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
Website reviewed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Headquarters
Garden Grove, CA, US
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

The verdict

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

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 99
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 68
  • 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
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited
  • Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Impact reporting controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
  • Public relationship transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

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
  • Public governance controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Zakat policy transparency: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Operating reserve 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.