Dana Vihara
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 882541779
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Arrowbear Lake, CA, USA
- Phone
- (626) 275-0636
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $72,169
- Expenses
- $41,790
- Assets
- $44,901
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
People named in this filing
- Laurence White (Dana Vihara Board Chair)
- Mary McIntyre (Dana Vihara Board Secretary)
- David Braughton (Dana Vihara Board Treasurer)
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
Dana Vihara raises funds so that anyone—regardless of income—can attend meditation retreats and events led or endorsed by Beth Upton or her assistant teachers; support includes teacher travel, food, lodging and supplies for participants, essential retreat supplies, and special projects. Dana Vihara does not provide financial support for Beth, her assistant teachers, retreat managers, or retreat staff.
What it reported doing in 2025
This past year Dana Vihara supported two group retreats at Sitagu Buddha Vihara Austin Texas. The retreats lasted 15 and 30 days respectively and involved a total of 90 participants. Dana Vihara also paid for teacher travel.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 60% for direct work, and 40% for grants.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.8%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 93%; rating input score 93
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 42.1%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 49; 49th 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: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 53.8% of revenue deployed · 93% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $39K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.