contribute to the ongoing health of the Board according to the Dharma.

SDC: What are your hopes for the future of SDC?

Barbara Colton: The Dharma Center needs to have a sense of identity that new people can understand. We are working on that. We produced a poster explaining the role of SDC and we are working on another one as the run-up to this fundraising campaign. All our efforts are so that SDC can to continue to exist and be a Dharma home for people who come here.

SDC: You have been a consistent donor to SDC. Would you talk about that?

Barbara Colton: One of the important teachings for me is Dana (generosity, giving). I’ve learned that it is important to support those things that one believes in. SDC is an expression of that. For me the Dharma started out as a conceptual scaffolding. Through my practice I’ve come to experience the truth of the teachings. The Buddha’s insights are profound. For me the Dharma works, and I would like there to continue to be a home for people to explore how the Dharma works for them too. I think the crude expression is ‘you put your money where your mouth is;’ or more accurately for me, ‘put your money where you want to be
(silent, on a cushion.)’

SDC: Do you have a message for prospective donors?

Barbara Colton: People can see and enjoy the investments we have made in this building: the new bathrooms, the remodeled West Hall, new roofs and solar panels, the North Garden area, the fledgling trees in the ‘back forty.’ What they can’t see is the $3,000 per month mortgage payments, our biggest single expense. Donating to pay down the mortgage is the most effective way to ensure the future of the Dharma Center.

Thank you,

Kenny Bender

For the Dharma Center Board

Making a Donation

To make a contribution of any amount, please press the button below and you’ll be connected to the Dharma Center donation page. Thank you!

P.P.S. If you are 70½ or older and have a Traditional IRA, you can donate to the Sacramento Dharma Center by making a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA, and you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw. This article explains how to do this:
https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/can-i-use-money-my-ira-donate-charity/

Or mail your donation to Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826, and indicate “Mortgage Pay Down” on your check.Thanks!

Climbing the Mountain

A single step, then another. It’s how to reach the top of the highest mountain – or accomplish any goal.

The goal in front of us is steep — to cut our Center’s mortgage in half in five years. And with your help, we can get there. If we make extra payments each year — small steps – we can cut our debt in half by May of 2026, when our loan comes due and we refinance.

What is most exciting is that an anonymous donor is helping us get started on this multiyear campaign! For every dollar pledged, we will receive one dollar in matching funds, up to $10,000. In addition, this generous benefactor will donate an additional $10,000!

That means that we can reach our initial goal of paying down the mortgage by $30,000 at the end of this year with your help raising another $10,000 in donations from our supporters.

Why Undertake this Journey?

Our mortgage payment is our Center’s biggest financial burden — almost $3,000 a month. If we can pay down our loan, the road ahead will be much smoother.

Five years into running a Dharma Center, we have learned that taking care of the building and grounds solely with volunteer labor is not sustainable. Already we’ve found it necessary to hire outside services for lawn care, cleaning, and bookkeeping.

The work of our volunteer building and office managers has been simply extraordinary, but soon we will have to pay for more office and building administration services.

By reducing our mortgage debt, we’ll free up resources to pay for needed services. With paid staff, we’ll be able to enjoy our programs and classes, secure in the knowledge that day-to-day operations are being taken care of. We’ll be able to concentrate on our core mission: building and maintaining a shared sanctuary for Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Getting Time on Our Side

It makes financial sense to begin to tackle our mortgage now. The clock is ticking — our ten-year loan comes due in less than six years. When the balloon payment is due, we plan to refinance our debt.

It is almost guaranteed that the loan market will be a lot harsher. The very low interest rate (3.81%) we obtained in 2016 will be hard to find in 2026.

If we can pay down our outstanding loan to $200,000 in 2026, instead of $400,000 without prepayments, we’ll lessen the shock of projected higher interest rates.

The benefits of mortgage pay down are IMMEDIATE. Reducing the principal you owe today means that you save money in the long run. A $30,000 prepayment in December 2021 on our existing loan will save $5,715 in interest charges by the time our loan comes due.

Make a Donation online here on the website or send your contribution of any amount to Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826, and indicate “Mortgage Pay Down” on your check.” And thank you!

If you have any questions, please email Larry Smith, SDC Treasurer at sdc3111@outlook.com

With gratitude,

Sacramento Dharma Center Board

P.S. We are launching our mortgage pay down in part due to popular demand. Now that our critical building renovation and repair projects are behind us, it’s time to improve the financial future of SDC.

One Step at a Time…

Dear Sangha Friends,

Nearing the end of this extraordinary year, in which our commitment to the Dharma and practice has sustained and supported us, we find ourselves ever grateful for you, our friends and supporters! Your continued generosity has enabled us to pay the bills and maintain our Dharma Center, even though we have been unable to dwell in our home since March. We want to take this opportunity to update you and express our gratitude.

With the safety of our Sangha members uppermost in mind, sadly, we do not know when we will be able to resume our usual meetings. We are encouraged by how well everyone has adapted their full schedule of activities, including weekly sittings and Dharma talks, one-day retreats, classes, book groups, board and committee meetings, and a range of other activities to online. Almost all programming is now conducted via Zoom videoconferencing. Some Sanghas have even reported increased participation in many events!

Because of the success of online programming, the Dharma Center Board has taken steps to respond to the Sustaining Sanghas’ expected need for enhanced online capabilities. When we are finally able to open our doors to meeting in-person, this new technology will allow sangha members to participate who otherwise would not be able to–whether because of distance, transportation, illness or physical impairment, or other factors. When COVID restrictions are relaxed, a number of sangha members may still be reluctant to resume in-person participation. To address these needs, we have acquired the audio/video hardware to allow remote participation in onsite programming when those activities resume.

