Awakening Vajra International
Overview
Mission
We believe that a comprehensive sacred education curriculum based on the nalanda tradition of five branches coupled with a modern secular education process will develop authentic buddhist practitioners who will live meaningful lives by transforming themselves and the world in whi
What it reported doing in 2024
Education - continued to develop curriculum for the buddhadharma program journey to enlightenment.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 75% of its reported program spending out as grants.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462172084
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Website checked
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Headquarters
- San Jose, CA, USA
- Rating
- 54
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
The verdict
MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 60
- Transparency & Controls: 43
- Accountability: 66
- Sustainability: 24
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 60.5%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- 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: 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Public governance controls: 0 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 0.01; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -37.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66% of revenue deployed · 60.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $103K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 24 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 3 annual filings from 2022 to 2024
- 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.