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I'm trying to clarify something I believe I heard a while back. I think I heard the monk instruct the lay person to say "Bhikku Sanghassa Demi" which I believe was later translated as "I give this to the community of monks"

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    Yes its it correct. When you say those words you are offering to all Sangha including Lord Budhdha, Arhant sangha, and all other Sangha including Sangha from present, future and past. After this offering the offered thing will be property of Sangha and should not be used/consumed by others without explicit permission from Sangha.
    – Sampath
    Commented Apr 25, 2022 at 6:38

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To repeat what Sampath posted (except, in an answer instead of a comment), the answer is "yes".

This reference, quoting from Abhidhamma in Daily Life -- Dana (charity) -- repeats that it's an offering to the whole Sangha, and gives advice about proper cetana (volition).

How to Projects One’s Goodwill

In offering Sanghika Dana, a donor’s mind must be directed to the Order of the Sangha in general. Even though you utter, “Sanghassa demi - I offer it to the Order of the Sangha”, if you have in mind a particular monk or a particular monastery, your charity cannot be Sanghika Dana. Offering alms food to any monk on daily alms-round, or to certain monk designated by the Order can be classified as true Sanghika Dana, when only the donor’s mind is truly directed to the whole of Sangha.

Mental Attitude While Offering Alms-Food

The virtuous devotee, endowed with great faith in the Buddha wishing to promote long endurance of his teaching and emergence of succession of good, dutiful Sangha who would maintain the prosperity and purity of sasana, should support the Sangha organization by offering regular alms-food to its members. But when the alms-food has been prepared ready for offering, the devotee must remove any attachment as, “This is my Sayadaw; this is the monks I have helped ordained.” Instead, he must incline his mind to the whole Sangha while making the offering uttering at the same time, “I offer this to the Sangha, Sanghassa demi.” When the Dana performance is made daily in such a manner, the offering becomes a true Sanghika Dana.

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