The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT

Legal name: The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270819710
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2023
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Mesa, AZ, USA
Phone
6173246030
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Social Science N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$735,832
Expenses
$273,941
Assets
$7,832,233
Liabilities
$220,000

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TENZIN PRIYADARSHI (PRESIDENT, CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • TENZIN PRIYADARSHI (PRESIDENT, CEO): $2,855 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT is dedicated to inquiry, dialogue, and education on the ethical and humane dimensions of life.

What it reported doing in 2023

Transformative leadershiptransformative leadership is an internally held value-based leadership workshop for professionals and business school students. The workshops explore the alignment of personal and professional values and provide methods for cultivating more ethical behavior in one's daily life.science, monks, technology leadership program comprises leadership and service workshops for young adults accessing rural communities in northern india and community service projects for a monastic community in southern india. Latin america satellite center programs- mexico and latin america: transformative leadsership in the judicial system, ethics initiative, and anti-corruption and transparency programs in alignment with the centers core programs and values. Although this program takes place in india and latin america there are no revenue or expenses being reported from for foreign contries because of all of it is donated time.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 63% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. 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: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 88
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.9%; rating input score 57
  • Program expense ratio: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 62.8%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 28.59; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -10% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 56.9% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $257K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $3K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.