Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Why I Started KarmaBlast.org


When I met the monks of the Dugang Monastery during a personal visit to Tibet I was very moved by their incredible dedication to spiritual growth; moreso by their compassionate nature despite the extremely harsh weather, their lack of warm clothing and inadequate living conditions.


I returned home with a strong desire to help improve their living conditions. Our goal was to rebuild this small monastery that had been desecrated by the Chinese military some 20 years earlier. After obtaining 501c3 non-profit status and being without any experience in fundraising, a single individual donor miraculously stepped forward to fund the entire $200,000 project.


Fulfilling this project has been the most meaningful endeavor of my life, and it has inspired me to do more. With the momentum of the success of our initial project we started the concept of creating "Karmablasts" - small acts of charity that have concrete deliverables and budgets under $250,000. Using the internet to build and strengthen our community we allow the user base to submit ideas for more projects and follow the progress of each initiative. It was important to design the organization in this way to let people know that we really can make a difference and see real results from our contributions in a very short time. Also100% of all donated money went directly to our initial project. We plan to keep our overhead costs very low.


Our goal in 2010 is to raise $1,000,000 to fund several projects: to rebuild an orphanage Nha Trang, Vietnam and in Dehradun, India and a medical clinic in Tibet for $100,000 each, as well as building two new Tibetan monasteries in Bhutan, and rebuilding an historically important temple in Tibet.


The monks of Dugang are very grateful for the generosity that has helped to support and sustain their efforts. After all, their only aim in life is to obtain enlightenment in order to more effectively bring peace and hapiness to all beings. I feel supremely confident in supporting that selfless and vast endeavor. Vic

No comments:

Post a Comment