Universal Virtue Buddhist Charities

Overview

Mission

Universal Virtue Buddhist Charities is dedicated to spreading love and sharing happiness. Its mission is twofold: to alleviate suffering for the poor, the disabled, victims of disasters, and underprivileged children in Vietnam, and to improve quality of life for individuals and families in need in the U.S. It pursues this mission by providing relief and social work services with joyfulness, compassion, transparency, and professionalism, and by collaborating with other organizations and volunteers to ensure care recipients receive relief and social work services in a direct, timely, effective, and dignified manner.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide monetary support to disadvantage people in vietnam and other country

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
205784880
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Garden Grove, CA, US
Phone
(714) 537-2234 - (714) 837-0636 - (714) 878-4294
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$945,148
Expenses
$1,021,891
Assets
$95,433
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 96.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes foreign activity
  • Filing history: 3 annual filings from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

People named in this filing

  • HUNG NGUYEN (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024.