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Annual Reports
You can view any of Dharma Ocean's annual reports by clicking on the links below. You'll see that the latest annual report is 2007, which is also presented in its entirety on this page. The 2008 annual report is due out this summer.
2007 Annual Report
General
In 2007, the Dharma Ocean Foundation continued its mission of expanding and spreading the teachings of the practicing lineage and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, primarily through the teaching efforts of Dr. Reginald Ray. The specific activities of Dharma Ocean Foundation included sponsorship of programs, seminars and educational activities where the Nyingma, Kagyu and Shambhala traditions as taught by Trungpa Rinpoche were studied, taught, and practiced. Special emphasis is placed on the body-based practices of Tibetan yoga as particularly helpful to the practice of meditation. The Foundation also continued its efforts at providing related resources and study materials (print, audio, video, internet), creating a Retreat Center and Hermitage, and supporting dialogue between Buddhism and other religious traditions.
Board
The Dharma Ocean Board is a working board of volunteers who contribute many hours and much effort to advancing the mission and vision of the organization.
Dr. Reginald A. Ray and Mrs. Lee Ray are the founding Board Members of the Dharma Ocean Foundation. In 2007 the Board of Directors also included David Abelson, Al Blum, Callista Brown (formerly Susan Brown-Carlton), Julie Greene, Shaun LaChute, Beth Marvel, Tami Simon, and Will Van Derveer. During 2007, David Abelson, Shaun LaChute and Will Van Derveer left the board, while Andrea Welte and David Iozzi joined. The position of Chair of the Board was created during 2007 and was filled by Julie Greene for most of the year.
(Note: In the first part of 2008, Gaia Mika, Fred Schulte, Kathy Nicholson and Nancy Smith joined the board. Catherine Hollander, Executive Director of Dharma Ocean, also joined the board as a member ex-officio in 2008.)
Community
Dhyanasangha continues to be the spiritual community at the heart of the Dharma Ocean Foundation. Dhyanasangha members are householder yogis and yoginis, practitioners committed to working and studying with Reggie Ray, Lee Ray and their senior students in the practicing lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In 2007 membership increased greatly, with 40% participating in financially supporting Dharma Ocean through recurring dues donations. Members participate in a web and email community and come to member-only weekends offered throughout the year.
Crestone, Colorado continued to be the main site for Dharma Ocean programs in 2007, with some shorter programs offered in Boulder, Colorado, Vancouver, British Columbia and other locations.
Organizing around the Mahasangha (Dhyansangha members who live outside of Colorado) expanded in 2007 with the help of volunteer coordinators Kathi and Fred Lieb. Group phone calls between community members and teachers occurred regularly.
2007 Programs
Meditation retreats and Buddhist teaching and study programs are at the core of what we do, and 2007 was the busiest year for Dharma Ocean programs yet.
From January 2007, Reggie Ray taught two weekend body-based meditation workshops in Vancouver, Canada, and also gave free lectures on Buddhism and meditation to the general public. The programs and talks in Vancouver were sponsored by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and The Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation. Dharma Ocean was assisted in running the weekend programs by key volunteers on the ground in Canada. From these teaching events, a committed community of meditation practitioners (sangha) was formed in Vancouver with a contact list of 200 and core group of 30-40 members meeting for ongoing practice.
From February 10-17 in Crestone, the 2007 Advanced Meditating with the Body program was offered for the second year in a row to previous attendees of the popular Meditating with the Body programs. Reggie Ray led this program that included 64 attendees and one coordinator, Gaia Mika.
February 23-25, the Dhyanasangha Spring Community Weekend was held in Boulder, Colorado, at Chautauqua Community House. Reggie Ray and Lee Ray led this weekend and introduced aboriginal teachings related to the Buddhist path that evolved during the previous Winter Dathün (month long retreat). The weekend was coordinated by Matthew Segal.
On March 10 and October 20, 2007, Reggie Ray taught 'Crestone Free Days' for the local community: free day-long teaching and practice programs for residents of Crestone. Terry Lausch and Nanda Zipp coordinated these weekends.
The Mahamudra Intensive was a seven-day program with a group of 44 participants and two coordinators, Dale Davies and David Iozzi, March 24 through April 1, 2007, and taught by Dr. Reggie Ray. New and long-term Vajrayana practitioners joined together in the advanced practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
In 2007 the Meditating with the Body program was taught by Reggie Ray and coordinated by Gaia Mika and Andrea Welte. The program included two retreats in Crestone April 11-15 and September 12-16, and a home-study component with talks and bodywork exercises that spanned the time in-between. There were 58 participants of this program in 2007.
Sutrayana Training Program 2007 was taught by senior Dharma Ocean teachers Callista Brown, Julie Greene and Al Blum to 53 participants. Coordinators were Andrea Welte and Hollie Laudal. This is an intensive home study program in Buddhism and meditation practice with optional weekend teaching retreats that prepare students for deeper Vajrayana study and practice. The Hinayana Weekend retreat was March 15-18; the Mahayana Weekend was May 17-20, 2007.
