FAQ: Valley Insight Finances 

What’s the Annual Appeal?

Traditionally, Buddhists supported the Sangha by contributing food and money for the upkeep of monks, temples, and retreat centers. To meet the various needs and support the activities of our Sangha, Valley Insight asks for financial support once a year. We mail our Annual Appeal letters and emails in fall, like many nonprofits.

Where does Valley Insight’s income come from?

Contributions to our Annual Appeal are particularly critical. We receive most of our donations in the last quarter of the year, unlike in years past when we received dana offered at our in-person events and income from retreat registrations. Now, however, most of our events are held in our Online Dharma Hall and we don’t receive dana for these events.

What do contributions support?

In general, the money we raise barely covers our expenses year to year. In a typical year, our major expenses include:

• Rent paid for venues for our sits and retreats;
• Insurance (we compensate teachers for insurance coverage for their leadership of Valley Insight sits and other events);
• Expenses to support our Prison Sangha and Support Sangha;
• Compensation to teachers for various administrative tasks they perform for Valley Insight; expenses paid for bookkeeping; website hosting, support, and maintenance; newsletter production; and other professional services;
• Professional services of various kinds (bookkeeping, newsletter production, web updating);
• Miscellaneous expenses.

What’s different in 2025-2026?

The board discusses our annual budget in November and December. Our expenses for rent have been reduced since we’re using our Online Dharma Hall for many events. Still, we pay rent to use The Barn and the St. Barnabas Parish Hall for monthly use of the Tuesday sit and we rent venues for retreats, so rent hasn’t disappeared entirely.

Many expenses have gone up. Insurance costs continue to rise. As Valley Insight has grown, we’re needed to engage a professional bookkeeper. And we pay more for newsletter production and for web hosting and updating since these are both important ways for our Sangha to learn about what’s happening.

In total, we need to raise about $20,000 in our fall appeal to meet our expenses.

How does teacher dana work now that all our sits are online?

Valley Insight has never paid teachers for teaching, facilitating small groups, leading sits, or conducting retreats. As is traditional in our lineage, attendees offer dana for the teachings. Before we opened our Online Dharma Hall – when we held sits and events in person – people would contribute directly to teachers by dropping cash or a check into the dana box at the event. Others sent it in care of Valley Insight and we would then send it on to the teacher.

You can still send a check directly to a teacher. If you prefer, you can offer dana online via credit card or PayPal. This dana goes directly to the teachers. Detailed information is available here.

How will the bequest of Debby Garretson’s condo affect our finances?

Debby Garretson, who was part of our Sangha for a long-time, died in early 2025 and left her condominium to Valley Insight. Her estate is now in probate. Until it’s settled, Valley Insight is paying the expenses required to maintain the condominium: condo association fees, various utilities, and insurance, which totaled about $15,000 in 2025.

Currently, we’re planning to carry these expenses through until June 2026.

When the condominium is transferred to our ownership, we plan to sell it and can then replenish our reserves for the money we’ve spent on condo maintenance, closing costs, and other expenses. The board is discussing how to engage our Sangha in envisioning how we and our community might best use the proceeds to the greatest benefit.