Tibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237433901
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5108484238
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Emergency Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$152,308
Expenses
$227,016
Assets
$753,955
Liabilities
$1,868

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tarthang Rinpoche (President)

People named in this filing

  • Tarthang Rinpoche (President)
  • Pema Gellek (Director/Ex Dir)
  • Rosalyn White (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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mission: Our mission is to rebuild, preserve, strengthen, and perpetuate the cultural and spiritual heritage of Tibet for the benefit of Tibetan people and all humanity. Our Primary Program: Funding the production, shipment and distribution of sacred texts, art and prayer wheels for donation to institutions and individuals in the Himalyan region. Other program activities: Sponsoring ceremonies important to sustaining the lineages of all Tibetan Buddhist schools. Providing financial support for monastic centers, lamas, monks, nuns and lay perople.Promoting awareness of Tibet's heritage of the West through publications, presentations, exhibits, and the production and sale of culturally significant items.

What it reported doing in 2024

Tibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation helps to support the production, shipping, trucking and distribution of cultural and spiritual texts in the Tibetan language to Tibetans in exile in India and throughout the Himalayan region, helping to preserve their culture and language from extinction. Thus far over 5.5 million texts have been freely distributed. The books touch the lives of over 150,000 refugees living in India and the surrounding region by being available to monks, nuns, lay people, monasteries, schools and libraries throughout the region.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $26.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th 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: 60%; rating input score 60; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -49.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.32; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $182K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.