Universal Chan
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 823189030
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Berkeley, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5104070455
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Protestant
- Affiliation
- Buddhism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $83,478
- Expenses
- $125,767
- Assets
- $46,771
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
2 people listed
People named in this filing
- MIRCO CORRARINO (FOUNDER)
- CHING-WEI JIANG (CFO)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Universal chan's mission it to spread the chan teachings to deeply benefit those interested in learning the teachings of the buddha.
What it reported doing in 2025
During 2024 universal chan also held meditation retreats. Instructing how to do chan practice moment-by-moment in all kinds of activities, including silently sitting, drinking tea, walking in nature, exercising, and performing light chores. These were 7-day and 3-day programs. Atleast 80 people attended. Additionally, universal chan held chan tea sessions: teaching how to live a satisfactory life, fully enjoy each moment, and harmonize with others through the activity of using chan wisdom to drink tea. Atleast 100 people attended.
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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 45
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 20
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 50.7%; rating input score 51
- Program expense ratio: 33.7%; rating input score 34
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -50.7%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.37; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -45.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -33.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 50.7% of revenue deployed · 33.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $42K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 34/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.