drikung kagyu foundation

What drikung kagyu foundation does

Drikung Kagyu Foundation USA is a federally registered 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization founded in 2013 and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. It supports the spiritual and educational activities of His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoché, one of the two heads of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, with a primary geographic focus on the Americas. Its flagship initiative is the Drikung Forest Hermitage, a planned 90-acre forest monastery near Burnsville, NC, designed as the first forest monastery in the Americas dedicated to the Drikung Kagyu Lineage, offering Dharma Hall facilities, short-term retreat cabins, tent platforms, tiny homes for long-term monastic residents, and a planned Phase 2 dormitory with commercial kitchen and dining facilities.

The foundation's product and service portfolio comprises Buddhist teachings, meditation retreats, and cultural programs, with current delivery structured around residential and short-term retreat programs at the Forest Hermitage site and gallery documentation of activities at the Drikungtil Monastery in Tibet. There are no technology products or commercial services; the organization operates without proprietary software, AI/ML capabilities, or commercial integrations.

The business model is donation-based: the foundation generates revenue solely through charitable contributions solicited via its website and direct mail to its Asheville, NC address, with all donations being generally tax-deductible for U.S. donors under its 501(c)(3) status. The planned Phase 2 dormitory includes potential facility rental income from like-minded groups, but no commercial revenue is currently active. Leadership consists of a Board of Directors including His Holiness as President, Dorlop Dr. Hun Lye as Executive Director, and additional board members; there is no external parent company, private equity, or venture capital ownership.

Name

drikung kagyu foundation

Legal name

Drikung Kagyu Foundation USA

Website

https://drikungkagyufoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Drikung Kagyu Foundation USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization founded in 2013 that supports the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the Americas, primarily through developing the Drikung Forest Hermitage and related spiritual and educational programs for Buddhist practitioners and donors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious and Spiritual Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

Keywords

• Buddhist spiritual education
• Meditation retreat programs
• Forest monastery development
• Religious nonprofit services
• Dharma teachings

Headquarters

HQ city

Asheville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a US federally registered 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization, Drikung Kagyu Foundation generates revenue through charitable donations from supporters worldwide. Donations are accepted via personal or bankers checks from US banks, with all contributions being tax-deductible for US donors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Drikung Kagyu Foundation is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization that supports the spiritual and educational activities of His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang and the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism across the Americas. Its primary project is the Drikung Forest Hermitage, a 90-acre forest monastery near Burnsville, NC, offering residential retreat facilities, Dharma Hall, cabins, tent platforms, and long-term monastic housing for practitioners. The foundation also coordinates Buddhist teachings, meditation retreats, and cultural programs, funded entirely by tax-deductible charitable donations.

Product overview

Drikung Kagyu Foundation is a non-profit organization offering a portfolio of spiritual, educational, and retreat programs centered on the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The primary offering is the Drikung Forest Hermitage, the first forest monastery in the Americas, which provides Dharma Hall facilities for communal teachings and practice, short-term and long-term residential retreat programs with cabins and tiny homes, and Phase 2 plans for dormitory facilities. The organization also supports the Drikungtil Monastery in Tibet through gallery documentation and maintains spiritual/educational programs led by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Drikung Forest Hermitage A forest monastery project located near Burnsville, NC, representing the first forest monastery in the Americas for the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Features residential retreat facilities, Dharma Hall, cabins, and tent platforms for spiritual practice and training, available to Drikung Kagyu practitioners in the Americas.
• Spiritual and Educational Programs Buddhist teachings, meditation retreats, and cultural programs supporting the spiritual and educational activities of His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang for the Drikung Kagyu Lineage in the Americas. Targeted at lay and monastic Buddhist practitioners.
• Short-Term Retreat Programs Residential but short-term practice and training programs for the lay community, utilizing short-term retreat cabins and wooden tent platforms built on the Forest Hermitage land. Available to lay Buddhist practitioners seeking temporary immersive practice experiences.
• Long-Term Residential Retreat Programs Programs for long-term residents at the Forest Hermitage, with tiny homes provided for the growing monastic community. Targeted at monastics and serious practitioners seeking extended residential Dharma training.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Shambhala Mountain Center: Shambhala Mountain Center is a large Buddhist retreat center in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado offering residential meditation programs, cabin accommodations, and contemplative land-based programming — directly comparable to the Drikung Forest Hermitage model of residential retreat facilities on rural forested land.
• Spirit Rock Meditation Center: Spirit Rock is a well-established Insight Meditation (Vipassana) retreat center in Marin County, California offering residential retreats, teachings, and Dharma programs funded by donations — a comparable Buddhist non-profit operating residential retreat facilities for a specific lineage community.
• Barre Center for Buddhist Studies: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies is a lay Buddhist study and retreat center in Massachusetts offering residential programs combining Buddhist education and meditation — comparable to Drikung Kagyu Foundation's combined retreat and educational programming model.
• Insight Meditation Society: Insight Meditation Society is a Vipassana meditation retreat center in Barre, Massachusetts offering residential retreats and Buddhist education supported by donations — directly comparable in operating model as a donation-funded Buddhist residential retreat and education center.
• Deer Park Monastery: Deer Park Monastery is a Vietnamese-American Plum Village Buddhist monastery in Escondido, California offering residential retreats, teachings, and monastic community programs funded by donations — comparable as a Western Hemisphere Buddhist monastery with retreat facilities serving a specific lineage community.
• Tibet House US: Tibet House US is a New York-based cultural center and non-profit representing Tibetan Buddhism in the Americas, offering programs, teachings, and cultural preservation — comparable as a US-based non-profit supporting a specific Tibetan Buddhist lineage's presence in the Americas.
• Kagyu Samye Ling: Kagyu Samye Ling is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West (Scotland), offering residential retreats, teachings, and a hermitage on rural land — comparable as the Western Hemisphere counterpart establishing the first Kagyu lineage monastery outside of Asia.

Regional players

• Tushita Meditation Centre: Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India is a Tibetan Buddhist (Gelug) retreat center offering courses, group retreats, and residential programs — comparable as a Tibetan Buddhist residential retreat center but operating in Asia rather than the Americas.
• Kopan Monastery: Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery offering residential courses, meditation retreats, and Western-oriented teachings — comparable as a donation-funded Tibetan Buddhist residential retreat center focused on Western practitioners.
• Tara Institute: Tara Institute in Melbourne, Australia is a Tibetan Buddhist (Gelug) non-profit offering teachings, meditation courses, and community programs — comparable as a regional non-profit supporting Tibetan Buddhist lineage activities outside of Asia, though in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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