Kevala Retreat
Overview
Mission
Center for Buddhist religious education & practice, to provide access to the early Pali teachings, in the style of Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and providing a rural retreat environment for experienced meditators.
What it reported doing in 2025
Contributions to charitable organizations including religious nonprofit organizations, local community needs, as part of the required practice of generosity, in the Buddhist tradition.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 95% of its reported program work directly.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 431920530
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Headquarters
- Woodville, WI, USA
- Rating
- 79
- 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. The filing reports that some governance safeguards are missing and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.2%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 73.4%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
- Public monitoring controls: Limited
- Public policy transparency: Limited
- Public financial transparency: Limited
- Impact reporting controls: Limited
- Public relationship transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Public governance controls: Limited
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -6.1%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 3.49; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 66.6%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.2% of revenue deployed · 73.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $139K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 annual filings from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.