- Donate online through NetworkForGood.
- Donation online through PayPal.
- Write a check payable to "ServiceSpace" and mail it to:
ServiceSpace
P.O. Box 2711
Santa Clara, CA 95055
U.S.A.
Banyan Grove Costs
People often ask us how much does it cost to operate Banyan Grove. Well, the physical space is offered to ServiceSpace on a discounted lease, and all our operating costs are covered entirely by donations from the community. Beyond that, hundreds of volunteer hours fuel our programming, space maintenance and design; and the collective goodwill of the community nurture and transform the space in umpteen ways. In terms of monetary costs, the lease combined with basic utilities and facility maintenance add up to about $4200 a month (or $140 a day). Factoring in food and retreat expenses, a typical 3-day, 25-30 person retreat may be about $3500 (or $14 for facilities + $31 for retreat materials + $75 for meals = $120/person for 3 days).
However, we invite you to not frame your offering in reference to the material costs. For 20 years of ServiceSpace, all our work has been rooted in the spirit of gift -- which implies offering from an inner space of reverence, not so much as a repayment for what one might have received, but rather as an invisible prayer of gratitude for those who are to come after us.
Ultimately, Banyan Grove remains an experiment. On one side, it gives tremendous capacity to build deep connections in an offline space; on the other end, it's a fairly large overhead that may not lend itself to the same kind of flourishing sustainability that other smaller "pop-up" experiments, like Karma Kitchen, have experienced. In the initial years, Banyan Grove benefits from the surplus of the larger ServiceSpace ecosystem, and as we experiment with different models of operation, we look forward to seeing how it all turns out. We hold it all lightly, practice serving with whatever arrives at our doorsteps, and enjoy the emergence. :)