Avadhuta Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 841465779
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2018, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Boulder, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3034739295
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $14,157
- Expenses
- $7,324
- Assets
- $83,424
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELE SONDHEIMER (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- MICHELE SONDHEIMER (PRESIDENT)
- JOHN ARNOLDO (DIRECTOR)
- SALLY RUANE (SECRETARY)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Avadhuta Foundation was established with Papaji’s blessing in 1993 to catalog, preserve, and make available to the public, information about HWL Poonja, affectionately known as Papaji. In the following years H.W.L Poonja earned money to support his family, meeting with seekers and sharing satsangs. In 1953 he met Henri Le Saux, also known as Swami Abhishiktananda, who wrote many books on Advaita Vedanta and Christianity. Although not a disciple of his, the two formed a spiritual friendship and Swami Abhishiktananda wrote about their meetings and correspondences in his diary. In the late 1960s H.W.L Poonja formed a new family with his Belgian disciple, Ganga Mira and their daughter, Mukti. In 1966 he retired and spent a lot of time in the Himalayan foothills. Poonjaji later settled in Lucknow where he received visitors from all around the world. Poonjaji died on 6 September.
What it reported doing in 2025
Website, social media and archiving project
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 66% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.1%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 48.3%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.39; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 61.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.