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 filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
760522757
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7138691952
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$396,258
Expenses
$517,802
Assets
$2,132,242
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • 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

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
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -30.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage 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; 59th 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Gaelyn Godwin (Head Priest): $60,485 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024.