Also, this year we had an amazing response to our appeal for funds to pay for a new roof! And then you really stepped up again to our matching funds challenge, and donated the entire amount needed for the solar panels that will be installed this December. We anticipate the full benefits of the solar panels will begin to accrue in mid 2021. We are pleased to have taken this step towards sustainability, acknowledging that how we live in the world is an expression of the Dharma in our lives. Deepest bows for your amazing support.

For now, our Dharma hall is quiet and empty but for the cushions and chairs awaiting the return of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. We continue to rely on your generosity to sustain the Center as we prepare for a possible reopening sometime next year. We anticipate that the Center will require additional income to support vital services that have been provided on a volunteer basis until now. So far our generous monthly donors pay for most of the everyday expenses of maintaining the building. These monthly gifts from sustaining donors provide stability. It is not surprising that during this year the number of monthly donors has decreased. It is vital for survival that this trend reverses in the coming year!

If you are not yet a monthly sustaining donor, or are a lapsed donor, dana at any level is much appreciated. Pledging a monthly donation on our website with your credit card or arranging with your bank to send a bank check automatically each month generates a stable stream to keep the teachings alive. Monthly amounts of any size add up to a significant gift over the year, really helping with budgeting, and are deeply appreciated. One-time, or annual donations, whether towards our general budget or in response to a specific need, are also most welcome, especially as the year draws to a close!

With your help we can continue to provide a home for our Sanghas and a refuge to all who seek an end to suffering. Please join us in making a gift to the Center today.

With gratitude, wishing you a healthy and safe new year ahead,

Barbara Colton, President, on behalf of the Dharma Center Board

P.S.

Did You Know?!!…

This year the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act offers significant tax incentives to stimulate charitable giving. All taxpayers (those who itemize and those who use the standard deduction) can deduct $300 in charitable giving to public nonprofits in 2020. And for those who itemize their taxes, the CARES Act significantly raises the amount of the charitable giving deductible from 60% of a filer’s adjusted gross income (AGI) to 100% of AGI. There’s never been a more compelling moment to give!  More details HERE

Donate here now

Or mail checks made out to Sacramento Dharma Center to
3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, 95826, attention, Linda Dekker

Raising the Roof

The time has come. We knew it was coming. We need to replace our roof!

When we bought our Dharma home in 2016, the inspectors warned us that the south-facing shingled roof would only last for a few more years. It is now clear that our roof has reached the end of its useful life. The small leak we patched this winter is just one of many signs insistently telling us it is time.

Soaking Up the Sun

It turns out that even a leaking roof has a silver lining. After we replace the roof, it will provide the ideal platform for solar panels as its south-facing orientation is perfect for capturing the sun’s energy year-round.

From the start, solar energy has been a long-term goal at our Center. After all, caring for the earth is why we compost, use sustainable cleaning products, discourage the use of paper and plastic, and put in LED lighting after we opened. Now that it’s time to replace the roof, we can go ahead and make this dream a reality.

What We are Capable of

This project is big, no doubt. But it is not beyond our reach, especially considering our history and how much we’ve already been able to accomplish. In four years, we’ve remarkably transformed a vacant credit union into an inviting and sustainable home for Buddha’s teaching.

We have been able to do all of this because you have always stepped up and supported the mission and vision of our Center. Your generosity has made all of this possible!

The Numbers

The cost of this project might induce sticker shock, but bear with us, for immediately afterward, we will have some good news to share. The roof portion of the project should cost between $40,000 and $45,000. The solar panel system should cost about $50,000. That makes for a total fundraising goal of $90,000 to $95,000.

The Good News

Yes, the numbers are intimidating– that’s why we saved the best news till last! We have had three generous donors step forward already, and we didn’t even have to ask!!! They have collectively pledged $25,000 toward our goal. What a great beginning that is! Also, since last fall, Climate Sangha has already raised over $2,000 for this project. Money raised will first go toward the cost of a new roof, then to solar panels.

There are several innovative and attractive solar energy financing options available from companies that specialize in working with nonprofit organizations. These plans would allow us to take advantage of generous federal tax credits normally not available to nonprofits. And let’s not forget the energy cost savings over the years, a gift that keeps on giving.

How to Contribute

You can pledge now and pay later; the funds will be needed by June of this year. Or mail a check now to 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, 95826. You can also donate online at our website. We are moving fast on this so we can replace the roof in the summer when it is dry and before the tax credits drop in 2021.

Soon we will have information on how to buy an individual solar panel! SDC is set up to take stock donations or automobile donations. Email Linda Dekker at zendekker@gmail.com for more information about ways to donate.

Find Out More

There is too much detail to go into here, so over the next few months, we will be updating you with more information about the process. We hope to have a seminar on March 29th, Sunday afternoon, where our Building Manager Bob Jenne and a solar energy system contractor will explain our plan and answer any and all questions. Please attend if you can. Whether you become a donor to this campaign or not, we want everyone to be informed!

PS Our new roof will meet California’s “cool roof” standards, which means we’ll be using less electricity for air conditioning. Plus, by generating our own power with solar panels, our SMUD electricity bills will go down significantly, probably by at least two thirds!

PPS What could be more important to a home than a good roof and the satisfaction of knowing that we are helping the planet? Every contribution helps, big or small!