Northwest Vipassana Center - Dhamma Kuñja
Legal name: Northwest Vipassana Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911245370
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Onalaska, WA, USA
- Phone
- +1 360-726-2708
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,075,944
- Expenses
- $771,395
- Assets
- $7,197,262
- Liabilities
- $874,322
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Juan Maldonado (President)
People named in this filing
- Juan Maldonado (President)
- Kulany Roeksbutr (Trustee)
- Devi Jalakandapuram (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
Vipassana meditation (taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin) is presented as a universal remedy for “universal ills,” a way of self-transformation through self-observation that dissolves mental impurity and results in a balanced mind full of love and compassion. This presents a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract defilements of the mind—abstract fear, anger or passion. But with proper training and practice it is very easy to observe respiration and body sensations, both of which are directly related to mental defilements. Respiration and sensations will help in two ways. First, they will be like private secretaries. As soon as a negativity arises in the mind, the breath will lose its normality; it will start shouting, “Look, something has gone wrong!” And we cannot scold the breath; we have to accept the warning. Similarly, the...
What it reported doing in 2025
Conducted continuous courses of Vipassana meditation, serving hundreds of students. Courses are conducted primarily at the organization's property via intensive on site 10 day courses.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 77
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.1%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 28.3%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.33; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 72.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $771K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.