Sikh Funding Issues!

[Pyara]

With recent funding pleas from the likes of Sikh Channel, Mata Sahib Kaur Academy and many other Gurdwara committing to more debt, it looks like it's so important that Sikh Insititutes address their longevity of financial survival. Sikh groups/Gurdwaras need to understand about maintaining a sustainable business model.

It sounds very straightforward, but how do Sikh groups/Gurdwaras move smoothly from begging for money wherever it can to having a sustainable funding stream? I apologise for refering to Guru ji's Sewa as a business, but maybe by applying a commercial approach we may prevent ourselves from panicking with last minute threats of closure.

Common business sense tells us that sustainability starts with planning, not with chasing funding. Gurdwaras must be run in a way where the custodians know exactly what they need, what it will cost and what their Gurdwara costs to run. They need to make sure their sums are right from the word go and refrain from making financial commitments with the Bank for any expansion if they are still struggling to meet their normal commitments. There is no need to expand or take out an additional loan if the Gurdwara/Organisation in it's current state is able to satisfy the moral obligation to Gurmat and Sikh Maryada.

As Sangat, we must also demand accountability and implement controls/audits in the way our funds are utilised. This is something Sangat still shy away from. If you have donated £1000 of your hard earned money for sustainable Panthic sewa, then we must ensure that we are satisfied that £1000 has been put to efficient use. Many committee/sewadars remain unchallenged about mismanagement of the Guru's Golak and they simply carry on misusing the Sangats money.Unfortunately, it seems, nowadays some Gurdwaras underestimate the costs involved. In the end, the very thing that was supposed to be earning a sustainable income starts costing the Sangat money. And before you know it the Gurdwara/Organisations spends more time and energy chasing money to keep what was once its brilliant sustainable funding idea alive than it does fulfilling its Gurmat aims.

Also, due to our increasing splits, there are a lot of Gurdwaras/Organisations golak's out there chasing the same Sangat's funds, and this sort of increasing competition quickly erodes the reliability of those donations being available. Common sense also tells us that if we pool our funding together, then it's likely to go further. But we are stuck in a culture of setting up new Gurdwaras and not working with each other.

Sikhs are a financially successful community and we are quite a philanthropic bunch, we do donate large sums in the Guru's golaks. There is therefore a a strong steady flow of regular donations available from the Sikh sangat and it needs be utilised in an efficient, responsible manner.

[guptkuri]

I think part of the problem is the gurudwara sahibs around the world never really did much outreach to the younger generation and were almost potrayed in a negative light because of amounts of corpution and anti-sikh stuff going on. Now that most of the older generation is retiring, the ball is really in the younger generations court to donate more and keep programs running but they shy away from donating to Sikhi causes. We need to get more youth involved and as you said hold people accountable.

[GurSa Singh]

I think part of the problem is the gurudwara sahibs around the world never really did much outreach to the younger generation and were almost potrayed in a negative light because of amounts of corpution and anti-sikh stuff going on. Now that most of the older generation is retiring, the ball is really in the younger generations court to donate more and keep programs running but they shy away from donating to Sikhi causes. We need to get more youth involved and as you said hold people accountable.

It's highly likely that there will be more funding gaps in the future simply because the older generation were able to save lump sums due to a lower level of living costs and were more committed to contributing to Guru ghars. The younger generation may have jobs paying higher annual salaries but our spending habits are much different which I think means most of us have much lower savings and contribute much lower amounts to Gurdwaras and Sikh issues.

Having been involved in counting the donations in the Gurdwara Golak, you would be surprised how many pennies are put in the golak. The Golak may seem full, but in monetary value the donations are not as high as some people think.

I think Gurdwara sewaks need to consider that before they commit to taking out new loans and re-mortgages for extensions, new buildings.

[malkeet]

I agree with guptkuri that for the sustainability of our gurdwaras we need to effectively educate the youth about sikhi. More needs to be done in english to reach out to them. Whenever a person leaves the gurdwara he should have learnt something new and inspiring about sikhi. Otherwise in 20/30 years (or even sooner) we will have more gurdwaras closing

[GurSa Singh]

I agree with guptkuri that for the sustainability of our gurdwaras we need to effectively educate the youth about sikhi. More needs to be done in english to reach out to them. Whenever a person leaves the gurdwara he should have learnt something new and inspiring about sikhi. Otherwise in 20/30 years (or even sooner) we will have more gurdwaras closing

I agree but in order to survive the period in between now and the next 20/30 years, there does need to be some kind of austerity implementation or review of the way Gurdwaras seem to fund themselves. Something I think which is more and more common is that some Gurdwaras or Sikh organisations are after your direct debits with some kind of emotional story that there is a funding gap due to a bank loan and there is a short time frame to pay of a substantially large sum back to the bank. It is getting more and more common to see Gurdwaras taking on massive financial commitments in form of debt, refinancing and remortgages.

Most financially embarrassing situations or debt does not arise overnight. It is usually a build-up of the maverick management of funds and an over excited approach to taking on more bank loans. I think many of our Gurdwaras are already adequately supporting the sangat but there is a competitive trend for the need to show progression in the form of capital intensive projects such as a better looking Gurdwara or more facilities (halls, extensions etc.).

