California · Nonprofit
ESALEN INSTITUTE
ESALEN INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,364,136 to it, the largest being MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC ($2,391,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $6.4M
- Net assets
- $29M
What Esalen Institute does
Mission
Esalen is a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research. We work toward the realization of a more humane world, seeking answers to questions unlikely to be explored by traditional universities and religions. Esalen sponsors pioneering initiatives and offers personal, spiritual, and social transformation programs for residents, interns, and workshop participants.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public seminars - each year, esalen holds over 500 workshops on topics ranging from somatic practices and massage to philosophical and scientific inquiry, from psychological process to nature, ecology, and sustainability, from social and political issues to spirituality, from health and healing to arts and creativity, served over 13,000 individuals in 2023.
$11,288,575 spentof which $2,446,157 as grants$18,115,737 earned by the program76% of program spendingHealing arts, continuing education and other - esalen is an approved provider of continuing education units (ceus) for psychologists, mfts, lcsws, nurses, teachers, and bodyworkers. Annually as many as 200 of its programs offer ceu's. Served over 1,000 individuals in 2023.
$2,413,366 spent$2,057,662 earned by the program16% of program spendingWork study program - a four-week residential program, the work study program offers an intense involvement with the esalen environments and an in-depth experience of the esalen approach to holistic personal and social development through an integrated work and study model. Served over 200 individuals in 2023.
$730,832 spent$427,833 earned by the program5% of program spendingCenter for theory and research - the esalen center for theory and research supports essential philosophic, academic, and research aims of the Esalen Institute. It evaluates frontier inquiry, creates networks of pioneering individuals, and works to catalyze new discoveries that promote personal and social transformation. It carries forward projects at the growing edge of philosophy, psychology, comparative religious studies, education, sociology, somatics, the arts, ecology, and related disciplines that bear upon transformative practice and the continued evolution of humankind. Served over 150 individuals in 2023.
$445,738 spentof which $114,732 as grants$122,909 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,878,511.
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 $34M to $67M (+96%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 7% · 2021 2% · 2022 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
4% of ESALEN INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Camille Wright
CEO - until 10/24
Board chair
Dave Morin
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $517k → $575k.
14 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 ESALEN INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 funders by total. 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
ESALEN INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
66% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ESALEN INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 33% · 2019 59% · 2020 40% · 2021 72% · 2022 67% · 2023 41% — diversifying over time.
“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.
How long its funders stay
44% of ESALEN INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
64% of ESALEN INSTITUTE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.3M that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from funders outside California, across 11 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
ESALEN INSTITUTE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 43 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 social science nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like ESALEN 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Esalen Healing Arts Spc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ESALEN 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 ESALEN INSTITUTE?
- ESALEN INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,364,136 to it, the largest being MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC ($2,391,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ESALEN INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $6,364,136 in grants to ESALEN INSTITUTE, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ESALEN INSTITUTE?
- MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,391,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ESALEN INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 42 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing