Natural Dharma Fellowship
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 263898758
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Springfield, NH, United States
- Phone
- (603) 763-0204
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,089,636
- Expenses
- $955,256
- Assets
- $4,853,251
- Liabilities
- $1,502,417
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kathe Mckenna (President)
- Tracie Palmer (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Kathe Mckenna (President)
- Tracie Palmer (Vice President)
- Jean Fazzino Lain (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
Natural Dharma Fellowship is an organization of Buddhist practitioners dedicated to bringing the practices of Tibetan Buddhism into the contemporary world in accessible, relevant, and creative ways. Our teachings and practices emphasize the innate wisdom and compassion of one’s inherent being, as taught and transmitted via the Tibetan traditions of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
What it reported doing in 2025
NDF is an organization of Buddhist practitioners dedicated to bringing the practices of Himalayan Buddhism into the contemporary world in accessible, relevant, and creative ways. NDF offers Buddhist meditations and teachings online and/or our retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge. The group meditations typically range from 1 session up to multi-day retreats. NDF also offers private "solo" retreats at Wonderwell. The teachings range from 1 session to multi-day retreats, to weekly courses, and even to multi-year tracks that start with introductory meditation and continue on to Vajrayana and/or Dzogchen practices. NDF's offerings are led by Lama Willa Baker, Lama Elizabeth Monson, visiting Buddhist teachers, and many of NDF's experienced practitioners.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.3%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $22.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: 12.3%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.08; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th 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: 74.3% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $801K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.