Contributions are held in the scheme’s bank account and sent to Sera Jey Monastery every six months at the end of June and December. This is to save on the cost of handling (bank charges especially in India) and cutting down the work involved in distributing the money in India.
The due date for contributions is 1st June and the 1st December.
You can be as far ahead as you like (some sponsors are years ahead), as held money earns interest and this helps with the running costs of the scheme. We prefer payments made during the year as this spreads the workload over 6 months, but the absolute cut off date is the 1st June and December, allowing us to enter payments and for cheques to clear.
The distribution of your donations are managed by a senior monk at the monastery. The recipients are identified by photograph, name and identity number (PIN) before handing over your contribution. Each recipient must sign for the money that has been received. These records are returned to the schemes administrators in Australia for checking and verification. Sponsors are welcome to see these records.
Receipts and Newsletter: Receipts for all payments are emailed in January and July each year. Unfortunately,because the cost of postage within Australia is now $1.00 each normal sized envelope, the scheme is only able to send to an email address. Our apologies for this to all sponors without access to email, however if you come to Tibetan Buddhist Institute 8 Ross Avenue Flinders Park SA Australia, we hare very happy to print yours off for you. Along with the receipt, we send an annual newsletter, which you may like to advertise in. All advertising is on a single A4 page and the ads are about the size of a business card – 90 x 55mm and costs Aus$15.00. Money raised this way helps defray the cost of running the scheme.
Running Cost Donations: Some sponsors like to send with their contribution, extra money to help with the enormous running costs of the scheme….this is most welcome, and helps with items like stationary, domain costs, banking (including the cost of banking in India), photos of monks, computer, backup, internet connection, etc. etc. However, there is no obligation or expectation to contribute in this way when you undertake sponsorship.
Run entirely by Volunteers
Tibetan Sponsorship Schemes is run entirely by volunteers and administered by the Tibetan Buddhist Institute in Australia. This allows the entire contribution to be sent to India and Tibet and no administration costs are taken from distributions.
The schemes Administrator, Nawang Thubten (Tenzin) oversees the Tibet and Indian side of the sponsorship scheme. As Rinpoche’s appointed representative, Tenzin makes the final decisions on any matters to do with the scheme, and is responsible for ensuring that the distributions are received in Tibet and India. As a Tibetan, he does any communicating that is needed in both countries.
The schemes coordinator in Adelaide is Carole Armstrong. She carries out all the day to day work, including communicating with new and relinquishing sponsors, managing the financial side of the scheme, writing the newsletter, sending out receipts twice a year and liaising with Sera Je Monastery regarding sponsees.
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