Crowedfunding
Help us keep this special place alive
Our contribution to a better world
Longer Version of our Crowdfunding
This is a longer version for anyone who wants to read more. If you have already read the text on the Crowdfunding Portal, please simply skip the first 4 sections.
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We are a small, values-led retreat centre on the south coast of Sri Lanka. Since 2017, we have dedicated a large part of our lives to creating a place where people can slow down, reconnect with themselves, gain clarity, grow, form meaningful connections, and remember what matters most.
The income generated through the project contributes to the livelihoods of at least 30 people in Sri Lanka. This includes at least 9 children, many mothers or other family members.
Now, after a series of exceptional events beyond our control, we need help to protect what has been built and give the project a stable future.
Since 2019, the centre has faced repeated disruptions that no small tourism-dependent project could reasonably plan for:
2019: The Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka caused cancellations and a major decline in tourism.
2020-2021: COVID-19 restrictions forced periods of closure and severely limited international travel. As a result, we were closed for a total of 20 months during the pandemic. Throughout this period, we continued to support our team in paying salaries and maintaining the property despite having no income.
2022-2023: Sri Lanka's economic crisis brought fuel shortages, power cuts, inflation, serious operational disruption and a major decline in tourism. We raised all salaries so our team could afford the higher cost of living on the island.
2025: Flooding in December 2025, followed by fewer bookings because of the news.
2026: Travel disruption and flight cancellations linked to escalating conflict in the Middle East (Iran) from late February 2026 contributed to retreat cancellations and weaker bookings.
Over the past seven years, the combined financial impact of these events has gradually depleted the reserves we had built to maintain and renovate the centre and to protect it during weaker seasons. This is why we have now reached a point where we need to ask for help.
Throughout these years, we did everything we could to keep going and maintained the centre, supported our team and their families, and continued to invest in the work required to keep the retreats running. For several years, we - Martina and Alex - took no money from the project.
The 2024/25 season was the only normal season during this period and generated a healthy operating result. However, much of that money was needed to cover obligations from previous years and prepare for the following season.
This campaign is about preserving a place that has supported many people and ensuring that it can continue to serve for years to come.
Since 2019, we have facilitated more than 65 week-long Breathwork, Meditation and Yoga retreats, welcomed more than 1,000 participants from over 20 countries, and received five-star ratings in 99% of our published reviews. If you would like to read them, the link is at the end.
This project is a heart project and our purpose, which we believe everyone felt when they joined our retreats. That's why we set up a public international crowdfunding campaign and are asking for help from a bigger community and family to help keep this project alive.
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In a few months, we must decide whether to renew the lease for another 10 years and keep Green Peace Inn alive, or stop running our retreats and focus on something different.
Running these retreats was a way to serve and help many people on their paths. That's why we want to make this not just our decision, but also yours.
In 2017, we took on all the risk ourselves to build this place, and we've carried that responsibility over the years through all the events mentioned above.
Now we are at a point where we need to see if we have a community behind us that believes in us and supports what we do.
To keep the place going for many more years, we need to do some renovations and improvements again. The estimated cost is around EUR 42,000.
The current list includes replacing several air-conditioning units and dehumidifiers, following up with new government regulations, repairing roofs and bathrooms, carrying out essential maintenance work throughout the building, and making other necessary repairs and replacements. The conditions so close on the beach are rough on materials and the building, that's why we need to reinvest again after 10 years.
Campaign goal and how the funds will be used:
Our first milestone for this campaign is EUR 42 000, which will allow us to undertake essential renovations and equipment replacements and commit to a new ten-year lease agreement.
This would already be a big step!
The second milestone would be another EUR 50,000 or more.
Our core annual operating costs - including employee salaries, rent, electricity, water, internet, software, bookkeeping, maintenance, and other essential expenses - are approximately EUR 90,000 per operating year. This figure is WITHOUT income for Martina and Alex. The additional EUR 50,000 will help cover our running costs for the upcoming season and allow us to plan for the future again.
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Yes, under normal operating conditions, the resulting operating surplus is sufficient to cover the operating costs, plus income for Martina and Alex, rebuild reserves, fund necessary maintenance, and reinvest in the project’s future.
The current situation was not caused by a fundamentally unsustainable model. It is the cumulative result of repeated external disruptions that reduced bookings, led to extremely high marketing costs, interrupted operations, and gradually depleted our reserves over several years.
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In Sri Lanka, one salary often supports more than one person. Income is commonly shared across households and generations, helping to cover food, education, medical expenses and everyday living costs.
