California · Nonprofit
EWAM CHODEN
EWAM CHODEN (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,800 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($12,800). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $129k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $25k
- Net assets
- $518k
What Ewam Choden does
Mission
Founded and continuously overseen by Lama Kunga since 1973, Ewam Choden was one of the earliest Tibetan Buddhist centers on the west coast. The Ewam Choden Tibetan Buddhist Center is located in Kensington, a residential community in California.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Under the guidance of the accomplished Vajrayana master and resident teacher,Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche, the center offers a wide variety of classes and activities. Lama Kunga Rinpoche gives regular empowerments and teachings, along with a weekly compassion meditation practice on Sunday mornings. He also holds an occasional series of language classes in speaking, reading, and writing the Tibetan language. The Center hosts visiting Lamas and holds events for special occasions, such as, significant dates in the Tibetan calendar, and Losar, the Tibetan New Year.In the past, Ewam Choden has been visited by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the heads of three other major schools of Tibet, as well as many other lamas. Ewam Choden continues to expand its practice on numerous levels. Students are involved in translating Tibetan texts into English, and Rinpoche has worked diligently in this
$94,007 spent100% of program spendingarea. Several students have developed skill in creating traditional Buddhist ritual objects and images. The Center is also extremely interested in maintaining close relations with the Tibetan community in India and in the United States.Activities at the Center include:* Meditation: Sunday mornings at 10:00AM and other times. * Classes and seminars on Buddhist teachings and practice* Empowerments* Marriage Ceremony: For those who are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche is certified to perform the traditional Tibetan Buddhist marriage ceremony.* Language classes
* Private interviews: As scheduled with Rinpoche.* Treasure vasesEWAM CHODEN PROVIDES THESE SERVICES TO WORSHIPPERS IN THE GREATER BAY AREA.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $94,007.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $380k to $476k (+25%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $7k → $6k.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 EWAM CHODEN’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
EWAM CHODEN leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% 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
100% 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 EWAM CHODEN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 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
100% of EWAM CHODEN'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k 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.
Organizations like EWAM CHODEN
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 EWAM CHODEN: 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 EWAM CHODEN?
- EWAM CHODEN (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,800 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($12,800). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does EWAM CHODEN have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $24,800 in grants to EWAM CHODEN, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EWAM CHODEN?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $12,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EWAM CHODEN 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.
Play a game about who funds Ewam Choden →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 2 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