Ananda is a global movement of more than 140,000 people dedicated to Self-realization. Based on the mission and teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda to unite the spiritual wisdom of the East with the material efficiency of the West, Ananda is pioneering models for living an integrated spiritual life that inspires millions today.
What makes Ananda unique is our goal to offer everyone access to the practical teachings of yoga as shared by Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, Ananda outreach ministries will continue to serve millions of seekers.
Ananda’s Outreach Flows Expansively on the Wings of Technology
Sharing Yogananda’s teachings means making them accessible to anyone — anywhere and at any time.
Free Inspiration
Ananda has a wealth of inspirational offerings to support and uplift you on your spiritual journey.
- Free online content (video, blogs, spiritual talks, books, radio)
- Books
- Music
- Apps
- Spiritual pilgrimages
- And much more
Ongoing Personal Contact and Support
The essence of Ananda remains-sharing wisdom, the teachings, the music, the laughter, but most of all friendship. Love and friendship are the core of Ananda.
- Online classes
- Ananda Communities
- Virtual Community
- Meditation Groups
- Workshops lead by ministers and teachers
- Individual counseling
- Retreats
Deepening your Spiritual Life
- Learn about the advanced meditation technique, Kriya Yoga
- Extensive online courses
- Online classes and retreats
- Ananda’s Karma Yoga Ashram Programs
- Learn about discipleship
- Spiritual counseling
- Meditation and Yoga Teacher trainings and certifications
Tools to Rise and Meet These Opportunities with Courage and Hope
- Healing prayers
- Spiritual counseling certification
- Meditation techniques
- Affirmations
- Energization exercises
- Meditation app
- Daily online group meditation
Support Ananda Outreach Ministries
Tithing is a spiritual practice, a conscious expression of gratitude to God. It is not directed towards a specific fund but given without condition to the source of your inspiration. For many people a tithe is given before any expenses are paid.
A donation is an amount given to support a specific fund or activity and is taken from disposable income.
Pledges are set dollar amounts that a person plans for giving, either on an on-going basis or within a specific time. A church or other organization counts on your pledge as part of its budget.
Estate Gift Planning allows you to shape your spiritual legacy through charitable giving. Including the Ananda Janaka Foundation in your Will, Trust, or as an IRA Beneficiary are some ways to do this. Please visit the Ananda Janaka Foundation for more information.
Your support makes possible all that Ananda does to share inspiration and practical wisdom with all who seek it.
More ways to give
Checks or Money Orders may be made out to “Ananda” or, to give a tithe, they may be made out to “Thank You God.” Checks may be mailed to:
Ananda Sangha Worldwide
14618 Tyler Foote Road #50
Nevada City, CA 95959
Securities or stocks held more than one year, and that have increased in value, make extremely effective gifts. You are entitled to deductions for the fair market value of the stock on the date of the gift, plus you pay no tax on the capital gain value of the gift shares. A deduction of up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income is available, with a five-year carry-over of excess deductions.
Giving directly between banks is also a great way to support Ananda. For more information, please contact
Each company has a different policy about matching the gifts of its employees, so check with your employer to see if your donations to Ananda qualify for a matching gift.
Memorial gifts to the Ananda Janaka Foundation are used to support the mission of Ananda. In this way, the gift you give in memory of a loved one will live on in service to others.
Memorial gifts may be made by check to:
Janaka Foundation
14618 Tyler Foote Road #242
Nevada City, CA 95959
For more information about memorial giving, please contact Parvati Hansen, Executive Director of the Janaka Foundation at parvati@janakafoundation.org.
Ananda accepts bitcoins and other forms of digital currency.
To make a donation contact: Erin Vinacco, Fundraising Director, erin@ananda.org
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is a giving vehicle established at a public charity. It allows donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax deduction and then recommend grants from the fund over time.
If you are inspired to make a gift through a donor advised fund please contact: erin@ananda.org
If you’re over 70½ and must begin withdrawing funds each year from your retirement accounts, you may be able to donate that money to a qualified charity—reducing, rather than increasing, your taxable income for the year.
- eBay Giving Works was designed to make it easy for eBay users (buyers and sellers) to support important causes—in the U.S. and abroad. Click here to support Ananda.
- Facebook Create a personal fundraiser to support Ananda and share it with your friends. Click here to support Ananda
- Paypal Giving Fund PayPal covers all fees. Click here to support Ananda.
The Blessing of Giving from the Heart
“Those who have money, and use it for the welfare of other people, get great good karma for it.” Paramhansa Yogananda
Ananda Fundraising Team
Ananda’s fundraising team is here to build a bridge that connects each one of us with the heart of Ananda through the sacred act of giving.
Erin Vinacco
Director of Fundraising
Erin is an Ananda Lightbearer Minister and has lived and served at Ananda Village since 2017. She was first connected with Ananda at our center in Rhode Island and has spent time serving in our Ananda Portland and Seattle communities as well. As a certified Education for Life teacher the main focus of her service has been with parents, families and children, including her most recent roles as family minister for Ananda Village and Founding Director of Conscious Families.
Erin is thrilled to expand into this new role as Director of Development for Ananda Worldwide and she looks forward to applying her creativity and enthusiasm to supporting the Ananda Outreach Ministry through fundraising and donor support.
Jyoti Spearin
Fundraising Associate – Major Gifts
Nayaswami Jyoti is an Ananda minister and has lived and served at Ananda Village since 1996. She has offered classes and workshops in meditation, yoga philosophy and Ananda yoga at The Expanding Light and Ananda Meditation retreats and for several hospitals, colleges and private clients throughout the US and Canada. She is currently serving at Ananda’s Development Department and is active in Ananda’s outreach ministry, offering spiritual support and guidance to devotees worldwide.
Nayaswami Pushpa
Fundraising Associate – Tithing
Pushpa was a Fortune 500 corporate executive for 10 years when she began to experience a deep aching in her solar plexus. Climbing the corporate ladder no longer fulfilled her. A friend introduced her to a spiritual path based primarily on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda and she began meditating in 1985.
Pushpa’s introduction to Ananda was in Dallas, Texas in 1995, where she met Swami Kriyananda. She moved to Ananda Village in 2000 where she serves as an Ananda minister, an Ananda Meditation teacher and a spiritual counselor. Through Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda’s teachings she has found the guidance she was seeking. She has shared the yogic teachings for the past 36 years.
Emily Paterson
Gift Administrator
Emily discovered Ananda as a junior in high school. A couple months after she graduated with honors in 2000, she moved to Ananda Village, where she earnestly focused on her career in spiritual growth. Emily has held various positions around Ananda, including working in Master’s Market, Crystal Clarity Publishers, the Ananda IT Department, and most recently the Development Department. She keeps chocolate in her desk at work and lives happily in a little cabin with her black cat, Frankie.
Diane Calabria
Fundraising Associate
Diane Calabria enrolled in a meditation class during her first semester of college, igniting a long, bumpy, and winding search for a spiritual home. Eventually she landed at Ananda, received Kriya initiation, and completed Ananda Yoga Teacher Training and Meditation Teacher Training. She has many years of fundraising experience and teaches yoga and meditation in Central Minnesota.
Nayaswami Parvati Hansen
Estate and Planned Giving
Executive Director, Ananda Janaka Foundation
Parvati is one of the founding members of Ananda, and is one of Ananda’s most widely traveled and experienced ministers. She moved to Ananda in 1972, and was made a minister by Swami Kriyananda in 1981. With her husband, Pranaba, she has been involved in the creation and direction of Ananda centers and communities in Palo Alto, Portland, Seattle, Dallas, and Assisi, Italy.