Tarpa

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
882015423
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Vershire, VT, United States
Phone
3107458860
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$39,466
Expenses
$16,028
Assets
$512,754
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Greg Seton (Vice President)
  • Brophy Tyree (President)

People named in this filing

  • Greg Seton (Vice President)
  • Brophy Tyree (President)
  • Michael McIlmurray (Treasurer)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Tarpa exists to give anyone, regardless of background or belief, access to a complete, rigorous, secular education in meditation as a contemplative scientific method for investigating and improving human experience. Why Tarpa Exists Tarpa exists to give anyone, regardless of background or belief, access to something genuinely hard to find: a complete, rigorous, secular education in meditation as a contemplative scientific method for investigating and improving human experience. Toward this end, Tarpa created the Palace of Learning—a free, self-paced academic program for adult learners based upon three courses that Dr. Gregory Seton (DPhil, Oxford) developed and teaches at Dartmouth College. The Dartmouth courses explore different Buddhist and Western theoretical frameworks for meditation along with an applied learning component, in which students learn and experiment with the differe.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide physical locations and personal guidance for the public to engage in solitary retreats to learn mindful living.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. 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: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 51
  • Sustainability: 84
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.7%; rating input score 35
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 85
  • 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 22nd 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: 59.4%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 31.99; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 53.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -86.3% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 34.7% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $16K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.