
Wrapping up 2025
Dear Sangha,
Thank you for your steadfast support of KCC and the Dharma throughout 2025. Our hope is that KCC continues to offer refuge to anyone who comes through the doors or joins online—a sanctuary where you can deepen your self-understanding and clarify how you wish to show up in the world.
In 2025, KCC offered many opportunities to explore and deepen connections to Buddhist practices and the dharma:
- In May, Khenchen Lodro Donyo Rinpoche visited to offer teachings and empowerments to 178 registered attendees
- We conducted 101 days of retreat at SCOL, our retreat center in Goldendale, WA
- We conducted 17 days of retreat or workshops in Portland
- 162 people attended teachings offered by Ringu Tulku in November
In addition to hosting Khenchen Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku, we hosted a diverse range of teachers and speakers including Adzom Gyalse Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, local Zen teacher and author Sallie Jiko Tisdale, local artist and speaker Sharyll Burroughs, with her powerful program on The Dharma of James Baldwin, as well as returning favorites, Lama Karma Yeshe Chodron from Santa Fe, and Lama Sonam from our sister center in Eugene.
KCC programs and practices can only happen with volunteer-power, and we thank our 96 volunteers for their commitment to showing up and taking on new roles and responsibilities. Volunteers support KCC’s 4 full-time and 2 part-time staff members. Together, we help ensure the dharma is accessible to anyone who walks through the door.
KCC is also managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. The KCC Board of Directors nurtures the mission and vision by setting annual goals, establishing operating policy and monitoring the legal and fiscal health of the organization. In 2025 the KCC board accomplished the following activities:
- Asked Lama Eric to create a description of Buddhist Ethics as the foundation for the Code of Conduct
- Gathered extensive input from the Sangha and then approved a Code of Conduct for KCC
- Conducted employee reviews with the Resident Lama and Managing Director
- Supported the planning and decision making for 50th anniversary activities
- Developed policy/procedures to establish a “bylaw sangha list”
- Conducted an annual KCC Leadership retreat with the Managing Director
- Conducted training on fundraising
- Completed studies and analysis to draft a KCC Sustainability Plan (more to follow!)
- Reviewed and approved a KCC budget for 2026
Going into 2026, officers and directors on the board are:
- Co-President & Treasurer: Jennifer Chang
- Co-President: John Rothermich
- Secretary: Brad Upton
- Director: David Thornburgh
We thank Peter Wood and Tea Perkins for their support and contributions to the Board and we will miss them. Recruiting additional board members will be a priority in 2026. Email if you would like to learn more about serving on the Board. The Board meets once-a-month. Members also collaborate online, in other committee meetings, and sometimes in some of NE Portland’s great tea or coffee shops! Full meeting minutes and other key organizational documents are also online.
KCC’s finances are actively managed by our amazing bookkeeper – Cynthia Irvine – and monitored monthly by the KCC Board and Managing Director. Our primary fundraising events were successful in 2025. KCC gained 15 new sustaining supporters and many existing supporters increased their giving during the summer Sustaining Supporter Campaign. The fall Karmaoke fundraiser exceeded its FUN-raising and fundraising goals. Going into 2026, KCC is on solid financial footing. With strong program attendance and successful fundraising, KCC will end 2025 with a positive net income–an enviable situation for a small nonprofit and a good foundation with which to implement a KCC sustainability plan.
We thank everyone for investing in KCC in 2025. Showing up for practice, caring for the SCOL retreat center and the KCC dharma center, and showing up to support the cultivation of bodhicitta in this world is a significant contribution to the world and to yourself.
For the Dharma,
Lama Eric
Tim Campbell – Managing Director
The Board of Directors
