Ideas

To raise money what about the following:-
Ask companies to donate goods for an auction or for sponsorship.
A brocante
An auction
Setting up an Exhibition
Leaving leaflets asking for donations
Collecting donations
Writing articles
Approaching Credit Unions
Finding out about Grant Funding for restoring buildings, agriculture etc.
Buying and selling Loanstock to friends, family, other Buddhist organisations.

Try thinking outside the box of seeing it as only a religious organisation. The centre is many things - it is a temple, a community, a retreat centre, a shop, an enterprise, a charity, an educational body, an international organisation, a network, a business. When the land is bought it may also be a farm, a cultural heritage centre, a demonstration of ecological living, a healing retreat. It is in essence an offering to the world for the benefit of all beings and this has many forms.

It is likely that the money will come from many places, some from grants, some from loans, some from donations, some from plain old elbow grease. There could be a grant for installing solar panels, a grant for restoring buildings as Gites, there may be agricultural grants/loans available.

We now have many hats; a farmer's hat, a business woman's hat, a therapists hat and of course potentially a Lama's hat. This means that we can find funds available to all these different areas, people and places and we can think about repaying loans from many sources of future earnings.