This year is AZC’s inaugural Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is an international effort to offset the marketing and consumerism that follows Thanksgiving. Starting in 2012, Black Friday and Cyber Monday enticements to spend were countered with Giving Tuesday to non-profits. By 2018, $400 million had been raised world-wide. Estimates for 2021 will be well above half a billion dollars.

Giving Tuesday is used to kick-off year-end campaigns. It is used as a way to celebrate the act of giving, to encourage the sangha to give to AZC, to practice generosity, and to deepen one’s intention of “dana” – the practice of cultivating generosity. We hope you will consider AZC if you participate in Giving Tuesday. Anonymous friends and board-members of AZC have offered to match the first $2000 earmarked for NOV 30^th AZC GIVING TUESDAY. That’s a dollar-for-dollar match that turns our first $2000 raised into $4000 by 11/30^th! Donations will help defray operating costs of AZC. Those dollar amounts are reported as part of the annual membership meeting in the following Spring.

So, if you like the idea of giving rather than spending, then please consider the following question:

What does it mean to you to give? Does it carry the sense of “dana,” the practice of cultivating generosity?

People give of their treasure for so many reasons:

•  to show gratitude for specific acts
•  to help an individual in distress or need
•  to sustain a particular institution’s mission

And people give of their time and talent, too. All these acts fall under the umbrella concept of “dana,” the practice of cultivating generosity, or the attitude of giving. And when that generosity is not self-centered, but experienced as an opening of one’s heart, there’s a reckoning that in giving, both the donor and the receiver benefit. In this attitude of giving, there’s the practice of letting go and doing some good.

The easiest way to give is to follow the link below to AZC’s donation page. Our donation process has changed during the NOV 30th AZC GIVING TUESDAY campaign to capture these specific donations and will go back to its original process on Dec. 1st. It will take the month of December to tabulate and thank the specific donors.

GIVE A DONATION

We should clarify two things during this campaign. First, our donation page allows for visiting “teacher dana” that is separate from charitable gifts to AZC.  “Teacher dana” is in the tradition of supporting or showing gratitude for a specific teacher’s offerings or teachings. That monetary gift is re-directed by AZC to that specific teacher; and “teacher dana” can be given at any time. Almost all other donations to AZC are considered charitable gifts. Second, if you need to make some sort of other contribution to AZC between now and Nov. 30^th, such as change in membership amount, please let our Admin, Maida, know at admin@austinzencenter.org.

Thank you for considering Giving Tuesday. And if you give to AZC, Thank You for your donation!

At this moment of reconnection, we are reminded of how rare, and incredibly fortunate, it is to be living in a city where there is a temple for our practice. Our gratitude for the opportunity to meet the dharma in this lifetime can be expressed in our commitment to support the temple through our practice of giving.