Siddhartha sponsorships
In order to help support the monasteries that receive and educate the children, Siddhartha put a system of sponsorship in place. For approximately 1 € per day, one can help assure the subsistence of a child and his or her future.
Siddhartha sponsors enrich the lives of children, who would otherwise suffer from poverty and deprived conditions. By becoming a Siddhartha sponsor, you are offering a future to Tibetan and Himalayan children. Tibetan refugee children will be given a chance to fully inherit their cultural and spiritual traditions. In this way, participation in Siddhartha’s activities not only helps Himalayan children and families, it helps to sustain the living Tibetan tradition, so rich in knowledge of all disciplines: sciences, medicine, astrology, art, and philosophy. Siddhartha sponsors will therefore be helping to uphold Tibet’s cultural and spiritual traditions during the Tibetan peoples’ post-occupation transition. Furthermore, by helping the Tibetan Population, you are helping a people that, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, recipient of the Nobel peace prize in 1989, chose the honorable and ethically humane way of non-violence. (see Songtsen's section about Tibet).
How Siddhartha sponsorships are allocated
Rather than creating a “personalized” sponsorship system aiming to establish special links between the donors and their sponsored child, Siddhartha sponsorships focus on the equitable distribution of funds within the school, monastery or community. The regular donation provided by the sponsor is the sum that it is theoretically necessary to care for and educate a child. However, unfortunately, we have yet to establish a sponsorship for all the children of the monasteries that we help. Therefore, as not all children are sponsored, an individual sponsorship program implies that community life would be divided. This is why resources generated by Siddhartha are sent to the supervisor of the institute, who then uses these sums for the expenditures directly linked to the needs of all the young children, such as food, medical care, clothing, etc., (see Equitable distribution of resources).
The children are informed of the origin of this assistance while avoiding the difficulties associated with personal sponsorship. It is evident that in the absence of sponsors for each child, and with the establishment of a privileged relationship for the profit of singled-out children, this would create a disparity incompatible with communal life such as that of Tibetan monks or nuns. Sponsorships are therefore designated to a monastery according to priority need. We send every new sponsor a description of life at the monastery, as well as a photo of the group of sponsored children. We also send an annual newsletter, providing updates on the activities and accomplishments of the past year.
Siddhartha sponsorship offers the option of monthly, quarterly or annual contributions. Sponsorship involves a commitment for the minimum duration of one year. You can also support Siddhartha by making a donation of any amount. To become a sponsor or to make a donation, please fill out our online donation form and select Siddhartha in the designated sponsorship or donation category. For more information, please email siddhartha@songtsen.org.
| Sponsorship Types | |
| Options | Cost |
| Partial sponsorship: Food only | 23 € |
| Complete care: Food, lodging, & medical care | 76 € |
| Supplementary care | € 11 / month |
| Medical care for 1 year | € 46 / year |
Helpful links:
- How you can get involved
- About donations
- How your contribution helps
- Designated donation ideas
- International charity status
Please contact us for more information.