Pacific Buddhist Academy
Overview
Mission
To prepare students for college through academic excellence; to enrich their lives with Buddhist values; and to develop their courage to nurture peace. Statement To prepare students for college through academic excellence; to enrich their lives with Buddhist values;. Pba's support for families who qualify for tuition assistance Pacific Buddhist Academy commits to enrolling a student body that reflects the socioeconomic, linguistic, cultural and learning style diversity of Hawai‘i. Indeed, PBA's project of peace would not be possible without a diverse community, as our young people need to learn to negotiate differences to practice peace. We understand the significant financial resources families devote to send their children to PBA, and we are grateful that families support their children's learning at PBA. Each year, we devote significant funds to need-based tuition assistance and...
What it reported doing in 2023
Pacific buddhist academy (pba) is an hais- and wasc-accredited non-profit independent school whose mission is to prepare students for college through academic excellence; to enrich their lives with buddhist values; and to develop their courage to nurture peace. Program offerings include leadership development through community engagement and internships, mixed grade-level advisories, exchange programs with sister schools in japan, fine and performing arts with emphasis on japanese cultural arts like sado and taiko, and interscholastic clubs and sports in the ilh and pac-five. Pba currently serves 75 students of diverse backgrounds, including international and neurodivergent learners. Pba is in its 20th academic year and has had over 251 graduates accepted to colleges throughout the u.s., europe, and japan.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 77% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 85% of its reported program work directly.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043660909
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2023
- Website reviewed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023
- Headquarters
- Honolulu, HI, USA
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports that some governance safeguards are missing.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.1%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
- Public monitoring controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- 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: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public relationship transparency: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Public governance controls: 4 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -19.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 4.1; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 84.1% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 12 annual filings from 2012 to 2023
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.