We have seen the impact of this very personally. One young person connected to the project has completed university, while another has recently begun their studies. One employee had just completed his studies while working, while another was able to work alongside his studies and support his family. We hope that more will have access to similar opportunities in the future.
This campaign is therefore not only about maintaining a retreat centre. It is about preserving a wider network of fair employment, education, family support, local suppliers, transport providers and professional services.
How can you help?1. Donate through this crowdfunding platform. Every contribution moves the project forward. LINK
2. Share this campaign with friends, family, colleagues and relevant communities - through WhatsApp, Facebook, newsletters or any other channel available to you. Share your experience with them if you stayed with us.
3. Introduce us to people or organisations that may be aligned with the project and able to support in different ways
4. Book a retreat with us for next season
Who is behind the project?
Alexander Keil
He has studied and practised meditation, yoga and breathwork for more than 16 years, including formal breathwork training with Alchemy of Breath and further study with other established teachers and schools. He has devoted thousands of hours to meditation, yoga, breathwork and the study of Tantric and Taoist traditions. He integrates this experience into the design and facilitation of the retreats.
Alexander also has 17 years of experience in IT, with degrees in Computer Science and Business Informatics. He spent 10 years running an international IT company, based first in Germany and later in Switzerland.
Martina Drechsel
For over 16 years, Martina has studied and practised the connection between body, mind and energy through both Western and Eastern traditions. She is a certified 760-hour yoga teacher, trained in Hatha, Synergy and Yin Yoga, and a certified 400-hour breathwork facilitator through Alchemy of Breath. She is currently training as a Buteyko Breathing Instructor with Patrick McKeown and is also a Reiki and NLP practitioner. As a mother, she brings her own lived experience of navigating life, change and balance into her work.
Before her career change, Martina worked in career guidance for young adults, event management and public administration in Germany. For the past seven years, she has also been working independently through her Germany-based business, leading workshops and retreats and supporting people in their personal development through the connection of breath, body and mind.
Our values in practice
Since 2017, the centre has been our work, our responsibility, our community and a very large part of our lives.
Over the years, we have often chosen options that were not the easiest, the cheapest, or the most profitable. We invested in fair and reliable employment, careful maintenance, high-quality food, biodegradable products, high-quality equipment, professional education and reduced-cost retreat places for people who genuinely could not afford the full fee.
We did not make these choices because they always made financial sense. We made them because we have sat in retreat circles and seen what this work can mean to people. We have heard the stories, witnessed tears and relief, watched friendships begin and received messages about changes that continued long after a retreat ended.
Those moments reminded us why we kept going, why we kept reinvesting, and why Green Peace Inn became much more than a seasonal project to us.
This is what our values have looked like in everyday practice
CARING FOR QUALITY
We care deeply about the quality of every experience we offer.
That commitment influences countless decisions behind the scenes.
For example, we buy many organic products, such as teas, organic spices, organic oils, and coconut milk, and try to buy as fresh and local as possible from local markets.
In our kitchen, we go above and beyond, spending a lot of time creating tasty menus for our guests and delivering unforgettable food experiences.
Our sound journeys are supported by carefully selected crystal singing bowls and handcrafted gongs created by very special artists. We believe that the quality of the instruments matters.
The same attention extends to the air you breathe. We source premium natural incense made with very high-quality, natural ingredients because we care about what you inhale during practice and meditation.
These and many other choices require additional effort, time, and investment. We make them because we believe that every detail contributes to creating a space where people can feel safe, supported, inspired, and cared for.
CARING FOR OUR TEAM AND THEIR FAMILIES
This is perhaps the most personal part for us.
In Sri Lanka, a salary often supports much more than one person. It can help parents, children, grandparents, siblings and other relatives. Families share resources and responsibilities, and when one person has stable work, the effect can reach an entire household or several generations.
Over the years, we have seen this very directly. Income from Green Peace Inn has helped pay for food, school materials, university education, medical care and difficult moments that a family could not have managed alone. One young person connected to our team has completed university, another has started, and we hope more will have the same opportunity.
On one occasion, we helped pay for a kidney operation that the family could not have afforded alone. We share this example because it shows how closely a small project can become connected to real lives - and why decisions about salaries and employment have never felt abstract to us.
Tourism on the south coast is highly seasonal. Many businesses employ people only during the main visitor months. When the season ends, the income often ends too, and brings the families in difficult situations. How to buy food, pay for education for the kids, medical care and other daily needs without income?
Although our centre operates only part of the year, we have continued supporting many members of our team throughout the off-season. This has not always been the easiest decision financially. But after working together for so many years, they are not simply employees to us. They are people we know, trust and care about. They have become part of our extended family.
