9 Management and Governance

Management and Governance

Constitution

View the Constitution of the Pure Land of the Indestructible Buddha Inc. (PDF)

Management Committee

Management Committee Members are elected at a General Meeting of the Pure Land Centre. You can put forward your nomination to become a member of the Management Committee of The Pure Land of the Indestructible Buddha Inc. by downloading, printing and completing the nomination form (below) making sure to sign it and to have it signed by your “Nominator” who is already a member. Then the nominations are voted on at a General Meeting, such as the AGM.

There are two downloads: one explains the process of preparing your nomination, and the other is the actual nomination form to be completed.

Please download the Management Committee Nomination Process (PDF) and follow the instructions for nominations.

Please download the Nomination Form for Election to the Management Committee of the Pure Land Centre (PDF).

(Please note that you need to be a Member in order to nominate for the Management Committee. Membership is free. Go to ‘Stay in Touch’ to download and complete the membership application.)

Then post or email a photo/scan of the completed Management Committee Nomination form (and, if required, the Membership application form) to the Secretary of the Pure Land Centre at admin@purelandcentre.org.au

Postal Address: Management Committee Nomination – Pure Land Centre, PO Box 2053, Como 6152.

If you do not know a member who can nominate you, please email the Pure Land Secretary, admin@purelandcentre.org.au who can organise one for you.

You may wish to read the relevant clauses of the Constitution:

• Members: Clauses 4-13, Pages 6-9
• Committee: Clauses 26-49, Pages 15-24

For more information please email the Pure Land Centre Secretary, admin@purelandcentre.org.au

Organization Chart

Demand for Services

Our main product is a special kind of accommodation for dying people, one that is peaceful and one that is designed to to support spiritual practice. This is a unique product at least in Perth. It is also a new product and demand for it still has to be tested.

The Pure Land Centre’s pilot trial will provide one bed, so with anticipated average stays of about four weeks, this will require 13 patients per year for full occupancy. If the average length of stay is reduced to three weeks, 17 patients per year will be needed.

Demand is expected to come mainly from the Perth Buddhist community and their families; this will include non-Buddhists. We do not know exactly how many people are in this group; we estimate that there are about 30 Buddhist centres in Perth with total membership of 2000 – 4000. If average family size is three people, that suggests a pool of 6000 – 12000 people. On the other hand, from ABS census data in Australia there are 50,000 Buddhists in Perth. This would presumably include those who are not members of Buddhist groups or who are ‘nominal’ Buddhists.

The ABS data also shows that there are 5.7 deaths per 1000 people, or a rate of 0.57%.

So the maximum number of Buddhists dying per year in Perth would be 285 people per year; the number of ‘committed’ Buddhists dying per year might be, say, 34 to 68. Therefore the pool of people we might draw from is probably somewhere between 34 and 285 people per year.

Pilot Trial

Research by the Pure Land Centre has established that the concept of a ‘spiritual hospice’ focussing on emotional and spiritual care has not been tried before in Western Australia.

The concept, which also relies on visiting nurses and doctors and depends primarily on volunteers to function as an end of life care option has also not been tried before.

Therefore, a Pilot Trial which carefully combines these concepts through a well organised system of care arrangements and a risk adverse management policy has been developed to ultimately offer a three-year residential leased proposal, during which key aspects of the concept will be assessed.

With a Business Plan, a Model of Care and a Management Plan under development, The Pure Land of the Indestructible Buddha Inc is now ready to initiate a pilot project within an already-existing building. The pilot project would create accommodation for one dying person at a time, allowing them to spend the last weeks of their life in a peaceful and virtuous environment.

Factors to be evaluated as part of the pilot project would include:

• What is the actual demand for an alternative end of life spiritual care option rather than the medical nursing and planned pathway models currently in use?
• Can we achieve an 80% occupancy target?
• How efficient is the business and financial models?
• How does this type of facility fit with in the current regulatory premises’ requirements?

The Pure Land Centre has used an existing building within the City of Vincent as a test case scenario to establish planning and building requirements. The theoretical use of this property has allowed The Pure Land Centre to evaluate the type of features required in an existing residence that would allow for optimum operation and the associated regulations and planning requirement that may need to be addressed. These have been detailed in a check list that can be used when engaging the services of residential land agent.

Whilst Pure Land Centre aspires in the long term to develop a permanent centre, it is not expected that this will be the pilot project location.

In summary, the pilot stage of three years is to trial the business model and to firm up market demand whilst limiting risks and costs.

Premises & Project Brief

A Project Brief has been written by Penni Sutton (Inq Pad Pty Ltd).

The purpose of the Project Brief is to brief proposed stakeholders and potential partners on the intent and structure of the Pilot Project.

The Project Brief has six main sections:

1. Overview
2. Background
3. Pilot Project Premises – Scope
4. Research, Assessment and Design Brief
5. References
6. Signoff

Please download a copy of the Project Brief (PDF).

With a Business Plan, a Model of Care and a Project Brief, The Pure Land of the Indestructible Buddha Inc is now ready to initiate a pilot project within an already-existing building.

The pilot project would create accommodation for one dying person at a time, allowing them to spend the last weeks of their life in a peaceful and virtuous environment.

There are many aspects to consider in choosing a rental property suitable for the Pilot Trial. It has proved difficult to locate a suitable premises. Currently, we are negotiating on a suitable property which we might occupy in September 2021.

You can download a copy of the Criteria for Selecting a Suitable Premises (PDF).

Money

Financial objectives

Our key financial objective is to increase our bank balance from $156,00 in April 2020 to $300,000 by June 2021.

Finance required

The Pure Land Committee previously decided to try to raise the money required to rent a suitable house for three years up front, before committing to a rental. Financial analysis of the costs involved in renting a property, making minor renovations and paying the Resident Manager, suggested that we should aim to raise about $350,000. Without paying the Resident Manager and without having to do any renovations would reduce this figure to about $200,000.

Money will be raised through:

1. Appeals to members of various Buddhist groups in Perth,
2. Monthly donations from committed individuals
3. Fund-raising events,
4. Searching for ‘large donors’ (philanthropists) who might be prepared to provide no-interest loans or donations, or a house for rent at lowered rental.
5. Grants will be sought from private and government charitable foundations.
6. In addition, the patient will be expected to make a contribution towards costs. This is expected to be in the range $100 – $400 per day.

Here are some recent examples of fund-raising: a Harp Concert raised $3000, a Lottery raised $22,000, and a philanthropic donation raised $116,000. Currently (November 2020), the Pure Land Centre has about $160,000 in its bank account. Donations from philanthropic individuals are expected to be important. Securing ongoing funding will be helped by a substantial gift large enough to live off the interest or to buy a property.

Business Plan

The Business Plan is in four main sections:

1. The Business
2. The Market
3. The Future
4. The Finances

It is a 27-page document with attached tables and is available for downloading or viewing.

Download the Business Plan of The Pure Land of the Indestructible Buddha Incorporated

Download the Auditor’s report for the period ending 2019

Download the Auditor’s report for the period ending 2020