Bay Area Vipassana Center
Overview
Mission
To provide a conducive environment for the practice of Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
What it reported doing in 2025
Conducted silent, residential meditation courses/retreats teaching vipassana meditation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% 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
- 470982918
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Website reviewed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Headquarters
- Berkeley, CA, USA
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports that some governance safeguards are missing.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 84
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 57.4%; rating input score 57
- Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public policy transparency: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Impact reporting controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Public relationship transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Public governance controls: 4 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 80
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 38.8%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 18.25; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -7.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 57.4% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 14 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $176K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 annual filings from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.