Donations & Payments

>See also How to Register for a Class and How to Register for a Retreat.

On this page:

About Payments and Donations :: Make an Online Payment:: International Visitors

For more information about our rates, and to request a reduced rate, please first see our footnote about fees*.

About Payments and Donations

Lewis the Bunny

The SFBC is a registered nonprofit organization. You can make your donation or payment/deposit by check or by credit card online. We do not pay processing fees on checks.

You can write a check for any of the following:

  • pay deposit or full fee for a course, retreat, or other event.
  • one-time donation
  • see also information about our Dana Program

To pay by check: make the check out to 'FWBO' and mail it to the Center.

To pay by credit card online, see below. We cannot process credit card payments in person. 

Make an Online Payment

You can use your credit card online to do any of the following:

  • pay deposit or full fee for a course, retreat, or other event. Please print the receipt and bring it to the class/event.
  • a recurring monthly, quarterly, or annual donation (as part of our Dana Program)
  • one-time donation

To make a donation or pay a fee using your credit card, click the DONATE button below. Please consider adding 3% to cover the processing costs that we pay.

If the donation is for something specific, for example, "Noise Impact Fund", "Land Donation", or "Winter Fundraising event" please specify. Please also give your name. Thank you!


International Visitors

There are two different services we use to allow you to make credit card payments or donations alone. Please use Just Give. They have assured us that credit cards without a U.S. address can be used on their system as long as the address is entered properly. Please consider adding 3% to the amount on JustGive to cover the processing fees we pay.

You can also try Network for Good. After the first screen where you enter the amount etc., you must specify "Pay by PayPal". If you don't have a PayPal account, the next screen will allow you to select "Sign up for a PayPal account and continue checkout." It is pretty easy. Please consider adding 5% to the amount on Network for Good to cover the processing fees we pay.

If neither of these options work for you, please send an international money order, or write to us for instructions on bank transfers.


*A note about fees and donations
Unless otherwise stated, all fees and donations go toward operating costs of the San Francisco Buddhist Center, a nonprofit organization. Teaching at this Center is done by volunteers. For events with a sliding scale, please pay what you can afford within that range, or contact us in advance to arrange a further reduced rate. The suggested donation given for most of our regular events is there as a guide and you should feel free to pay more if you can and less if you need to. Make checks out to the "FWBO" (Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.) Please give your name and the reason for your donation. Thank you!