In May, senior teacher Tami Simon traveled to Vancouver to teach a weekend practice intensive with 30 people in attendance. Les Valan was the coordinator.
Reggie Ray and Lee Ray gave the Vajrayogini Abhisheka in a weeklong program in April of 2007. This is the advanced program for students who have completed ngöndro-extensive practice requirements in Vajrayana Buddhism. There were 10 participants and 3 coordinators: Judy DiTuri, Chris Dyer and Sean McNamara.
For the third year in a row, July 1 - 28th, 2007, the Vajrayana Training Intensive (VTI) introduced new practitioners to the Vajrayana path and deepened the connection of current Tantrikas to the practicing lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. 71 participants (40 returning and 31 for the first time) joined Reggie Ray and Lee Ray for this program in Crestone, which included Vajrayana teachings, discussion groups, intensive practice periods, and feast practice. The three program coordinators were Susannah Carleton, Susan Hoops and Sean McNamara.
In August, Reggie Ray returned to Vancouver, Canada, to work with the growing community there. The August 3-5th teaching weekend included 79 participants, with 25 additional people attending the Friday night lecture. Les Valan and Karen Murray coordinated the weekend.
During the September Labor Day weekend, Reggie Ray led the Dhyanasangha Fall Community Weekend with approximately 70 participants. Community DOF Board members Will Van Deerveer and Andrea Welte also planned events to gather people together socially, such as a picnic lunch with families and games. Regan Halas and Noah Woods coordinated.
October 12-14, the Boulder Vajrasangha community organized a Ngöndro Practice weekend, coordinated by Pam Russell with the help of Dharma Ocean staff. About 25 people participated in the practice weekend at Southwest Acupuncture College. Reggie Ray joined the group Friday night for a talk and feast practice.
Senior Teacher Julie Greene taught a Meditating With the Body Weekend Workshop outreach program October 26-28th in Longmont, near Boulder, the first of a proposed number of programs taught by senior students to expand the reach of the well-received Meditating with the Body curriculum developed by Reggie Ray and Dharma Ocean. Susan Hergott coordinated.
November 8-11th, the Dhyanasangha Vajrasangha community met in Crestone for a Fall Residential Weekend Retreat with Reggie Ray and Lee Ray at the White Eagle Village. There were 55 participants plus 2 coordinators, Julia Voss and Susan Homer.
The Winter Dathün led by Reggie Ray took place for four weeks from December 16th, 2007 to January 12th, 2008 in Crestone, Colorado. Dathün is an intensive meditation practice experience, including periods of silence and meals in the Japanese Oryoki style of ritualized eating. Dr. Ray's talks focused on the Shambhala teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a Vajrayana approach to meditation practice. At the end of the program many people took the Refuge Vow or the Bodhisattva Vow. A total of 108 people participated in the dathün, with 40 attending the full program, and an additional 68 attending partial weeks. Dharma Ocean again took over the entire White Eagle Village hotel and conference center for this program. The coordinators (Emily Utz, Katy McNeil, Jeremiah Bowen, Kotch Voraakhom) and kitchen staff (Scott Exline, Zac Smith and Michael Van Broekhoven) are to be commended for their efforts.
Dharma Ocean Retreat Center, Cabin of the Crazy One and Dharma Ocean Hermitage
In 2007, Dharma Ocean continued its Capital Campaign for land and building funds needed to build a Retreat Center and future retreat Hermitage in Crestone, CO. Dharma Ocean raised a total of $3.1 million of $5.88 million needed in capital campaign pledges towards the Dharma Ocean Retreat Center by the end of 2007.
A land initiation was held in April 2007 for the Retreat Center, with about 40 community members attending a lhasang (fire cermony) and ground breaking. Lee Plentiwolf drummed and offered prayers and songs from the Lakota tradition.
The Dharma Ocean Board made the decision in September of 2007 to go forward with construction of the Shrine Hall building only, as the Foundation continues to raise funds for the complimentary Residence Hall to be built at a later date. Actual site work on the Shrine Hall began in October of 2007, with building advancing slowly during the winter months of 2007, and scheduled to be complete in November of 2008.
The retreat cabin (Cabin of the Crazy One) was completed in March 2006. The cabin hosted several solitary retreats in 2006 and 2007. In late summer of 2007 retreats were temporarily postponed due to noise from the construction of the Shrine Hall building.
In 2007, Dharma Ocean completed the purchase of land for the future Dharma Ocean Hermitage from the Manitou Foundation. The Hermitage is to be a complex of solitary retreat cabins on Manitou protected lands in Crestone. The program for the Hermitage includes a group retreat practice building, several handicap accessible retreat cabins, as well as more remote cabins in the rugged terrain. We continue to be very grateful to the Manitou Foundation for their generous support in Crestone.
Dharma Ocean Staff
2007 was a time of employee changes and staff reorganization as Dharma Ocean grew and worked with the challenges of our expanding efforts and operations.
