A little while ago I came across this site, which is made of pure awesome:

https://dana.io/

Basically it’s a kickstarter built on Buddhist principles. It’s wonderful to see a progressive Buddhist contribution that, instead of whining about modernity or going all commercial, sees that some aspects of modern life are actually pretty amazing and 100% in line with Buddhist principles.

And one example of that is the whole idea of crowdfunding, which provides a means, based on generosity, to complement to usual commercial ways of raising funds. It’s a brilliant, subversive idea, and ripe for a Buddhist slant.

Dana.io takes the whole idea of dana even further; you don’t have a set percentage to pay the site for their services, you choose what to give them. And their profits are put back into the community. There’s a heap of little details like this that show that the site has a really good handle on both the Buddhist principles and on how to apply them on the modern web.

One of the founders is Alan Clements, an ex-monk and Buddhist teacher, and the depth of experience shows in the site. It has been carefully put together from every angle, from design to philosophy. It goes without saying that the site, like the Dhamma as a whole, is not just for “Buddhists”, but opens up the fundamentals of Buddhist practices for everyone.

So when you’ve got a project to get started, consider dana.io!