Viên Thông Tự
Legal name: Vien Thong Pagoda
Overview
Mission
Viên Thông Tự (Vien Thong Pagoda) is a Buddhist temple serving the Vietnamese-American community in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting Buddhist teachings and cultural preservation.
What it reported doing in 2024
Serve public spiritual needs
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 94% of its reported program work directly.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 470929200
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Website reviewed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Headquarters
- Houston, TX, US
- Rating
- 55
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
The verdict
MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 39
- Transparency & Controls: 58
- Accountability: 77
- Sustainability: 80
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 34.6%; rating input score 35
- Program expense ratio: 46.4%; rating input score 46
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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: 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Public governance controls: 2 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 40
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 25.4%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 14.96; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 34.6% of revenue deployed · 46.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $242K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 annual filings from 2014 to 2024
- 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.