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MONGOLIAN BUDDHIST ORGANIZATIONS: SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES
The NGO consists mainly of lay devotees with some monks at the managerial level.
However, the organization operates independently of any church, monastery and
religious figures. The organization usually carries out religious rituals on the occa¬
sions of religious days. In addition to that, the NGO implements activities mainly
aimed at solving particular social problems and supporting social target groups. For
example, in 2016, “Rejoice in Your Virtue” collaborated with two different Budd¬
hist organizations: Great Maitreya Project and Bod’ Chandman’ Center, to initiate
the Safe Motherhood, a charity campaign to support the repair work of a Maternity
center, which is still continuing.
The majority of Buddhist NGOs are established on voluntary basis and lack
stable financial resources. It is therefore, common for them to collaborate with other
religious organizations, monasteries, international organizations and governmental
agencies with similar organizational arrangements.
In some cases, basic operating costs are borne by Buddhist monasteries, while the
majority of the activities are financed by the support of collaborating business and
international organizations. Moreover, some activities are financed by the certain
proportion of charitable donations given by devotees, and profits made by business
activities such as handcrafting and other manufacturing, and trading. In addition to
that, the NGO also organizes activities to find financial support from sponsors and
organizations by preparing social and humanitarian projects, and fundraising through
social network and public media.
Activities organized by Buddhist NGOs are focused on the following target
groups.
Works targeted at youth, forks te i ed at monks
women, people suffering
from illness, children in
orphanages, elderly people
g homes, and
imprisoned people
e. Support studies on
buddhist philosophy
* Translate and write scripts
" Material ass
+ Support for certe
activities
+ Educating and training
+ Emotional support and
advice
Fig. 6. Target groups of activities organized by Buddhist NGOs
Buddhist NGOs are more actively engaged in public campaigns and impact activities
than churches and monasteries. The scope of their works include organizing public
lectures and trainings for improved social belief and morality, raising public aware¬
ness about the essence of Buddhist teachings and the meaning of related traditional
customs, and preparing and distributing simplified programs for lay public via media.
In summary, Buddhist NGOs primarily focus their attention to bring posi¬
tive changes in the spiritual lives of individuals, social groups and the society by
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