KCC's Financial Resources

On August 4th, The Strategic Planning Committee hosted the final of four focus groups--this one on the financial resources that support KCC.  The committee put out some valuable financial documents during the meeting, and those are reproduced below.  The first table shows our current operating costs based on the 2012 budget.   It includes all the costs associated with the Portland and Goldendale facilities and the revenues generated by retreats, bookstore, and rent, but not capital costs associated with completing construction on the long-retreat cloister.

 KCC's Operating Costs

How do we pay the bills? Each year the KCC bookstore generates about $1,700, and retreats contribute another $46,000 toward our overhead. KCC receives $6,000 in rent from the urban center residents, and we earn about $150 in interest on the money we have in the bank.  Based on our current revenue and expenses, it would take 100 people giving $78.00 per month to cover the rest of KCC’s core operating costs.

	Portland	Goldendale
Lama’s Salary & Benefits	$41,810
Caretakers’ Stipend & Benefits		$29,825
Facilities & Vehicles	$17,080	$26,050
Utilities, maintenance, insurance, taxes
Office & Administration Expense	$5,020	$1,230
Volunteer Insurance	$1,700	$3,570
Connecting with the Lineage	$6,250
Lama travel to India, hosting visiting teachers, support to Bokar Monastery
Legal & Bookkeeping Fees	$6,000
Committee Budgets	$3,900	4,500
Total	$81,760	$65,175
GRAND TOTAL	$146,935

 Hypothetical Future Operating Costs

The second table is a hypothetical using very rough (and modest) numbers to illustrate the increased costs of owning a new urban center.  The figures aren't an attempt to project actual costs, but placeholders.  We didn't know whether we'd be hiring more teaching staff or operational staff (maintenance, office, volunteer coordinator, executive director), but it seemed likely that we'd have some new staff.  The figures on mortgage and new operating costs are likewise just placeholders--it's easy to think of scenarios where the cost is more or less depending on the fundraising we do before acquiring a center and the size of the new center we acquire.  Using these very rough figures, the per-member monthly costs rise to $160 on those same 100 people.  As (or more importantly if) the sangha grew, the per-person costs would drop--$107/month at 150 people, and $80/mo with 200 people. 

	Portland	Goldendale
Lama’s Salary & Benefits	$41,810
Caretakers’ Stipend & Benefits		$29,825
New Staff or Teaching Position Salary, payroll taxes, and benefits Facilities & Vehicles	$45,000 $17,080	$26,050
Utilities, maintenance, insurance, taxes
$500,000 Mortgage on New Center New Center Operating Costs Utilities, maintenance, insurance Office & Administration Expense	$30,400 $24,000 $5,020	$1,230
Volunteer Insurance	$1,700	$3,570
Connecting with the Lineage	$6,250
Lama travel to India, hosting visiting teachers, support to Bokar Monastery
Legal & Bookkeeping Fees	$6,000
Committee Budgets	$3,900	4,500
Total	$181,160	$65,175
GRAND TOTAL	$246,335

New Urban Center: A Question of When

Beginning in June, the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) convened a series of four focus groups to talk about central issues raised in our strategic planning process.  The second meeting revolved around the idea of a new urban center and which configuration would best meet KCC's needs.  We broke into small groups, where we considered five different facilities currently on the market.  The idea behind this focus group was to begin to see where the community's priorities lay: a smaller center we could use in the short term, a more expansive center that would accommodate more functions as KCC grows, or some combination of the two.  

One thing that wasn't explicitly on the agenda was when we might pursue a new urban center.  It has been the policy of the board that we first raise all funds necessary to complete the long retreat cloister at Ser Cho Osel Ling; the SPC has therefore been operating under the assumption that this is at least months and probably years in the future.  Yet the opportunity to buy the St Mark's building two blocks from KCC got some members of the sangha excited.  In an email to the Community listserv, one member wrote:

And yet for me, as a relatively new member of seven years or so, the contemplation of an expanded urban center has ignited excitement, enthusiasm, and a heart-felt passion that says YES! We CAN do this! We MUST do this! Our Monroe Street home is a place where we go to sit, to receive superb teachings, and to feel somewhat connected to other practitioners. But it’s not a place where we go to get to know one another very easily. We squish into the kitchen for tea, and hope to find a seat for the potluck lunch on the 1st Sunday of the month.