Behind every role at Green Peace Inn is a person with a story, responsibilities, hopes and people who depend on them.
When you support Green Peace Inn, you are therefore helping more than a place or a retreat programme. You are helping protect stability, education, opportunity and dignity for the people whose work, warmth and commitment make this place possible.
CARING FOR KNOWLEDGE AND GROWTH
The retreats we offer are not based on a single training or a fast-assembled programme. They have grown out of many years of learning, personal practice, teaching, facilitation and experience.
Over the years, we have invested in professional education, certifications, and personal development. In addition, thousands of hours have been dedicated to meditation, yoga, breathwork, facilitation, coaching and the study of contemplative traditions and relevant scientific research.
We bring what we have learned to the retreats in a grounded, practical way. Our intention is not to tell people what they should believe, and we do not promise that one week will solve every problem.
Our aim is to create a supportive and carefully facilitated environment in which people can slow down, reflect, learn practical tools, ask meaningful questions and reconnect with themselves.
Some parts of our work draw on spiritual or contemplative traditions. We value those traditions, while being careful not to present spiritual ideas as established scientific facts.
CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Being surrounded by the ocean and tropical nature is one of the great gifts of this place. It also reminds us that the way we operate has consequences.
Throughout the centre, we use biodegradable soaps and cleaning products wherever possible. These products often cost more and can be harder to source, but reducing the use of harsh chemicals is important to us. We recycle as much as possible, we clean our street of rubbish, and we pay for beach-cleaning actions.
We know that no hospitality business has zero environmental impact, and we do not claim to be perfect. We simply try to make responsible choices wherever we realistically can, and to improve over time.
CARING FOR THE PLACE ITSELF
Living close to the ocean is beautiful, but the conditions are demanding. Salt air, humidity, tropical rain and strong sun affect almost everything: walls, wood, mattresses, air conditioners, electrical systems, furniture and equipment.
Before each season begins, our team spends weeks cleaning, repairing, restoring and repainting. Last season alone, more than 1,000 working hours went into preparing the centre so that the first guests could arrive in a place that felt welcoming and cared for.
At the end of every season, we review our participants’ feedback and, within the available budget, try to address the points they raise. In this way, Green Peace Inn has grown step by step. It has been shaped not only by us, but also by the many guests who cared enough to share honestly what worked and what could be better.
CARING FOR PEOPLE WHO CANNOT AFFORD THE FULL RETREAT FEE
From the beginning, one sentence has been part of our website:
"If you genuinely feel that this retreat could support you, but the full fee is beyond your means, please reach out. We will do our best to find a solution."
People did reach out, and whenever our resources allowed it, we found a way. Sometimes this meant a reduced fee. Sometimes it meant an individual payment arrangement or another form of support.
We cannot make every retreat free. We have real operating costs and a responsibility to pay our team fairly. But we never wanted money alone to decide who could receive support from this work.
WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN TO US
We have not done everything perfectly.
We have made mistakes, learned, adjusted and improved many things along the way. But one thing has remained consistent: we have tried to make decisions that reflect who we are.
Many of those decisions required more money, time and energy than the easiest or cheapest alternative. Some were not the choices a purely profit-driven project would have made. Yet after more than 65 retreats since 2017 - and so many human stories - we still believe they were worth making.
For us, success has never been measured only in revenue. It is also measured in the people who found clarity here, all the insights people had during retreats, all the heart-touching moments, all the tears of happiness we cried, the friendships that began here, the team members who could support their families, the young people who gained access to education, and the positive effects that continued after guests returned home.
The best part is last.
The land itself carries a story of generosity. Many years ago, Kevin, an American teacher who lived in Sri Lanka and volunteered as an English teacher, gave the land to Lakshman for free. That gift created new possibilities for Lakshman and his family. Today, the same land provides work for local people and welcomes guests from around the world who come to learn, practise and connect. Kevin could not have known how far the effect of his generosity would travel.
How can you help?
1. Donate through this crowdfunding platform. Every contribution moves the project forward.
2. Share this campaign with friends, family, colleagues and relevant communities - through WhatsApp, Facebook, newsletters or any other channel available to you. Share your experience with them if you stayed with us.
3. Introduce us to people or organisations that may be aligned with the project and able to support in different ways
4. Book a retreat with us for next season
Thank you!
This Project has continued through difficult years because many people cared, contributed, worked and believed in what the place could offer. We are now asking a wider community to help us cross this bridge and build a more stable next chapter.
Many people, acting together, can make a meaningful difference.
With gratitude,
Martina, Alex and the team