2023 Annual Giving Intention Program

Dear Friend, 

May this find you well and thriving – I am! And I am grateful for this opportunity to connect with you. 

Doesn’t March 2020 feel like a lifetime ago? We thought we’d be back in two weeks, and 15 months later, we re-opened our Sanctuary doors to welcome our local members and friends back to Clark Street. 

Celebrating together again on Sunday allows the gift of in-person energy to flow to our virtual community.

Have no doubt: our virtual and live-streamed Sunday Services, classes and connections will continue!

With deeply grateful hearts, we acknowledge your generosity throughout this unprecedented time in the history of our Center.

With your financial support last year and now, we

• stream two services via Zoom and Facebook every Sunday
• offer 2-3 virtual classes every term, which allows learning and connections to continue (with participants in multiple states!)
• enrolled 14 students to begin Prayer Practitioner Studies in September, because they were able to complete their prerequisites virtually in 2020 and 2021! 

Prioritizing the vital importance of staying connected, with your support:

• we launched and hosted daily Zoom calls, which continue Monday-Friday
• we mobilized our Compassionate Care Team to make wellness phone calls to our senior members; their outreach continues to our community-members-in-need of all ages
• we hand-deliver or mail prayer shawls to those who needed them
• we continue to serve the underserved in our County through the creativity of our Outreach Team
• we tithed to other organizations (as is our practice of the Principle of Circulation), including: NAACP, Dress for Success Organization, Asian American Justice, UNICEF Covid Relief in India, Honoring Freedom – Juneteenth, CSL Camp and Retreat, and Alzheimer’s Association. 

All of this took place while replacing the Center’s entire roof and making significant building improvements, also thanks to your generosity. And we still have two months to go in this year!

I need your help to plot and plan for 2023 by assisting me with our budget process. Here’s how.

The Name Clarification

Our former Annual Pledge Program is now called our Annual Intentional Giving Program. We have changed the name to clarify the difference between our program and the type of pledge drives that happen on public broadcasting networks that require a contribution at the time of the pledge. We prefer “intentional giving” because that is what our program is about — asking you what your estimated giving will be for 2023.

Why Give?

Your generous support is what keeps Center for Spiritual Living San José vital, growing in service, and able to translate our vision into reality. Donations large and small help us to support current programs while laying groundwork for an exciting future.

If you are inspired, supported or empowered by a Center for Spiritual Living San José Services, classes, workshops or programs, please help us thrive in 2023 by declaring your giving intention and making your financial gift.

Whether you give $10 or $100,000, know that every gift is a major gift! If you regularly benefit from our teachings and community, please become a supporter and sustainer of our community through your Intentional Gift.

Why Intentional Giving?

Intentional Giving is the fundamental building block of our budget. Your stated intention and subsequent contribution make it possible for us to provide accessible transformational experiences and teachings to those who otherwise may not have access, near and far.

When you commit to giving, you enter into a relationship with your community and its offerings. You determine an amount of money that you will contribute to the Center throughout the year and fill out a Giving Intention Form. If you need to update your commitment at any time simply email bookkeeping@cslsj.org, or call (408) 294-1828 x102.

Auto-Giving Made Easy

You have the option of choosing Auto-Give – the convenience of making a recurring contribution automatically. Click today to schedule a recurring contribution by choosing weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly or yearly; or click to make a one-time contribution.

Become a Sustaining Donor

When you make your Intentional Giving Commitment and/or Scheduled Contribution, you join a community of Sustaining Donors. Sustaining donors provide our Center with a dependable base of revenue used to help us strategically plan for our future, sustain our impact, and support our community.

As a Sustaining Donor, your contribution is ongoing until you say otherwise, giving you complete control. Simply select the option to have your payments ongoing until you contact CSLSJ to cancel it. (If you leave the option un-checked, your payments will stop after one year and you’ll need to re-enter your auto-payment information.)

Most importantly, Sustaining Donors share the satisfaction of knowing they are consistently contributing to our Center’s thriving.

Spiritual Giving as a Form of Prayer

Spiritual Giving is an opportunity to express our gratitude, practice spiritual law, and open our consciousness to receive greater abundance. Those who are serious about their spiritual growth will see that every opportunity to give is an opportunity to grow. You will benefit most from spiritual giving when you follow these simple suggestions:

• Seek Inner Guidance for Giving
• Give Regularly
• Give Unconditionally
• Give More Than Just Your Money
• Bless Every Gift
• Feel Good About Giving
• Say Yes to Receiving (circulation!)

Thoughts on Tithing

Tithing tangibly connects us to God (our GOoD) and our Spiritual Community. It also invites us to bring that same giving spirit and deeper sense of connection to our work in the world and our relationship with money.

A tithe is not viewed as a gift, but rather as a portion of our income left with Source in acknowledgement of the good we have already received and shall continue to receive in the future. Much as a farmer would return a certain percentage of his crop to the soil as seed to guarantee a future harvest, a tithe is a percentage of our abundance given automatically to that place where we feel closest to the Source. Tithing connects us to God (our GOoD) and reminds us that It is the true source of our good.

Tithe literally means “a tenth,” but most people start with a smaller percentage – one with which that they are comfortable – and work their way up as they realize and enjoy results. Tithing is not for everybody; it is intended for those with a desire to learn to live by faith, for whom tithing is always a life-changing experience. 

Spiritual growth is a function of our willingness to make a commitment. Tithing is a tool used successfully by many to learn the power of commitment. Used correctly, tithing is a discipline that helps us develop a giving consciousness and a firm trust in the Source of our Good. 

Love,

Rev. David Bruner