Middle Way La
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 510542666
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2007
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3239401570
- Rating
- 42
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $36,764
- Expenses
- $37,375
- Assets
- $46,513
- Liabilities
- $6,621
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALICIA TOLBERT (President)
People named in this filing
- DMITRIY YEPISHIN (BOARD MEMBER)
- CAROL HOUST (Treasurer)
- ANDREW BEREZIN (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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To encourage and provide for the serious study and personal practice of the authentic teachings of buddhism, in a western context and in ways that enhance and deepen intellectual, cultural, and spiritual understanding.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization offered meditation, buddhist philosophy and yoga classes to dozens of students on a weekly basis. It also organized a 5-day retreat for 70 people with in-depth study of various topics in buddhism, yoga, and other mindful activities.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 13
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 13%; rating input score 13
- Program expense ratio: 12.8%; rating input score 13
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -14.6% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -6.5% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 13% of revenue deployed · 12.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 13/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.