Houston Zen Community

Overview

Mission

Houston Zen CommunityStatement of FaithHouston Zen Community (HZC) exists to support and enhance the teachings of compassion and wisdom that were articulated by the Buddha 2,500 years ago. Buddha awoke to the true nature of life and to the true nature of interconnectedness. For Buddhists, no individual can achieve separate freedom from delusion, or salvation, unless everyone achieves freedom, or salvation. Therefore, Buddhists understand that our efforts must be aimed toward freeing all beings from suffering. There can be no separate, isolated, freedom, because we are connected; we are all blessed with Buddha Nature.The primary hindrance to compassion is delusion, that is, the inability to see or understand our total interconnectedness. Therefore, meditation and compassionate action aim to relieve beings from fear and delusion, allowing them to experience the sacredness of their own lives. On this basis, Buddhists become more skillful at seeing the sacredness of everyone's life; we bec

What it reported doing in 2024

The programs and services of the Houston Zen Community were detailed at length in a separately filed Schedule A, Form 1023 through which the community's status as a church was established with the Internal Revenue Service.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% 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
760522757
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
Houston, TX, USA
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 98
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 52
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95%; rating input score 95
  • 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: Limited
  • 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
  • Public governance controls: Limited
  • Zakat policy transparency: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -30.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Operating reserve ratio: 4.12; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $492K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 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.