Mindworks

Legal name: Mindworks Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383973476
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Phone
8058962020
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$294,420
Expenses
$69,433
Assets
$16,861
Liabilities
$1,938

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUZAN GARNER (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • SUZAN GARNER (PRESIDENT)
  • BART MENDEL (TREASURER)
  • MARJORIE ERICKSON (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mindworks is on a mission to make authentic meditation and Buddhist practices accessible and available to anyone and everyone. Mindworks is a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to making age-old Buddhist meditation teachings relevant and accessible for personal transformation in today’s world. Our Mind Trainers and staff volunteer their time and wisdom so that proceeds from our online programs and courses go towards operating expenses to support our mission. Over 20,000 people have taken our free online beginner’s introduction to meditation course: that’s a lot of happy meditators and counting. We’re grateful for the feedback and inspired by the number of people who want to learn meditation and continue to trust Mindworks to guide them further along this amazing journey. Why more meditators are choosing Mindwork.

What it reported doing in 2025

Development of app for the purpose of helping users in the practice of meditation

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 21.1%; rating input score 21
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 76.4%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -63.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 21.1% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $62K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.