In January 2007, Tiffany Stombaugh left her role as Registrar and Palden Renner was hired part-time in this role. In March, Palden was unable to continue and John Wagner was hired full-time. John left in September of 2007 and Susan Feathers Tornicelli took over. The role was restructured and is now titled Operations Manager.
Also in January 2007, Dharma Ocean hired Amy Stahl, a past program coordinator and talented volunteer for the organization, in the new staff role of Associate Director, to primarily manage programs for the Foundation. Amy left this role in October of 2007. This position's name was changed to Programs Manager and is now filled by John Winter, long time program coordinator, kusung and volunteer for Dharma Ocean.
In March of 2007, Tharpa Lowry left the role of Executive Director in the foundation and Catherine Hollander was hired and continues to hold this role for Dharma Ocean.
The Foundation deeply thanks all the staff past and present who have helped us in immeasurable ways along in this evolving journey.
Volunteers and Donors
Dharma Ocean depended significantly on the inspiration and effort of numerous volunteers and donors who made the organization and programs possible during 2007. In all cases, volunteers played a crucial role in running Dharma Ocean Foundation programs, serving as coordinators, cooks, kasung and attendants-assisting staff and facilitating every other imaginable function. Dharma Ocean is and remains indebted to the volunteers from our community. They are truly the most important contributors we have to the work of expanding the wisdom of the practicing lineage.
In 2007, Shaun LaChute and Stacey and Jeff Gonzalez transitioned out of web design, support and programming after years of essential and volunteer labor in this area. They did a tremendous amount of unpaid work in the technology area of the organization. We thank them and are deeply indebted to their efforts. In the latter part of the year, Beth Marvel stepped up in this important technological area and assembled a new team: David Lipton, Nanda Zipp, Bill Judis, and Chris Tchang. Together they began working on long term solutions for Dharma Ocean's web and database needs. Again, many thanks go to these hard working professionals who have donated their time and expertise.
Kathi and Fred Lieb undertook the role of Mahasangha (formerly 'Remotes,' for our far away community members) Coordinators in 2007. Neil McKinlay had filled that role for many years. Their efforts have been essential in this important area.
Additionally, numerous community members contributed their time and effort as Meditation Instructors, Audio Media Team and Editors, Dana Circle leaders and more. They have also been essential to the work that we do. In particular, Karyn Young stepped up to help manage the Audio/Media area with Tami Simon. Also, Rob Davies did a considerable amount of work as a volunteer duplicating audio CDs over many years.
In 2007, Laurel Mackey Miller and Andrea Welte stepped down as the DOF Volunteer Coordinators; we thank them deeply for their efforts.
Terry Lausch stepped down as Retreat Master for the Cabin of the Crazy One at the end of 2007, after serving as a volunteer. Tony Yelek has also contributed significantly to the cabin's building and upkeep.
The Dharma Ocean Board of Directors is also a working board of volunteers. Within this, the organization depended significantly on the expertise and efforts of Beth Marvel as both Treasurer and Technology Head of Dharma Ocean in 2007, and Al Blum as the main overseer for the Dharma Ocean Retreat Center development in Crestone.
We are also tremendously grateful to our many donors and monthly dues contributing members. The vast majority of our donors are members of the community and serve as volunteers as well. Our community depends on the circle of generosity which is continuing to multiply, inviting more and more people to hear the teachings and in turn support that process for others.
Statement of Financial Activities 2007
Note: Open the PDF to view a well-formatted report.
| REVENUE |
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| Donations |
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Retreat Center |
$1,906,819 |
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General Donations |
75,973 |
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Program Donations |
39,944 |
| |
Retreat Cabin |
7,000 |
| Total Donations |
2,029,736 |
| Program Revenue (net of scholarships) |
546,242 |
| Other Income |
35,053 |
| Total Revenue |
2,611,031 |
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EXPENSES
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|
| Programs: |
|
| |
Occupancy |
294,642 |
| |
Supplies |
48,774 |
| |
Salaries/Benefits & Staff Teaching Fees |
152,438 |
| |
Advertising |
25,372 |
| |
Depreciation |
14,919 |
| |
Grants to Tibetan Nuns |
5,000 |
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Other Expenses |
11,475 |
| Direct Program Expenses |
552,620 |
| General and Administrative: |
|
| |
Salaries/Benefits |
74,155 |
| |
Office/Admin |
32,284 |
| |
Business expenses |
22,525 |
| |
Occupancy |
29,221 |
| |
Interest |
5,103 |
| |
Depreciation |
23,336 |
| Total General & Admin |
186,624 |
| Fundraising: |
|
| |
Salaries/Benefits |
35,687 |
| |
Other expenses |
4,648 |
| |
Total Fundraising |
40,335 |
| TOTAL EXPENSES |
779,579 |
| INCREASE IN NET ASSETS FROM OPERATIONS |
$1,831,452 |
Statement of Cash Flows 2007
Please open the PDF to view the cash flows.
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