Dhanakosa operates in the spirit of generosity, or dana (a Sanskrit/Pali word meaning giving or gift). This allows us to be open to anyone regardless of individual financial circumstances, by allowing people to pay what they can afford.

The vast majority of our income comes from donations made by friends and visitors such as yourselves, so we ask you to make a donation towards the running of the retreat centre, as part of your contribution toward your retreat.

Our suggested donations (in addition to the booking fee) for 2020:

• Week retreats: £460 waged, £295 unwaged
• Weekend retreats : £175 waged, £120 unwaged
• Online Weekends: £70 waged, £20 unwaged
• Online Week: £150 waged, £50 unwaged

Our suggested donations (in addition to the booking fee) for 2021:

• Week retreats: £600 waged, £400 unwaged
• Weekend retreats: £280 waged, £200 unwaged
• 10 day retreats: £750 waged, £520 unwaged

If you cannot afford to give these rates then please feel free to give what you can. Likewise, if you are able to give more, then please consider doing so.

Dhanakosa is continuing to lose money throughout this period of Covid-19 as we have reduced the number of places on each retreat. 

Although we recognise that many people are suffering financial hardship and want to keep retreats on a donations basis, if you are able to give a more than you would normally please consider doing so.

We are increasing our dana ask in 2021. Dhanakosa has lost a significant amount of money over 2020 and will continue to lose money running retreats at reduced numbers. It's important to us that we continue to offer retreats on a donation basis, however we do need people to give more, when they can, to enable us to continue into the future. Suggested donations will be revised down as we are able to open out to more people on retreat again.

Under the current circumstances we are asking people to make a donation in advance of arrival, either online or by phone. It is also possible to give a donation while you are here. Donations can be made by credit/debit card, cheque or cash.

ongoing donations

You may also wish to support Dhanakosa ongoingly through a regular donation by standing order. Please see giving to Dhanakosa for more information.

the dana economy explained*

The practice of generosity takes us beyond ideas of separate self and constitutes a basic ethos at the heart of community. So, a dana economy is a gift economy, or an economy rooted in generosity.

The economic forms of consumerism and capitalism strongly condition our relationship to the world. They encourage us to experience ourselves as producers or consumers, and a sense of separateness from others. Rather than emulate this, we want to support economic relationships which contribute towards a culture of sharing.

We don’t want to enter into relationship with you as the providers of a service for a consumer. We want to enter into a wholehearted human relationship with you.  We believe in this way we can help transform both ourselves, and our world.

To support this intention, rather than offering our work as a service to be bought, we ask for contributions to make this work possible. Through your donation, you support this endeavour. This is guided by the basic principle of the Dana Economy; “give what you can, take what you need”.

* thanks to Ecodharma for their inspiration 

Gift Aid

Dhanakosa is a registered charity. As such, if you pay income tax we can claim Gift Aid on your donation. This is a tax rebate we claim from the Inland Revenue that means, in effect, that the Inland Revenue increases the value of your donation by 25% by giving some of the tax that you have already paid to us.

To do this we need you to fill in a short declaration which we hold on file. This is generally done when making your donation at Dhanakosa.

Please note that Gift Aid can only be claimed on donations. As the booking fee is not a donation, Gift Aid cannot be claimed on this money.