The Middle Way Initiative
Legal name: The Middle Way Initiative Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 844885510
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Wheeling, WV, United States
- Phone
- 3042334272
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $54,507
- Expenses
- $61,069
- Assets
- $66,313
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ELIZABETH MATTIS NAMGYEL (PRESIDENT)
- JAMPAL NAMGYEL (VICE PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- ELIZABETH MATTIS NAMGYEL (PRESIDENT)
- JAMPAL NAMGYEL (VICE PRESIDENT)
- KATHERINE TEAHEN (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Middle Way Initiative is a non-profit Buddhist organization committed to honoring and preserving the spirit, insight, and methods of inquiry that characterize the Buddha’s middle way teachings; it educates through meditation retreats, dialogue, and creative expression under the guidance of teacher Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization (aka: mwi) educates through meditation retreats, dialogue, and creative expression. Mwi is actively committed to bringing the middle way tradition into the world in a broader way. In 2024, mwi produced and distributed podcasts, produced webinars to worldwide audiences, produced teaching and meditation retreats, and collaborated with other buddhist organizations for various presentations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 61% 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
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 66.8%; rating input score 67
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -12%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 52.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 74.8% of revenue deployed · 66.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $41K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.