Arpanam is an annual donation pledge, an offering in gratitude to serve our communities.
Submit Your Pledge Now
Arpanam is an initiative that allows members to pledge once and spread their donations throughout the calendar year instead of making one lump-sum donation. The pledges allow CMWRC to better estimate the donations likely to be collected in a year so various projects can be planned and executed with effective cashflow management. Arpanam initiative serves as the sustained means for enabling CMWRC serve our community for generations to come without the need to ask for funds for every endeavor.

Arpanam program allows members to donate towards various causes and events during the year and have all the tax-deductible donations counted towards their Arpanam Pledge. Examples: General donations and donations for Capital Projects, Gurudakshina and Sponsorships for CMWRC events, camps and Satsangs, Payments for Membership and Registrations for Bala Vihar as well as Enrichment Classes (Shloka, Arts, Language), Stock donations or In-Kind donations.

Arpanam Pledge Levels

Madhuram (Sweet)

$1,800 and above

Offer with devotion like a delectable and wholesome sweet

Patram (Leaf)

$2,700 and above

Offer with devotion like a fresh leaf with enthusiasm and vitality

Pushpam (Flower)

$5,400 and above

Offer with devotion like a beautiful and fragrant flower

Phalam (Fruit)

$10,800 and above

Offer with devotion fruit, the results of your endeavors by the grace of GOD

Toyam (Water)

$21,600 and above

Offer with devotion like pure water with a golden sparkle

“If one offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even water, I delightfully accept that article offered by the pure-minded with devotion.”

The Bhagavad Geeta | Chapter 9, Verse 26
Offer your Arpanam Pledge Now

Benefits of submitting an Arpanam Pledge

Donor Levels ➡️
Benefits ⬇️		Madhuram (Sweet)Patram
(Leaf)		Pushpam
(Flower)		Phalam
(Fruit)		Toyam
(Water)
Included Membership✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Included Bala Vihar✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Donor Recognition Dinner✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Bala Vihar Magazine✔️✔️✔️✔️
Included Enrichment✔️✔️✔️
Chinmaya Udghosh Magazine✔️✔️
Tapovan Prasad Magazine✔️✔️✔️
Included fun activities for children and youth✔️✔️✔️
Invite to Meditation Retreat✔️✔️
Invite to Annual Fundraiser✔️✔️✔️
CMWRC/Chapter Ticketed Events2 Complimentary Tickets2 Complimentary Tickets4 Complimentary Tickets4 Complimentary Tickets

For any other information, please email us.

General Arpanam Questions

Questions regarding existing pledge

Strength of CMWRC derives from its membership. We have grown from a handful of inspired devotee families of Swami Chinmayananda in 1980s to a strength of over a thousand families today.

As the vision of Swami Chinmayananda unfolds, his missionary work of empowering every individual with the timeless knowledge of the Upanishads – Vedanta, so that each person follows their faith, become positive and productive members of the society and find peace and happiness within,
continues. Vedanta understood correctly and applied lovingly, brings peace to oneself, to the community, nation and the world. Vedanta is the knowledge that empowers anyone to pursue their faith with greater joy and vigor.

As beneficiaries of the vision and mission of this great Master, the visionary and missionary, each member of CMWRC cannot rest until they share their joy, peace and love with their family, friends, neighbors and members of the larger community.

Chinmaya Mission facilities, programs and activities are part and parcel of this joyous learning and sharing. The facilities need to be large enough, safe, modern, functional and welcoming to spread this joy. The programs and activities are needed to serve all age groups (early childhood, school age, youth, young individuals/families, older families, retired and aging individuals/families). These programs and activities are best offered close to where people live, work and play.

CMWRC envisions strategically situated chapters with facilities to serve the Washington DC region, and continue to ensure robust facilities, programs and activities remain available for today and future generations and we collectively serve the glorious mission of bringing the timeless, secular and universal message of Vedanta to every member of the society.

Thus, Arpanam initiative serves as the sustained means for enabling CMWRC serve our community for generations to come without the need to ask for funds for every endeavor.

We have a number of congregational loans maturing in the next few years. Arpanam pledges from our members, and the fulfilment of those pledges will help us plan and manage cash flows effectively. It is important for us to honor our commitment to our members who offered loans to us in good faith when the center needed it to expand our operations in Virginia.

Arpanam pledge form provides a formal basis for projecting revenues and thus carefully plan our budgets and outlays. The pledge form submission also enables us to administer benefits such as magazine subscriptions. Accuracy in the pledge form is crucial as postal mailing of year-end tax statements, magazines, etc. are based on that.

Arpanam is a concerted fundraising initiative that recognizes that donors make tax-deductible donations to CMWRC throughout the year. With every donor making an annual (calendar year) Arpanam pledge, all of their donations are recognized. Arpanam pledge levels allow each donor family to take advantage of membership and donor level benefits, knowing that their donations contribute to the growth and vitality of CMWRC and the glorious mission.

The donations will be applied to accelerate debt reduction – Chinmaya Somnath facility, invest in upkeep and upgrade at our current facilities, enrich and expand our current programs, activities and community outreach and pave way for expansion at Silver Spring location.

