13
March 2007
Entry Fee or Donation - Is there a difference?
Friends,
In recent
times a trend has emerged that is corrupting the meaning of the term
"donation". Events or lectures sometimes wish to
claim the spiritual high ground by using the term donation whilst
in fact asking for an entry fee.
When
we request payment for the privilege of admission to
an event it is no longer a donation, it is an entry fee.
Donation,
from Latin donationem "give as a gift" from Sanskrit danam
"offering, present" a voluntary gift, to give without wanting
anything in exchange, a voluntary and anonymous financial gift.
Fee,
originally denoting an estate held on condition of feudal service:
from Old French feu, from Latin feodum; related to FEUDAL, FIEF. A
fixed charge for a privilege or for professional services, for entrance
or a payment made in exchange for advice or services, a charge made
for a privilege such as admission.
_________________
Donation
can simply mean that we don't want to "charge a fee" or
"entry fee", but we do want to cover the cost of hiring
a hall and it would be good if everyone contributed to that. I don't
see that as corrupting the meaning of donation...... it means giving
a donation towards the cost of the hall, or whatever whoever organized
it had to fork out.
Love Rasa
_________________
Dear
Rasa,
Thank you for your comment. To me this is an important issue because
it goes to the heart of awareness and intention, without which spiritual
progress is near impossible. Through the act of requesting a payment
at a door the payment becomes a condition of entry. Receiving payment
in fact becomes an expectation therefore it is no longer a free and
voluntary gift.
The meaning
of any word can change over time and by the culture that uses it.
Donation by its root, dictionary definition as well as by the Department
of Fair Trading and the Trade Practices Act is a free and voluntary
gift.
It is
perfectly reasonable for people to want to recover expenses or even
to make a profit. I do not see anything wrong with that. The issue
for us is awareness of our actions and motives. The problem is when
we believe that we have not set a condition when in fact we did.
The contradiction
is in the fact that indeed sometimes people do not want to appear
to charge an entry fee but in actual fact they do charge. To me it
would be more truthful to say - entry $12 to cover cost of the hall.
To say this may well be more honest but certainly does not sound as
spiritual as "donation $12 to cover cost of the hall".
And this
is my point. We bend the truth for the sake of a better impression.
And in that process we sacrifice awareness and integrity.
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