KCC's current urban center was designed to be a residence, not a meeting place.  It's too small and the configuration doesn't work.  This isn't a new situation, either--the sangha outgrew its current home sometime in the mid-1990s, and that's when members first started talking about moving.  Yet there are also serious challenges to moving.  Next spring, the first of the long retreats begins at SCOL.  We've been building facilities in Goldendale since 2000, and the prospect of launching another major initiative is daunting.  Moving to a new home will cost money and consume enormous volunteer effort.  If KCC were to decide to go into debt to finance the move--something it hasn't done in Goldendale--it would create a new level of financial risk.  Even as some people express excitement at the prospect, others have misgivings; at the financial resources focus group, one small group returned with the recommendation to delay finding a new center for those reasons.

When KCC began exploring the idea of building a rural retreat center in the late 1990s, it seemed like a pipe dream.  Inspirations sprang from the enthusiasm of a small group, and over time, the center continued to discuss it and dream about it.  KCC set up a planning committee to study the possibility.  In 1999, a large contingent from Portland visited Mirik and discussed the prospect with Bokar Rinpoche, who encouraged us to pursue it. By the time the community met for its annual sangha meeting after that trip, almost everyone at the center was behind the plan.

That was a fascinating real-time experiment.  None of us knew anything about running a retreat center, and only a tiny fraction of us had any direct experience with extended retreat.  At the time, it seemed like such a facility would only be used by a small portion of the sangha.  And yet, by the time we decided to pursue it, nearly the entire community (90% or more) had coalesced behind the plan.  What followed was one of the most remarkable projects I've ever witnessed--that a center our size could raise funds and build a state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar facility is unbelievable.

By comparison, finding a new urban center seems like small potatoes.  But only by comparison.  In the event, it will require a huge amount of effort by dozens of volunteers, a new campaign to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, and months of work and transition.  KCC has proven we are eminently capable of managing a project like this, but the sangha has to fully support it first.  Most things in a small volunteer organization happen when there are champions to make sure they happen.  On the SPC, we're doing our best to assess the energy and support for a new center--that will go a long way toward answering the question of when.  The KCC Board of Directors recently confirmed that we need to complete fundraising on SCOL before pursuing a new urban center.  Whether we begin looking for a place immediately thereafter or wait--this remains a real puzzle.

We'll have to just keep talking to each other.


The posts on this blog have been written to reflect the intention and work of the Strategic Planning Committee.  This post, written by Jeff Alworth, has more editorial content and may not reflect the opinion of the strategic planning committee. 

Report on Programs Focus Group

On June 23rd, KCC conducted the first of four public focus groups as a part of our strategic planning process.  We asked people to consider four questions in advance of and during the focus group:

1. What do you feel you need to help your practice grow now and in the coming years?
2. The mission andvision included a number of aspirations related to programs and activities. Are these aspirations being fulfilled for you personally?
3. Lama Michael recently said, “If long retreats hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be here at all.” What kind of connection do you see between long retreats and the benefits you receive at KCC?
4. During the SWOT in January, the Sangha raised a number of ideas for programs where the Sangha would interact and support each other more.  [A list was included.]  How important are these for you, and how would you see yourself being part of this?

Thanks to the hard work of Peter Frothingham, we now have the responses available for you to peruse.  In the embedded document below, the first four pages were the responses given by small groups at the focus group and the second four were written responses.  

Roughly 30 members were able to attend the focus group, and the small group discussions were rich and varied. After the meeting, the Strategic Planning Committee met and discussed what we learned from the process, and we all felt it was most useful.  The programs of meditation, retreat, and study offered at KCC mainly fall in the purview of Lama Michael Conklin and the the Program Council, but your candid responses will help shape the way they think about those programs, how they prioritize them, and will inform program development in the coming years.

It was a great joy to see the sangha's interest and engagement with the first focus group.  We hope to see you this Sunday from 2-5 pm for the second focus group.  If you can't make it, consider commenting at the blog.  I will report back about that meeting in the next week or two.  

Program Focus Group Input