  • Make an annual pledge by signing up for one of 4 donor levels.
  • Your annual tax-deductible donations to CMWRC throughout the calendar year count towards the pledged level. These include:
    • Annual Membership and Bala Vihar/Enrichment pledges
    • CMWRC Program/Event Sponsorships
    • Gurudakshina offerings to CMWRC Vedanta Teachers
    • Other tax-deductible donations made to CMWRC, for example, monthly payments to capital projects
    • Tax-Deductible Donations can be made on a monthly basis through automatic withdraws from your bank accounts or in lumpsum payments via personal check or online through e-check and credit cards
    • Stock donations or other such financial instruments based donations are also welcome (please consult our Treasurer/Joint-Treasurer for specifics)

WHAT IS COUNTED:

  1. All tax-deductible donations made to CMWRC for CMWRC’s own local projects are counted towards the Arpanam program. This includes the pledge payments for Membership, Bala Vihar and related class registrations (Shloka, Arts, Language), Gurudakshina to CMWRC Vedanta Teachers, and capital projects donations.
  2. Any donations or sponsorship payments for CMWRC organized local events/programs.

WHAT IS NOT COUNTED:

  1. Any donations that are meant for projects that are not CMWRC’s local projects (even if the check is written to CMWRC) – such as CORD, Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth etc. are NOT COUNTED toward the Arpanam program. These donations, even though not counted towards Arpanam, may be tax deductible by the offering center as per their announcements.
  2. Any earmarked donation for Disaster Relief – even if promoted by CMWRC – is NOT COUNTED toward the Arpanam program. These donations also may be tax deductible as per the offering center’s guidelines.
  3. Payments that are not tax deductible – such as Summer Camp payments. Any purchases such as from bookstore or tickets for events or Annapurna, Chinmaya Blossoms fees, payments for advertisement in souvenirs or other media etc., are NOT COUNTED for Arpanam program.

Write you interest and availability to arpanam@chinmayadc.org Please also reach out to the Director for the chapter you attend.

Arpanam team needs sevaks to help in a number of areas including IT, publicity, administering Arpanam benefits to donors, etc.

Arpanam’s calendar follows the US Tax Calendar – January 1st – December 31st. Pledge early in a Calendar Year and donate throughout the year. Your annual Arpanam donations will be tax deductible for that calendar year.

  • Tax Deductibility – eligible for reporting for the calendar year of donation.
  • Publication Benefits – soon after Arpanam pledge from is submitted, typically it takes about 2-3 months for the print publication to arrive at your door.
  • Cultural/Spiritual Benefits – the calendar year of pledge and donation.

Gurudakshina to CMWRC Vedanta Teachers are counted towards Arpanam Donor Level Pledges.

Gurudakshina and bhiksha offered to invited Teachers from outside of CMWRC are reported for tax deductible purposes and are also counted towards fulfilling Arpanam pledge.

CMWRC donors are requested to commit in becoming an Arpanam Donor by filling out a “pledge” form and submitting the form to our Treasurer.

The Arpanam pledge assures the donor that their CMWRC focused donations, sponsorships of events/programs, membership and Bala Vihar pledge are all counted towards the pledged commitment.

The Arpanam pledge provides assurance to our sevaks that we have strong donor support to properly plan and execute near-term and long-term projects and associated financial outlays – whether it be for needed repairs of our facilities, needed upgrades/improvements to our facilities, accelerated debt reduction, etc.

Currently, our financial planning depends on realized revenues from our members and donors (and conservative projections based on data from past years) to plan for the following year. This occurs fairly late in the calendar year. With Arpanam pledges and tracking of donations that count towards the pledge level, our planning and execution can be more streamlined. In addition, Arpanam pledge by our members will greatly strengthen our financial position so we can take on critical near-term projects – such as needed repairs and upgrades.

Arpanam pledge is annual.

Arpanam is based on calendar year (January to December) and Arpanam pledge are annual calendar year pledges. Membership and Bala Vihar year follow academic calendar (September to August). Membership and Bala Vihar pledges made in 2019 is counted towards Arpanam pledge in 2019, even though the schedule of Bala Vihar Classes and other activities revolve around the academic calendar.

Similarly, Membership and Bala Vihar payments made in a particular calendar year count towards Arpanam pledge for that year. Membership and Bala Vihar are valid for the academic year. (Example: Membership and Bala Vihar registration and payment in 2019 will be reflected as 2019 Arpanam pledge fulfilment. The membership and Bala Vihar benefits continue into 2020 until the end of the 2019-2020 academic year).

Complimentary tickets for chapter or CMWRC wide organized ticketed cultural or spiritual events may be made available to the donors immediately after the pledge is made. Publication benefits will be made available in the beginning of the following year. Other benefits become available in the fall of the pledge year.

No. Session assignments will remain first-come first-served as well as necessary balancing based on criteria such as classroom strengths, teacher availability, room availability and parking spaces.

Yes, you can sign up for Arpanam. You can go back to registration system and sign up for Arpanam or work with Arpanam team and they will assist you.

If you already completed registration process and made a payment towards you Bala Vihar and Membership, those payments are tax deductible, and qualify towards fulfilling your Arpanam pledge for the current calendar year. There is no refund per se, but you have taken a large step towards pledge fulfilment.

Treasurer: Mr. Prakash G. Soman at pgsoman@aol.com

Joint Treasurer: Mr. Jay Sriram at y3760car@yahoo.com