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The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$710k
Granted FY2024still arriving
60
Grants FY2024still arriving
16
States reached
$42k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Religion$1.1MEducation$693kHuman Services$249kYouth Development$83kCrime & Legal$82kArts & Culture$74kSocial Science$49kRecreation & Sports$38kOther$0
02FY2024 · 60 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k17 grants · $101k
  • $10k–50k43 grants · $609k
$12,000
Median grant
16
States reached
$14M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NAROPA UNIVERSITY$41,833
DRALA MOUNTAIN CENTER$18,000
DHAMMADHARINI$17,500
SHAMBHALA USA$17,500
TARA MANDALA$17,500
DHARMADATTA COMMUNITY$17,000
THE PROFOUND TREASURY DHARMA FOUNDATION$17,000
Individual grant recipient$17,000
LINEAGE PROJECT INC$17,000
LOYOLA MARAMOUNT UNIVERSITY$17,000
TREASURE CARETAKER TRAINING$16,000
SUKHASIDDHI FOUNDATION$15,000
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$15,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$15,000
VETERAN'S YOGA PROJECT INC$15,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $163k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 84% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%INWARD BOUND MINDFULNESS EDUCATION INC: $20k → 11%VETERAN'S YOGA PROJECT INC: $15k → 10%CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: $10k → 10%PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING INSTITUTE: $13k → 13%THE LOTUS INSTITUTE INC: $13k → 10%FLOURISH FOUNDATION: $7k → 7%VETERAN'S YOGA PROJECT INC: $10k → 10%NEW YORK ZEN CENTER FOR CONTEMPLATIVE CARE INC: $10k → 17%THE LOTUS INSTITUTE INC: $2k → 10%THE INSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS NFP: $6k → 14%MIND AND LIFE INSTITUTE: $10k → 8%FLOURISH FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%VETERANS YOGA PROJECT: $9k → 10%CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: $3k → 10%THE INSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS NFP: $7k → 14%MIND AND LIFE INSTITUTE: $4k → 8%BRAIDED WISDOM INC: $18k → 10%OUTREACH INFORMATION SVC: $3k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
VT
WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
UT
CO
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
DC
HI
LA
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 62 repeat orgs$962k to everyone else

62 repeat relationships: 29 still active in FY2024, 33 since wound down; 30 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

62
74

Total granted

$2.0M
$633k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+28%

Still filing today

58%
34%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $329k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationReligionHuman ServicesArts & CulturePhilanthropyCrime & LegalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • NU
    Naropa University
    4× · 2017–2024 · $179k · revenue +34%
  • LM
    LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2017–2024 · $79k · revenue +68%
  • PD
    Prison Dharma Network Inc
    5× · 2017–2024 · $70k · revenue +62%

Funded once

  • NU
    NAROPA UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2019 · $71k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $40k
  • ML
    Mindful Life Projectgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $30k · revenue +344%
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.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
International Buddhist Education Foundation
Education
2
The Institute of Buddha Dhamma Studies a Non Profit Corporation
Philanthropy
3
A Skeptics Path to Enlightenment

Buddhist meditation training based on modern science & psychology

Arts & Culture
4
Dharma Refuge Inc

Buddhist Meditation and Study

Religion
5
Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing Inc

In a natural spiritual setting, the Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing provides a wide range of practices drawn from ancient wisdom, for all levels of interest, in order to cultivate physical and emotional wellbeing in the greatest number of…

Religion
6
Nyingma Institute

The nyingma institute was founded in 1972 by tibetan teacher and author tarthang tulku to present the teachings of the tibetan tradition to the west. (see schedule o for full statement)

Religion
7
Science for Monks
Science & Tech
8
Padmasambhava Peace Institute

An educational center providing retreat and study facilities for people interested in environmental stewardship and training in practices for peace.

