Sakya Kachod Choling
Legal name: Sakya Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943092773
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Silver Spring, MD, United States
- Phone
- 3603784059
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Buddhism
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $557,653
- Expenses
- $19,632
- Assets
- $1,636,885
- Liabilities
- $299
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- GYANA VAJRA SAKYA (President)
- HOWARD PI (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- DONALD GIAMPORCARO (Director)
- KHENPO PEMA WANGDAK (Director)
- SUSANNA SALSBURY (Director)
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
To provide retreat opportunities for practitioners of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism first, and secondly, for anyone interested in private retreat, and finally to hold teachings of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism. Sakya Society** was founded under the spiritual direction of Her Eminence Sakya Jetsun Chimey Luding Rinpoche and continues under the leadership of His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche. Sakya Society is a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Khenpo Pema Wangdak** was sent to the West in 1982 by His Holiness the Sakya Trichen. Since then, he has been teaching students from around the world and has helped establish several humanitarian projects. afb2382026-01-01T01:17:35+00:00.
What it reported doing in 2025
Sakya Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded under the spiritual direction of Her Eminence Sakya Jetsun Chimey Luding Rinpoche and continues under the leadership of His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche. We provide opportunities for study, contemplation, and meditation, including currently a regular Sunday program online and an annual New Year retreat online, as well as spiritual instruction by our teachers. We are in the process of re-establishing a physical location for our Buddhist center.
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. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 94
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.7%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 58%; rating input score 58
- Fundraising efficiency: $47.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 96.5%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 83.38; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -17.6% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 56th 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: 87.7% of revenue deployed · 58% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.