Maryland · Nonprofit
The Gyan Foundation
The Gyan Foundation (Maryland) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $983,791 to it, the largest being SACHEN FOUNDATION ($643,791). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $438k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $984k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What The Gyan Foundation does
Mission
The Gyan Foundation is dedicated to preserving and disseminating the teachings of the Buddha in general and those of the glorious Sakyapa tradition in particular.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Sakya Temple of Peace (Canberra, Australia) - Assisted with the construction of the Sakya Temple of Peace. The goal of the Sakya Temple of Peace is to become a national center of peace and healing, and a place where people from all walks of life can learn meditation and hear the precious teachings of the Buddha. The Sakya Temple of Peace will also serve as an important meeting place for the Australian Tibetan Community; a place to preserve, promote and practice the Tibetan language and culture. They also have a growing number of enthusiastic Australian students who are currently studying the Tibetan language, and engaged in various religious translation works.
$300,000 spent65% of program spendingMahamaya Foundation (Nepal) - Assisted with acquisition of land for the construction of a monastery and school. The aim of the Mahamaya Foundation is to provide a free modern education alongside a traditional Buddhist education to children from the Himalayan region.
$80,100 spent17% of program spendingSakya Choekhorling (Toronto Canada) - Assisted with expenses for the purchases and renovation of the prayer hall, safety enhancements, flooring, lighting, etc. This helped establish a religious and cultural center for the community, accommodate a larger congregation for worship and fellowship, provide a venue for religious ceremonies, festivals, and community programs, support educational activities for youth and families.
$50,000 spent11% of program spendingThe Gyan Foundation issued a grant to India for Buddhist educational institutions, temples and monasteries
$32,000 spent7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $462,100.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $649k to $922k (+42%).
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.
100% of The Gyan Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (73% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
Gyana Vajra Sakya
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $644k → $260k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 The Gyan Foundation’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
The Gyan Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% 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 The Gyan Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 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
The Gyan Foundation draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 1 state in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $340k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
The Gyan Foundation holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 850 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 850 unclassified nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like The Gyan Foundation
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 The Gyan Foundation: 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 The Gyan Foundation?
- The Gyan Foundation (Maryland) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $983,791 to it, the largest being SACHEN FOUNDATION ($643,791). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Gyan Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $983,791 in grants to The Gyan Foundation, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Gyan Foundation?
- SACHEN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $643,791 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Gyan Foundation find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Gyan →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), 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