Religion
9
Institute for Contemplative Life Dba Inner Pathway Publishing

Our purpose is to support the inner pathway of all who come to us. By inner pathway, we refer to the innate qualities of the human spirit: love, joy, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, inner peace, beauty, and humor. The inner pathway is…

Health
10
Yunguang Chan Center

Religious culture and education, meditation and religions comparative study

Education
11
Blazing Wisdom Institute

To teach, preserve, and publish about Tibetan Buddhist meditation and Chinese esoteric practices.

Religion
12
North Shore Meditation and Dharma Center

Religious education

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Treasury of Lives Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

80 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. 80 of the 168 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
75/80
Grantees still filing
46/80
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NAROPA: $253,138 · OtherNAROPANaropa University: $179,207 · OtherNaropa UniversityNAROPA UNIVERSITY: $71,208 · Other+104 more: $1,344,662 · Other+104 moreLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $79,000 · EducationLOYOLA MARYMOUN…MINDFUL SCHOOLS: $57,500 · EducationMINDFUL SCHOOLSTHE GARRISON INSTITUTE: $44,758 · EducationTHE GARRISON IN…CENTER FOR MINDFUL LEARNING INC: $30,500 · EducationCENTER FOR MIND…UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST: $29,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF T…EMMANUEL COLLEGE: $20,500 · EducationDHARMA GATES INC: $20,000 · EducationSATI CENTER FOR BUDDIST STUDIES: $17,500 · EducationNew York University: $16,000 · EducationSOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL: $15,000 · Education+11 more: $80,500 · Education+11 morePrison Dharma Network Inc: $70,000 · ReligionPrison Dharma…Lions Roar Foundation: $33,500 · ReligionLions Roar Fo…DRALA MOUNTAIN CENTER Formerly Shambhala Mountain Center: $28,000 · ReligionDRALA MOUNTAI…BOUNDLESS FREEDOM PROJECT: $27,500 · ReligionBOUNDLESS FRE…INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH SPIRITUALITY INC: $27,500 · ReligionINSTITUTE FOR…DHARMADATTA COMMUNITY: $18,000 · ReligionDHAMMADHARINI: $17,500 · ReligionTHE PROFOUND TREASURY DHARMA FOUNDATION INC: $17,000 · ReligionPeace At Any Pace Inc: $16,500 · ReligionZEN NORTH SHORE: $16,000 · ReligionSOTO ZEN BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION: $15,000 · ReligionLIFE TRANSITION MEDITATION CENTER: $15,000 · ReligionBARRE CENTER FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES INC: $14,500 · Religion+4 more: $25,000 · Religion+4 moreVETERANS YOGA PROJECT INC: $34,250 · Human ServicesINWARD BOUND MINDFULNESS EDUCATION INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesBraided Wisdom Inc: $18,000 · Human ServicesTHE LOTUS INSTITUTE INC: $14,500 · Human ServicesMIND & LIFE INSTITUTE: $13,500 · Human ServicesINSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS: $13,000 · Human ServicesPastoral Care & Counseling Institute: $12,500 · Human ServicesCONTEMPLATIVE LIFE INC: $12,500 · Human ServicesFLOURISH FOUNDATION INC: $12,000 · Human ServicesNEW YORK ZEN CENTER FOR CONTEMPLATIVE CARE INC: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $2,500 · Human ServicesMISSION BE INC: $34,000 · Youth DevelopmentMindful Life Project: $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentHOLISTIC LIFE FOUNDATION INC: $18,000 · Youth DevelopmentCenter for the Contemplative Mind in Soc: $32,500 · Arts & CultureTreasure Caretaker Training: $16,000 · Arts & CultureBUDDHIST ARTS AND FILM FESTIVAL: $7,000 · Arts & CultureTRICYCLE FOUNDATION: $2,500 · Arts & CultureDawn Mountain: $2,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $22,000 · PhilanthropyRUBIN MUSEUM OF ART AKA THE SHELLEY & DONALD RUBIN CULTURAL TRUST: $17,500 · PhilanthropySEPTEMBER'S MISSION FOUNDATION: $9,000 · PhilanthropyOPENCOLLECTIVE FOUNDATION: $2,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,848,215Education$410,258Religion$341,000Human Services$162,750Youth Development$82,000Arts & Culture$60,000Philanthropy$50,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNaropa University: $179,207 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $79,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPrison Dharma Network Inc: $70,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetMINDFUL SCHOOLS: $57,500 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetVETERANS PATH INC: $52,500 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetTHE GARRISON INSTITUTE: $44,758 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetLineage Project Inc: $37,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetVETERANS YOGA PROJECT INC: $34,250 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetMISSION BE INC: $34,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetLions Roar Foundation: $33,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCenter for the Contemplative Mind in Soc: $32,500 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetCENTER FOR MINDFUL LEARNING INC: $30,500 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetMindful Life Project: $30,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF THE WEST: $29,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDRALA MOUNTAIN CENTER Formerly Shambhala Mountain Center: $28,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBOUNDLESS FREEDOM PROJECT: $27,500 over 2y, 12% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JEWISH SPIRITUALITY INC: $27,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $22,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEMMANUEL COLLEGE: $20,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDHARMA GATES INC: $20,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetINWARD BOUND MINDFULNESS EDUCATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE TIBET CENTER INC: $18,500 over 2y, 10% of budgetHOLISTIC LIFE FOUNDATION INC: $18,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBraided Wisdom Inc: $18,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetDHARMADATTA COMMUNITY: $18,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetDHAMMADHARINI: $17,500 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetRUBIN MUSEUM OF ART AKA THE SHELLEY & DONALD RUBIN CULTURAL TRUST: $17,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSATI CENTER FOR BUDDIST STUDIES: $17,500 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetTHE PROFOUND TREASURY DHARMA FOUNDATION INC: $17,000 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetPeace At Any Pace Inc: $16,500 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetTreasure Caretaker Training: $16,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetNew York University: $16,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TREASURY OF LIVES INC: $15,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetLIFE TRANSITION MEDITATION CENTER: $15,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetNorthwestern University: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBARRE CENTER FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES INC: $14,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE LOTUS INSTITUTE INC: $14,500 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetMIND & LIFE INSTITUTE: $13,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS: $13,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetPastoral Care & Counseling Institute: $12,500 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetLONG BEACH MEDITATION: $12,500 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetCONTEMPLATIVE LIFE INC: $12,500 over 2y, 9.8% of budgetPRATT INSTITUTE: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLOURISH FOUNDATION INC: $12,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetINSTITUTE OF BUDDHIST STUDIES: $11,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK ZEN CENTER FOR CONTEMPLATIVE CARE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
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.

