Donations and Dues

Your Support Sustains the Practice

Berkeley Zen Center has been well supported since 1967 by dues and donations from our sangha, as well as by their generous and wholehearted contributions of time, energy and talent. Members and Friends may pay dues, pay for classes and sesshins and/or make tax deductible donations here. Our Federal Tax ID:  23-7452822. (Note: for tax deductibility, BZC retains final authority for use of donated funds.)

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You may also want to consider supporting Berkeley Zen Center through planned giving. For more information please review our Planned Giving Brochure.

Donations

General

General Donations are contributions made to support BZC in meeting its annual income goal, This supports essential temple activities, including maintaining our physical premises, paying the salaries and benefits of our Abbot and Vice-Abbot, the salary of our Office Manager and other operational costs.





Sits/Classes

Please use the button below to pay for BZC classes and sittings. If you see a note field (some do and some don’t) please note what you are paying for; if you DON’T see a note field, please drop an email to the Office Manager at bzcofficemanager@gmail.com letting them know what you are paying for.




Building

Donations to the Building Fund help support higher-cost projects that are a result of the aging of the structures on BZC’s property. These improvements include: bringing plumbing and electricity up to code, insuring seismic safety, remodeling to meet current needs and replacing appliances for energy efficiency.





Leadership

Donations to the Leadership Fund help build a reserve fund to cover projected salary increases for our abbots that will bring these to a level consistent with salaries of other clergy with similar positions and to provide retirement support for our abbot when it is needed.





Membership

Members

Interested in Becoming a BZC Member? Membership is a significant step in our practice at Berkeley Zen Center. It acknowledges our commitment to be actively engaged in a regular zazen schedule with our teachers and sangha.

If you have been sitting with BZC regularly for a few months or longer and wish to contribute to support the practice, we encourage you to become a BZC member. Members make regular dues donations, vote in Board elections, and can check out library books (after Covid). They also may be asked to join a committee or hold a practice position.

If you are interested in becoming a BZC member, please email Sue Oehser at: membership@berkeleyzencenter.org . Current members can use this button to make dues payments:





Friends

FRIENDS are members who, due to distance or some other reason, cannot participate on a regular basis yet wish to maintain an ongoing relationship with BZC and receive our newsletter. We suggest Friends make a regular contribution of $30 per quarter (every three months).





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