The Neem Karoli Baba Ashram Board of Directors convened on September 11th and 12th for their Semi-Annual Meeting. Thanks go out to Surya and Patrick for facilitating the meeting; we accomplished our formidable agenda with your help!
A special thanks to Dwarka for his many years of committed seva on the Board, offering his intelligent insights, wisdom, and continuous dedication to the ashram. We all thank him for his offerings. In April, Uma completed her term on the board. She was a very active board member, serving on the fundraising, budget and vision committees. We are thankful that she continues to be generous and active. We would also like to thank Yamuna for the time she served as Junior Board member. We send our deep appreciation to Jacques, who recently left the Board after many years of service. Jacques, we will miss your generous contributions to board activities. 1008 thanks to Hanuman das for his exemplary ashram management over the last two years as well as for his time on the board.
Puja has completed her term as caretaker and most beautiful kirtan walli. We will miss her and her reading of the Ramayana. She has moved to California to pursue her music. Terrell, who has extended his time as a wonderful and devoted caretaker at the ashram, will now live in Taos as a full time massage therapist. We are all very thankful that he came to the ashram, sharing his equanimity, lightness and smile with us. Ram Ram to Daya, our cherished office manager who will continue with the new ashram caretakers. We welcome Hari Das and Stephen, our new fulltime caretakers, as well as Kabir who has recently come on as a part-time caretaker. The four of them make a strong team who, through their skills and undying seva, keep Maharaj-ji's temple pukka.
The board met with Ram Dass for a few sweet hours during Bandhara weekend. Thanks to Raghu for coordinating this time. It was wonderful to connect with our gurubhai and share stories, ideas and insights. Yet another new beginning.
Nominations to the Board of Directors are now open, and we encourage anyone interested to offer his/her service in this way. You may nominate a friend or yourself, just contact the board at their new e-mail address: board@nkbashram.org. Elections will be held at the annual meeting which will take place on February 17th and 18th, 2001.
Many thanks to those devotees who continue to support the ashram. Any and all of you are invited to contact the board at the above e-mail address.
Jai Jai Jai Hanuman!
Carolyn Shapiro, President

Since bhandara we have begun a process of reorganizing how the ashram finances are handled. Over the years the general budget has grown and so now we need a more concretely defined set of procedures. With this in mind the Board has asked for increased accountability, control and management over all received funds. This can be accomplished by using standardized procedures for non-profit organizations that in turn will allow us to demonstrate that funds are made available only for the purposes set forth by donors and those authorized by Board policy. In addition more attention can be paid to ensure stability in month-to-month and yearly operations by adhering to a well-defined and realistic budgetary process.
Currently the operational budget for the ashram and temple runs approximately $10.5K per month. This provides for all salaries, insurance, utilities, food, temple supplies, repayment of past legal expense, and some inventory. Some of the large festivals and gatherings are considerably above this amount but are separated out for budgeting purposes. We are now accruing funds each month to handle one-time large expenses that occur each year to help stabilize the expense in the month they occur. We have also established special accounts for accruing funds for capital expenses. These will go toward facility repairs and future building activities.
The bounty that makes this temple and ashram possible comes purely from generosity and grace. The board's and my responsibility is to see it managed as well as possible. Thank you for the opportunity to do so.

By His Grace,
Michael McGowen, Treas.