Hello Bhante, I really appreciate the site. I am assuming site development is going to be ongoing and wondered if the running costs should be framed as an ongoing annual cost and can this be disclosed in approximate terms. I would be more likely to contribute monthly if that where the case as I have no idea how much this site requires to keep afloat. Thanks.
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Hi Bhante
It is good if you give an indication how much fund you try to raise in this round and keep us informed. If this is not possible you can let us know when the target is achieved. I understand that the ongoing annual expense budget was about $75000.00. I beleive you are trying to raise fund for a special project.
Hi Sarath,
The normal budget is about $3,000/month, most of which goes for Blake’s wages. He has just had a daughter, and we’ve given him his first raise in five years.
Currently we are working with STXnext, and are paying them on a contract basis. There are plenty of cool things we want to do, so we will keep them on as long as we can.
My estimate for this round of updates is about $50,000–$75,000. If the funds run out before then, we’ll have to leave more things on the 2-do list for next time.
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Round of updates…is that a yearly estimate (I’m not familiar with terminology)?
I’d like to make a donation, but I don’t have a credit card. Is there a way to make a donation without a credit card?
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It is a girl!
Congratulations.
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What Bhante saying is SC annual fixed budget cost is $36000.00 ($3000x12) wages alone.
There are lot of other anciliary expenses as well.
SC needs to raise additional $39000.00 for the upgrades and special projects next yrar. (2019)
To achieve this level of support you need 150 donars contributing at least $500.00 per annum.
This seems like an easy target but form my experience it is quite challanging.
Sometimes you hit the jack pot. In my home town one wealthy donar (the owner who run the local liquor shop) donated $20000.00 to build Buddha’s statue! This is quite a lot of money in Sri Lanka.
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Sorry, my apologies for being unclear. I work with it every day and forget that some people don’t! 
We have engaged a IT firm to do upgrades, as this is too much work for our in-house team. We have had one programmer doing background and preparation work for two months already, and are about to start the next phase. I anticipate that this will require another 2 or 3 months.
This is what I am referring to as this “round of updates”, and this is what will cost $50-75,000. This is in addition to the fixed wages for Blake.
We don’t need to raise this entire amount, as some of it has been covered already, and some has been pledged. I am hoping to raise somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000—$30,000 to be able to complete the main items on our roadmap. Should we get more than this, we will be able to build more features.
The nature of the project at this time is different than it was last year. Then, we were building the app from scratch, and so everything had to get done. This time it is more in the nature of gradual improvements, fixes, and growth, so there is more flexibility as to the scope of the project. However, from a project management point of view, one of the major issues is working effectively with an IT team. It takes a lot of time and effort to get people up to speed on a complex project like SC, so the more we can get done at this time the more efficient it will be.
Does that clarify the situation?
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Uganda Buddhist Center use Xpress Pay.
Perhaps it is more cost effective.
Just for your information.
https://xpresspay.ug/payments/ugandabuddhistcentre/index.html
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Happy to help. Thanks for letting us know of the need. I was actually just thinking about messaging you today Bhante Sujato to ask you to let me know when any special need of SC might arise. I now have a better idea of what the financial needs are to keep SC up and moving forward. Building and maintaining Sutta Central would be immensely more expensive if not for the amazing contributions of the volunteers and translators. Thanks to all of you!
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Thank you for considering to help. Anytime is a good time to help but this time around is even better.
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Yes you can make a donation without a credit card. Please make a direct bank transfer to the following account( you can find this information on or donation page) . if you you are not in Australia your bank will charge a small fee. Other option is to make a cheque infavour of SuttaCentral Development Trust and mail to PO Box 1931, Hornsby WF 1635, Australia.
|Account name|SuttaCentral Development Trust
|Bank name|Adelaide Bendigo Community Sector Banking|
|BSB|633 000|
|Account no.|154500086|
|Address|1273 Pacific Highway, Turramurra NSW 2074|
|Swift code|BENDAU3B|
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Thank you very much.
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Yes you can make a donation without a credit card. Please make a direct bank transfer to the following account( you can find this information on or donation page) . if you you are not in Australia your bank will charge a small fee. Other option is to make a cheque infavour of SuttaCentral Development Trust and mail to PO Box 1931, Hornsby WF 1635, Australia.
|Account name|SuttaCentral Development Trust
|Bank name|Adelaide Bendigo Community Sector Banking|
|BSB|633 000|
|Account no.|154500086|
|Address|1273 Pacific Highway, Turramurra NSW 2074|
|Swift code|BENDAU3B|
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Bhante Sujato some times communicate in telepathy with some special people. This is qiote normal.
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Congratulations to Blake and his wife!
I guess he deserves the raise of wages—he is doing great work!
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Hi Bhante
Have you mange to reach the target?
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Thanks for asking!
The answer is, yes and no. The response to our announcement here was wonderful, and we received a substantial increase in donations as a result. In addition, we have been pledged a significant donation. These two taken together is enough for our target.
However, the pledged donation has not come through yet. This is due to legal technicalities in transferring the funds, which we are trying to sort out now. The problem is that we need 5 years of accounts, but the fund was set up less than five years ago. Hopefully we can sort this out soon.
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