Uma Institute for Tibetan Studies
Overview
Mission
Primary exempt purpose is 1) translation into English (and possibly other languages) of texts from Tibetan Buddhist traditions, 2) seminars, classes, and retreats on focal topics of Tibetan Buddhism and instruction in the literary and colloquial aspects of the Tibetan language, and 3) maintenance and development of multimedia archives as research and instructional resources accessible across the worldwide web.
What it reported doing in 2025
The UMA Institute of Tibetan Studies makes available in English on its website texts from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that are key to understanding that rich philosophical tradition. Translations on the website are available for free download. UMA also develops, maintains, and makes available on its website multimedia archives for research and instruction. In 2025 UMA regularized the formatting of ISBN numbers of documents on the website and did final bibliographic work to bring some of Professor Jeffrey Hopkins' work to completion; it also began a project to make various of Professor Hopkins' unpublished works, currently available on the UMA Institute's website, available as bound volumes downloadable from Amazon.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 100% of its reported program work directly.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 261257649
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2019, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2010
- Headquarters
- Salem, OR, USA
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 100
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: NotEnoughData
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Public monitoring controls: Limited
- Public policy transparency: Limited
- Public financial transparency: Limited
- Impact reporting controls: Limited
- Public relationship transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Public governance controls: Limited
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -220%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 6.57; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -23% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -15.3% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -9.6% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 7 annual filings from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- 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.