We wish you all a blessed and fulfilling new year!
The generosity shown during the 2023 End of Year Fundraising Campaign is a great support for our ongoing sustinability. We exceeded the $100,000 match challenge.
As a non-profit, we rely on your donations to help offset the burden of rising costs so we can keep student dues and group tuition costs affordable.
As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, we will continue our work to solidify the foundation to support the long-term sustainability of the School. This year we will be working on critical upgrades to the School’s technology and infrastructure to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly portal experience for our students and teachers, as well as a new website to introduce the teaching to a new generation of truth seekers. In 2024, we will also continue the critical strategic work to prepare the School for the future.
As always, we look forward to continuing our journey together.
With deep appreciation,
The Friends of Ridhwan Board: Vaishali Chadha, Laurie Chestnut, Claus Friedrich Haalck, Rob Gussenhoven, Michael Ohr, Seth Schapiro, Alexander Verdegaal, and Richard Wallstein
Friends of Ridhwan is a non-profit initiated and led by students, designated by the Obsidian Synod to raise funds to support the School and the Ridhwan Foundation.
“We are not separate. Our sense of separateness is superficial and exist only in the physical dimension. In our human element, we are not separate; we’re very much connected. Every other human being is just as precious as we are, and worthy of as much respect and love and consideration. This understanding needs to manifest in our conduct in each moment. This is the part of the Work that will transform you.”
- A.H. Almaas
In their holiday greeting, Hameed and Karen encourage us to turn toward this orientation, reminding us that amidst the circumstances of the world around us our community is one of holding and loving kindness. We find it, first and foremost, in the timeless, steadfast truths of our teaching, but also in our sense of community, and in our experiences of connection, empathy and love.
Imagine our global Diamond Approach family as the vast field of beautiful flowers Hameed feels we are, each of us distinctive within the unity of all things. There is so much goodness in that realization, so much to be grateful for, no matter what is happening around us. We hope that we will all be able to hold that perspective, amid so many others, as we say farewell to 2023 and greet 2024.
Please remember the teaching that we love, and the school that manifests, nurtures and stewards that teaching in the world. We hope that in this season of generosity, you will remember the Ridhwan Foundation in your annual giving.
If you prefer to focus your support on a specific project, there are two important initiatives worth highlighting. You can earmark gifts for the IT Infrastructure Project Fund, which is already in the process of revamping our website and student portal. For many students—especially those in remote locations unable to attend in-person groups—the website and portal are great supports to the school community and the school resources.
Supporting the IT Infrastructure Project Fund allows all of us to engage more efficiently with the school’s rich resources and greatly enhances accessibility to the teachings. Among other things, this fund enables:
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critical upgrades to keep up with constantly evolving technologies
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easier navigation for students to find and access resources they need to participate in their groups
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facilitation of outreach and support for the next generation of students
Your gift can also support the Buildings Solar Power Fund. This project is one of the ways Ridhwan can offset some of the School’s carbon impacts. Bids for solar roofs on both the Berkeley and Colorado centers are in, and estimates run $60,000-$100,000 and $45,000-$50,000 respectively.
These restricted funds allow us to bring capital to those specific projects in need of funding. But as an organization, unrestricted donations offer the flexibility to utilize the funds where they are most needed. All gifts are greatly appreciated! Thank you for whatever you can do.
“One of the gifts of Covid was that it shrunk the world and, in particular, shrunk the Ridhwan School in the sense that it felt like the distance between us was significantly reduced. The beauty of the communications that came out, the openness of heart, the generosity, and the opportunity to connect in all sorts of different ways, felt like a great gift through a very difficult period. It’s a wonderful foundation for the school to build on in its way of growing and reaching out to the corners of the world.”
—Gabe Phillips, Diamond Approach Australia 2
As 2023 nears its close, we ask you to consider investing in the future of the Ridhwan School, which is the nurturer and guardian of our precious path in the world. We are fortunate to have emerged from the pandemic years in good shape—both in terms of our fiscal health and in the strong sense of international community that Covid, in part, created as we sought support from each other during those very difficult times.
But we, like other nonprofit organizations and institutions around the globe, have also been thrust into a new reality: one of rising costs, hybrid retreats, a desire by many to reduce the carbon footprint of traveling to them, greatly expanded online learning, and more. This increased reliance on technology has helped thousands of students, especially those in remote locations, attend the Asilomar and Veldhoven retreats, Hameed’s winter retreats and a host of other events such as podcasts, community conversations, book groups and so on.
“Something that inspires me about the school is that it feels like there is a very strong dedication to walking the talk, that the administration isn’t separate from the teaching. It’s infused. There is the guidance from the teaching within how the school is run.”
—Alicia Savelloni, Diamond Approach Australia
Hameed has already done the thoughtful work of creating a succession plan, assuring us that the holding of this path will continue after he is gone. But we need to do our part to enhance the sustainability of the school and path by creating resources and modes of communication that make the Diamond Approach findable to those who will resonate with it.
That means, of course, keeping the path affordable, utilizing newer platforms to connect with and engage younger people, and completely revamping our website, portal and communications to ensure easy, intuitive access to the school’s many resources. These things are just objective necessities for the thriving of any 21st-century post-pandemic institution. It will also help our community stay connected to each other amidst life’s ongoing challenges.
“The heart connection I feel to the group, to the teaching, to the teachers, and that sense of community…that is the single thing that stands out for me in the path.”
—Brandon Bizzell, Diamond Approach Weekend Group, Hamburg, Germany
Please consider making a donation today. Go to www.diamondapproach.org/donate or fill out the enclosed gift indication form and mail it to Friends of Ridhwan in the envelope provided. For details on other ways to give, visit www.diamondapproach.org/donation/ways-to-contribute or email [email protected].
It is all about connection—to ourselves, to each other, to the work and the path, to who and what we are, and to those souls who may be longing for the understanding and possibility of transformation this teaching can offer. By contributing, you help provide resources needed to continue fostering those connections.
Friends of Ridhwan is a nonprofit initiated and led by students, designated by the Obsidian Synod to raise funds to support the School and the Ridhwan Foundation.