There is also a lack of personal accountability from some of the people running Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations. I think they still do not understand the huge commitment to managing the Sangat's donations. They should not feel the need to show the sangat that our Gurdwaras need to be bigger or a new studio is needed or even a nursery is required if the funds do not exist. We should be living within our means and within the constraints of what funding our sangat provide not what the banks give us, even if this means the Gurdwaras remaining humble buildings.

[Pyara]

There's probably too many Sikh Organisations competing for the same £ and a significant amount of our Sikh resource could be saved if more Sikh Organisations pooled their resources and worked together. It does boil down to Panthic ekta and perhaps coalitions of Gurdwaras and Organisations will be more efficient for the Guru's Golak.

I remember walking into the Parkash 2010 samagam at Guru Nanak School, Hayes and being inundated with people emotionally blackmailing me with direct debit/standing orders for Sikh charities, Channels, Gurdwaras, Organisations. I can see how it gets overwhelming for the average Sangat and can sometimes push individuals away. I know some families that will now not attend certain Gurdwaras/Organisatons because they feel that they are persistently pressurised in to increasing their standing orders and that's just counter productive for all the good work that's actually done by the sewadars of those Organisations.

When the Gurdwara stages make continuous announcements at programmes for extra funding required for new projects or funding deficits that need to be covered, it is often done as a super quick wallet emptying exercise and just ends up winding members of the sangat up. This approach also needs to be addressed. Perhaps the sudden need for instant funding is due to a lack of foresight, forecasting, budgeting and planning by the custodians of the Gurdwaras. As mentioned above... financially embarrassing situations do not come about overnight, things must have gone wrong along the way but obvious signals were ignored. There needs to be a higher level of responsibility with regards to the Guru's Golak and sewadars need to be able to implement corrective action at very early stages before a financial situation escalates to the levels we are seeing at Sikh Channel and Mata Sahib Kaur Academy.

[VanHelsingh]

There's probably too many Sikh Organisations competing for the same £ and a significant amount of our Sikh resource could be saved if more Sikh Organisations pooled their resources and worked together. It does boil down to Panthic ekta and perhaps coalitions of Gurdwaras and Organisations will be more efficient for the Guru's Golak.

I believe this ^^^^ to be the central issue - you've absolutely hit the nail on the head. Sadly - some not all - of the egos involved in such ventures, not many have the desire to work together for the common good - either because they honestly don't share enough of the same values and beliefs (which is strange because Sikhs should be reading off the same page), OR some just want the "glory" for themselves and their own respective group.

[malkeet]

So in summary:

1. There is a need for all sikh organisations and gurdwaras to work together, unified, to help share resources and facilities. Currently, they are operating independently and probably seeing each others as "rivals" for sangat (and sangats money)

2. There needs to be more transparency about the income and expenditure of each gurdwara and sikh organisation, and each gurdwaras propositions for building work/extensions should be systematically reviewed beforehand to see if it is necessary or feesable. If this was the case, im sure that the majority of the youth graduates (whom are the future donatees) will have no problem with donating money to gurdwaras. The older generations are perhaps more trusting/less enquisitive and gladly hand over money without asking questions. I feel that the younger generations are less likely to do this. Also the way in which they ask for donations should be improved. We should not feel pressured for our dasvand.

3. The youth are they key to any reform. If Strong sikh principle are instilled in our community from a young age, then in 20/30 years time we will see a drastic improvement to the current situation. All gurdwaras should aspire to educate the youth with Camps, English speakers, sikhi gurmat classes.

Now the question i ask is, is any of this possible. Is this something we can realistically do? probably not

[Pyara]

Now the question i ask is, is any of this possible. Is this something we can realistically do? probably not

I do think it's realistic achievement particularly as some Gurdwaras are already doing this. Hitchin Singh Sabha are a great example of a progressive thinking committee. See the 'Accounts' section of their Gurdwara's website - www.sgssh.org.

When the new naujwaan committee came in they wanted to be fully transparent and update the Sangat regularly. They created spreadsheets (accessible on their website), based on the previous 3/4 years accounts, which helps forecast their coming expenses and income. It is labour intensive at the outset to upload all previous accounts records and, as an ongoing requirement, they ensure the Gurdwara treasurer is commercial and excel-literate. However, it's a strong control mechanism.

The Sangat get confidence from the transparency Hitchin Singh Sabha committee provide and the sewadars are able to create a realistic budget for what percentage of the Gurdwara's income they put towards Granthi wages, Parchaar, Youth, Maintenance and New capital projects, etc.

This is definitely a great example of good practice all Gurdwaras can follow.

[sall]

WJKK WJKF

I agree 100% with Pyara jeeo, as I have seen with my own two eyes people from the age group of 25-40 contributing larger amounts of dasvand from families which are not all entirely amritdhari, which inculdes some of my own in that area. The exemplar work by Hitchin and their transperency is exactly what is needed currently to project forward to any further tangible objectives.