New York · Nonprofit
BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE
BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE (New York) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $79,367 to it, the largest being BURT & STANLEY SHAFFER FOUNDATION ($63,300). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $76k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $79k
- Net assets
- $680k
What Blazing Wisdom Institute does
Mission
To teach, preserve, and publish about Tibetan Buddhist meditation and Chinese esoteric practices.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Our new teaching and meditation hall in Nepal hosts in person and online practice and teaching programs throughout the year. See Schedule D Part XIII and Schedule F Part V Supplemental Information. Other new programs for this year included a one-week in person and remote retreat at Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing in June. New publication, a translation of Mipham s White Lotus along with other translation projects to serve our community. Teaching at Krishna Das retreat at Garrison Institute in March. Lecture for NYU students from Dubai in January. More than 200 online live practice sessions. Second guest appearance on Guru Viking podcast.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
One week in-person intensive meditation and education retreat at Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing retreat center in upstate New York in June.
$359 spent$2,859 earned by the program16% of program spendingTranslating, printing, and publishing books of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation, reprinting of catalog titles to replenish stock, purchasing ISBN numbers and other related expenses as publisher together with operating an online webshop.
$1,882 spent$4,021 earned by the program84% of program spendingTeaching at Krishna Das retreat at Garrison Institute
$1,246 earned by the program
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,241.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $454k to $670k (+48%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
63% of BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Sherab Posel Aka Tulku Sherdor
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $3k → $10k.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 56% · 2021 71% · 2022 65% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
94% of BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 10,158 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,158 religion nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
16% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
50%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE?
- BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE (New York) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $79,367 to it, the largest being BURT & STANLEY SHAFFER FOUNDATION ($63,300). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $79,367 in grants to BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE?
- BURT & STANLEY SHAFFER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $63,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLAZING WISDOM INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Blazing Wisdom Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 4 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing