Q. I've never purchased anything or made a donation on-line with my credit card. How does it work?

A. You are directed to a secure on-line donation site where you fill in the information necessary for DM to set up the credit card donation. This is on a secure server that only our webmaster and bookkeeper can access. The bookkeeper is notified when you have completed the form and uses the information to activate the donation for the 18-month period. You will then see a donation to DM on your monthly statement for 18 months, at the end of this period your donation will automatically stop unless you specify otherwise. Our bookkeeper will personally check that each donation does stop at the appropriate time.

Q. What specific expenses will my donation go toward?

A. As of September, 2003, Diamond Mountain owes $600,000 in outstanding principal on the 1,000-acre property that we purchased in October, 2001. We owe a payment of $200,000 by October 2004 and another $400,000 by October 2008. We also owe approximately $10,000 per quarter in interest payments on the outstanding principal, which we would like to lower and eventually eliminate by pre-paying the outstanding balance as soon as possible. All donations will go directly to completing the land payments. If the University Fund campaign raises enough to complete the land payment, funds will go directly to expenses for constructing our first temple/study facility.

Q. When will my credit card account be debited?

A. Depending on the volume of contributions, on or near the date on which you filled out the form a deduction will be automatically processed on the credit card you specified, for the monthly amount that you specified. Starting from that date, the deductions will continue for a further 17 months.

Q. How will I know that my donations have begun? Will I get a confirmation?

A. Your donations will begin when you submit the donation form (it should be processed within a few days). You will receive an e-mail confirmation if you include your e-mail address when you sign up. You should be able to confirm your donations as well on your monthly credit card statement. Please contact us at sponsorship@diamondmtn.org if you have any questions or concerns.

Q. Are donations tax-deductible?

A. Diamond Mountain is a non-profit corporation that operates for religious purposes, with 501(c)(3) federally tax-exempt status. Donations may be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Q. What if I want to stop my donations? How do I do that?

A. No problem. Simply send us a letter stating that you wish to cease your donations. The mailing address is:

Diamond Mountain
University Fund
PO Box 37
Bowie, AZ 85605

Q. How do landmark dedications work?

A. For every dollar you give per day, you can name a landmark or road at Diamond Mountain. In Geshe Michael's words:

As a University Founder, you get to name one of the roads or peaks or ravines that stretch across the land. You can name it after one of your teachers, or perhaps your mother or father, or maybe a good friend who has passed away. You can also dedicate a sponsorship to say a grandparent and then tell us to use a name for a road or whatever that they would have liked: for example, you'd fill in... "Please name a road 'Sunflower Road' and dedicate it to my Grandmother Mary, because that was her favorite flower."

We figure anybody can afford a dollar a day. If you have greater resources and want to, you could give say 10 dollars a day, and name 10 landmarks -- one for your sister, one for your child, and so on.

The current online sign-up form doesn't yet have a space for dedications, but in the meantime you can mail yours to inquiries@diamondmtn.org.

Q. I'm ready to sign up now, but I'm not sure what dedication names I want to include. What should I do?

A. By all means, please sign up now! There is no hurry for the dedication names, since we won't start naming any landmarks until 2005, after the 18-month program has been completed. Whenever you're ready, you can mail your dedications to the address above or e-mail them to inquiries@diamondmtn.org.

Q. What if I am able to donate more than one dollar a day. Can I do that?

A. Yes. If you would like to make an initial one-time donation to help immediately with the land payments, you can do that by indicating the one-time credit card donation amount in the "comments" line. If you prefer, you can also mail a check to Diamond Mountain Treasurer, P.O. Box 37, Bowie, AZ 85605. To donate more than $1 per day (which we equate to $30 for each month), please just multiply your daily donation by 30 and tell us what you would like your monthly donation to be. If you would like to speak with a Diamond Mountain staff member about your donations, please contact us at +1 520-847-1213 and leave a message or contact our bookkeeper at sponsorship@diamondmtn.org.

Q. Is there a fee charged in association with my monthly credit card donation?

A. Yes, Diamond Mountain pays a very small service fee for the use of the credit card service. The value of the automated monthly donation process far outweighs this modest fee for the service. However, if you would like to avoid Diamond Mountain having to pay this fee, you always have the option of making your donation in the form of a personal check made out to Diamond Mountain (don't forget to specify the purpose of your offering). This is preferable in the case of larger one-time donations, because we pay the fee as a percentage of the amount of each donation.

Q. What if I live outside the United States? Can I still participate?

A. Yes. Many students live in places like Australia, Singapore, Ireland, etc. You should indicate to us the amount you would like to donate in U.S. Dollar terms.

[Click here to sign up]