Karmapa Foundation

“The organization has one member, the Corporation of the Karmapa's Representative, Kagyu Buddhist Church.”

“The Karmapa Foundation will be dedicated primarily to secular activities in the service of the vision of its primary founder, the current Karmapa, head of the Kagyu Church of Tibetan Buddhism. The legal structure of the Karmapa Foundation is designed so that its activities are under the direction of the United States Representative the Gyalwang Karmapa (Representative). Currently, the Representative is Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, who is President and a Director of the Karmapa Foundation. The Karmapa Foundation has been set up so that the choice of this representative is made by the Karmapa's Office of Administration. To that end, the Karmapa Foundation's sole corporate member is the Corporation of the Karmapa's Representative, Kagyu Buddhist Church, a Washington State Corporation Sole. The Corporation elects the members of the board of directors.”

“Under the Articles of Incorporation, the Corporation of the Karmapa's Representative must approve the following actions by the Corporation: (a) appointment and removal of directors;(b) amendment of the Articles of Incorporation and amendment of this Article 2 and Section 8.5 of the Bylaws;(c) adoption of a plan of merger or consolidation with another corporation;(d) authorization of the sale, lease, or exchange of all or substantially all of the property and assets of the Corporation if not in the ordinary course of business;(e) authorization of the voluntary dissolution of the Corporation or revocation of proceedings therefore;(f) adoption of a plan for the distribution of the assets of the Corporation; and(g) approval of the Corporation's annual budget and operating plan and any adjustments thereto.”

“The Form 990 was prepared by accountants for the Karmapa Foundation under the direction of a member of the current Board of Directors, pursuant to a supervision of the Board of Directors and in consultation with directors on specific matters. The contents of the Form 990 are presented to the members of the Board, who approved all discretionary information included in the Form 990.”

“The organization regularly reviews any interests of the members of the board to assess whether they may present a conflict of interest. In any case in which a Board member requests guidance on future activities which may potentially implicate the conflicts policy, Karmapa Foundation counsel meets with the Board member to explain their obligations under the law and Karmapa Foundation policy.”

“All managers, officers and employees in 2015 worked on a voluntary basis.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are maintained at the headquarters of the Karmapa Foundation in Seattle and are available to public inspection there upon request.”