Ancient Dragon Zen Gate
Legal name: Ancient Dragon Zen Gate NFP C/o Paula Lazarz Director
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 412219998
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Chicago, IL, United States
- Phone
- (773) 899-3841
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $136,477
- Expenses
- $109,912
- Assets
- $362,551
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Paula Lazarz (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Hogetsu Laurie Belzer (Guiding Dharma Teacher): $38,610 total reported compensation
- Paula Lazarz (President): $6,450 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Teach and support Soto Zen Buddhist meditation practice as a welcoming community in Chicago. A **ZEN GATE** is an entry to the Buddha Way through Zen practice. Our Zen activities – meditation, listening to the Dharma, meeting with our teacher, mindful service to each other – are all practices that help us to be aware that we live every moment on the threshold of a deeper awareness of ourselves and our community. We strive to take that step toward truth and self awareness at every opportunity, and just continue to enter the gate that is always before us. Our intention is to be inclusive and available to all, and we welcome a diversity of participants. In the Four Great Vows, which we chant in every meeting, we affirm our awareness that Dharma gates are boundless. That is, that the op.
What it reported doing in 2025
Teach, practice and make accessible the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha. These activities are for the benefit of anyone who wishes to participate
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 59
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62.4%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
- 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
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.3; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 41%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 62.4% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $83K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $39K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.