Southern Dharma Retreat Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
561695711
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hot Springs, NC, United States
Phone
+1 (828) 933-3021
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$834,494
Expenses
$747,911
Assets
$1,768,029
Liabilities
$111,259

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sonia Marcus (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sonia Marcus (Executive Director): $75,138 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To offer meditation retreats, provide dharma instruction, and support communities, grounded in Buddhist practice traditions. Southern Dharma is guided and supported by an inspiring and engaged Board of Directors made up of practitioners, professionals, and community members who work together as a sangha in service of Southern Dharma’s mission and vision. Board members offer their wisdom, skills, and lived practice to help steward the retreat center, support its long-term sustainability, and nurture the Dharma for generations to come. If you feel called to explore serving on the Board, we would be grateful to hear from you. _Board Interest Form_ Board Officers & Directors.

What it reported doing in 2024

Southern Dharma Retreat Center is a place of refuge offering education, meditation, contemplation and silence in a remote retreat setting, facilitated by teachers of varying traditions. During the 2024 calendar year, Southern Dharma Retreat Center hosted a total of 18 retreats ranging for 3-10 nights in length for a total of 87 retreat nights. Retreats were offered by 19 teachers and attended by 407 participants with subject offerings and teachers representing a variety of Buddhist traditions. SDRC awarded partial or full scholarships and fellowships to 61 retreat attendees, or approximately 15% of attendees. In addition to permanent staff, retreat operations were supported by 18 retreat volunteers for a total of 1,000 volunteer hours. Southern Dharma Retreat Center hosted far fewer retreats in 2024 due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, which passed through Western North Carolina on September 26, 2024. In the aftermath of the hurricane, Southern Dharma was forced to cancel 7 retreats totaling 30 retreat nights and involving 128 registered participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.

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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $30.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 81%; rating input score 81; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.4%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.36; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 78.4% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $646K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 7 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.