  • Who funds Naropa University ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Prison Dharma Network Inc ↗
  • Who funds MINDFUL SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds VETERANS PATH INC ↗
  • Who funds THE GARRISON INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Lineage Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds VETERANS YOGA PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSION BE INC ↗
  • Who funds Lions Roar Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Center for the Contemplative Mind in Soc ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR MINDFUL LEARNING INC ↗
  • Who funds Mindful Life Project ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST ↗
  • Who funds DRALA MOUNTAIN CENTER Formerly Shambhala Mountain Center ↗
  • Who funds BOUNDLESS FREEDOM PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH SPIRITUALITY INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY INITIATIVES ↗
  • Who funds EMMANUEL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds DHARMA GATES INC ↗
  • Who funds INWARD BOUND MINDFULNESS EDUCATION INC ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

BESS Family FoundationImpactassetsincTan Teo Charitable Fo…The Owsley Brown III …Rsf Social Finance IncSea Stone FoundationLostand FoundationRiverstyx FoundationCommunity Foundation …The Himachal Foundati…Hitter Family Foundat…Pema Chodron Foundati…
BESS Family FoundationDE53.3× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: BESS Family Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Tan Teo Charitable Foundation · The Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Found · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Sea Stone Foundation · Lostand Foundation · Riverstyx Foundation · Community Foundation Boulder County · The Himachal Foundation Inc · Hitter Family Foundation · Pema Chodron Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Ramapo College Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Emmanuel College: 0% of income from government
  • Holistic Life Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • South Tech Charter Academy Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 168 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home