Cloud Mountain Retreat Center
Legal name: Friends of Cloud Mountain
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911859995
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Castle Rock, WA, United States
- Phone
- 360-274-4859
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,130,052
- Expenses
- $917,058
- Assets
- $2,489,241
- Liabilities
- $249,146
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- David Branscomb (President)
- Robert Santikaro Larson (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Laura Hauer (Secretary): $59,562 total reported compensation
- David Branscomb (President): $14,934 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Cloud Mountain Retreat Center is a non-sectarian Buddhist retreat center hosting residential retreats year-round, with a mission to support awakening through the teachings of the Buddha. []( OUR MISSION AND CORE VALUES Cloud Mountain’s highest aspiration as a Dharma center is to support awakening, the deepest promise of the teachings of the Buddha. AND CORE VALUES Cloud Mountain’s highest aspiration as a Dharma center is to support awakening, the deepest promise of the teachings of the Buddha. Read more…. Our purpose is to provide opportunities for all individuals to hear and practice Buddhist teachings with qualified and realized teachers in an environment that combines simplicity, integrity, kindness and direct contact with the beauty and energies of the natural world in support of spiritual deepening and realization. It is our intention to provide a foundation for the balanced...
What it reported doing in 2024
We offered 34 teacher-guided group retreats varying in length from 3 to 13 days in 2024. Two supported self-retreats for small groups of individuals were also held. All of the retreats were organized solely by Cloud Mountain. Retreats focused on various aspects of Buddhist teachings or practice and featured a teacher or teachers well known among practicing Buddhists. Lectures, meditation, or related activities are scheduled throughout the day. Participants have little free time and are often expected to continue meditation on their own during unscheduled times. Retreats are staffed by Friends of Cloud Mountain employees, with significant amounts of labor provided by the participants themselves, which helps to keep retreat fees low. The fee for each retreat depends on the length of the retreat and related costs. Generally, every retreat accepts some work-exchange participants who pay a reduced fee. There are need-based scholarship funds funded in part by donations from the community available to assist low-income individuals to attend retreats. A special scholarship fund for young adults ages 18-35 has been established, available on a select group of retreats, which is funded largely by private donors, with additional contributions from the community. A special scholarship for people of color has also been established through donations from the community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 68% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 52
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62.9%; rating input score 63
- Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 55.9%; rating input score 56; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 18.8%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.71; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 62.9% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $742K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 31 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 56/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.