Core Principle
Every donation path should answer four questions before a visitor gives: who receives the funds, what the funds support, whether the gift is restricted, and how progress will be reported. This protects donor trust and keeps TaoDaoism, community projects, and the future Temple entity from becoming financially or legally confused.
Public Giving Paths
TaoDaoism General Support
Supports the website, teaching library, quote reflections, design, hosting, email/community tools, and administrative development.
- Unrestricted unless specifically stated.
- Reported as general platform development.
- Does not imply temple-restricted use.
Temple Development Fund
Supports planning toward the Temple of Dragon Clouds and Tranquility before it becomes a separate institution.
- Used for proposal work, land research, legal preparation, governance planning, and site feasibility.
- Must be clearly described as TaoDaoism-led temple-development work until a separate entity exists.
Project-Specific Giving
Supports a named project chosen by the donor, such as Kids’ School Supplies, Koi Reflection Pond, or Library Additions.
- Tracked by project ledger.
- Public page shows sanitized progress.
- Private records stay protected.
Project Lifecycle
Define purpose, public need, restrictions, privacy risks, and owner.
Confirm scope, budget categories, reporting rules, and donation language.
Publish public page, needs list, and donation pathway.
Track receipts, in-kind support, updates, milestones, and expenses.
Post public-safe summary, totals, outcomes, and next steps.
Close completed projects or move recurring efforts into operations.
Public vs Private Data
Standard Project Fields
Public Fields
Project title, summary, status, public goal, needed categories, milestone stage, sanitized updates, public contact path, donation category.
Private Fields
Project owner, internal budget, restricted ledger, donor records, receipts, vendor notes, recipient details, risk notes, approval history.
Reporting Fields
Progress summary, amount raised if public, items collected, expenses by category, milestone changes, completion note, lessons learned.
Governance Fields
Approval status, reviewer, date opened, date closed, restrictions, privacy level, legal/tax notes, public wording approval.
Temple Creation Funding Stages
The Temple Creation project should be tracked separately from daily operations. During the build stage, giving supports planning, land, permitting, architecture, construction, altar infrastructure, and opening. After opening, giving can support named operations projects.
Next Build Requirements
- Create a future WordPress custom post type: Project.
- Create private project fields that are never rendered publicly.
- Create public dashboard fields that can be safely displayed.
- Add donation category metadata before payment integration.
- Add project status workflow: Draft, Approved, Open, Active, Complete, Archived.
- Add audit notes and manual reporting controls before automating totals.