· Public charity
The Dalai Lama Foundation
The Dalai Lama Foundation supports charitable programs benefiting both the Tibetan and global community in the areas of education, health, social development and preservation of Tibetan Buddhist culture.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2019.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2019
- $10k–50k1 grant · $35k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $245k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Emory University | $120,000 |
| Wisdom Publications | $74,500 |
| Dalai Lama Fellows co Community Initiatives | $50,000 |
| Tibetan Community Development Fund | $35,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–18, $100k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
Grants abroad, by region: $3.8M on the FY2019 return
Schedule F, as filed: 3 regions, $3.7M to organizations and $80k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.
Stated purpose: To support Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning program at the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-based Ethics · Scholarships
Stated purpose: To support the making of Je Yabsey sum statues · To support Asral Tov Ngo · Scholarships
Stated purpose: Scholarships
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
3 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2019, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2019, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $85k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- EUEmory University3× · 2017–2019 · $10M · revenue +80%
- MLMIND & LIFE INSTITUTE2× · 2017–2018 · $100k · revenue -4%
- WPWISDOM PUBLICATIONS INC2× · 2018–2019 · $100k · revenue +16%
Funded once
- UOUniversity of Wisconsinone grant, 2017 · $50k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2018 · $35k
- SOSISTERS OF ST FRANCIS THIRD ORDER REG CONG OF OUR LADY OF LOURDESone grant, 2017 · $31k
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
6 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 6 of the 9 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Dalai Lama Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Dalai Lama Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Dalai Lama Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Dalai Lama Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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