Zendo Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883852704
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Grass Valley, CA, USA
Phone
3238541729
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Hot Line, Crisis Intervention Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,432,142
Expenses
$1,128,178
Assets
$382,420
Liabilities
$37,123

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Chelsea Pires (Executive Dir.): $113,075 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Zendo Project offers professional harm reduction education to communities and organizations, and provides peer support services at events to help transform difficult psychedelic experiences and other complex emotions into opportunities for learning and growth.

What it reported doing in 2025

Zendo Project Inc. has three core programs: Program 1: Event-Based Harm Reduction ServicesZendo Project provided peer-based psychedelic crisis care at 11 events across 5 states, supporting 473 guests with the assistance of 269 volunteers. Events included major music festivals and conferences such as Psychedelic Science 2025, Burning Man, Phish at Folsom Field, and multiple Red Rocks performances. Through a partnership with Stadium Medical, the organization embedded harm reduction support within existing event medical infrastructure, reducing emergency interventions and improving collaboration between attendees, harm reduction staff, and professional safety teams. This model demonstrates a replicable, cost-effective approach to peer-based crisis care in high-attendance public settings.Program 2: Sitting and Integration Training (SIT)Zendo Project delivered its Sitting and Integration Training (SIT) program to 1,797 students since program launch, with an average participant feedback rating of 8.8 out of 10. The program equips trainees with trauma-attuned, culturally sensitive skills to support individuals navigating non-ordinary states or emotional distress. To expand access, the organization provided 650 scholarships to students who would otherwise be unable to afford participation. SIT serves as the educational foundation for Zendo's broader strategy of building a trained peer support network for crisis response contexts.Program 3: Emergency Psychological Response (EPR) and Zendo Lab Research InitiativeIn 2025, Zendo Project launched two groundbreaking initiatives to expand its impact beyond the festival context. In collaboration with the Cohen Foundation, the organization developed the Emergency Psychological Response (EPR) program for crisis teams, with a pilot launch scheduled for January 2026 and subsequent expansion into healthcare systems, public safety, education, and community settings. Simultaneously, Zendo Lab - the organization's research arm - was established to bring peer support principles into psychedelic science and crisis response research, uniting field-based learning with rigorous data collection. Zendo Lab received national recognition including a presentation at the American Public Health Association (APHA), and will begin building outcome datasets in 2026.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.6%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 79.5%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

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: 75%; rating input score 75; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 21.2%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 27.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 64.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.6% of revenue deployed · 79.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $897K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.