Scholarships & Accessibility

Summary

• Our retreats are intentionally small (maximum 8 participants).

• We do not offer blanket discounts or automatic reductions.

• Scholarship decisions are made through mutual honesty, context, and alignment—not pressure, urgency, or negotiation.

Why We Operate as a Nonprofit

Confluence Retreats is a nonprofit because we believe healing work should not be shaped by extractive business incentives.

We do not have investors, and we have received virtually no outside donations. Nearly all of our operating budget comes directly from participant fees.

Operating as a nonprofit allows us to:

• Protect the integrity of the work

• Prioritize client well-being over scale or profit

• Avoid the influence of non-stewards of the organization (shareholders, non-operational board members, etc)

Our nonprofit structure is not about generating charity—it is about protecting the container.

What Scholarships Actually Mean Here

At this stage, scholarships are not paid for by donors. When we offer a scholarship, we personally absorb the cost—it does not get backfilled by external funding.

Because our groups are so small: Each scholarship given removes our ability to offer that support to someone else.

This is why we ask for honesty, humility, and discernment.

Scholarships are not “discounts for convenience,” and they are not for people who could comfortably participate with a payment plan (explained further down on this page).

Our Current Capacity

To remain sustainable and ethical, each retreat can offer:

• Up to 1 participant at a 25% scholarship

• Up to 1 participant at a 50% scholarship

That is the maximum.

We do this because it allows access without compromising the quality, safety, or depth of the retreat experience.

Payment Plans — Our Preferred Accessibility Path

Many participants who would not be able to attend otherwise do so through payment plans.

We can extend tuition over:

• 3 months

• 6 months

• or longer for people on fixed income or with genuine, demonstrated need

Payment plans may be arranged before the retreat depending on your circumstances.

If a payment plan would allow you to participate without requiring a scholarship, please choose that route.

This preserves limited scholarship availability for those with no other option.

The Green Bottle Model

We use the Green Bottle sliding-scale framework to help participants self-assess capacity realistically—not just current cash flow.

If your bottle is full:

• You can pay full price comfortably.

• You may have savings, investments, discretionary spending, or financial support.

• Your participation helps fund our work and preserve scholarship spots.

If your bottle is half-full:

• You may qualify for a 25% reduction,

• preferably paired with a payment plan.

If your bottle is nearly empty:

• You may qualify for a 50% scholarship,

• almost always paired with a longer payment timeline.

We use this model because it is about shared integrity, not comparison, worthiness, or shame.