Lotus Outreach
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Lotus Outreach is a nonprofit organization, incorporated in California in 2002, dedicated to ensuring the education, health and safety of vulnerable women and children in the developing world. Lotus Outreachs purpose is to create a more just, peaceful world where all people--regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, and gender--can lead rich, meaningful lives that are free of physical and structural violence.Lotus Outreachs pursuit of this mission is manifested in the following core program areas:Improving access to quality education for marginalized youth.Economic empowerment of parents and young women.Human trafficking and gender-based violence prevention and aftercare.Improving health and sanitation for vulnerable communities.From one year to the next, Lotus Outreach programs reach over 30,000 marginalized women and children in some of the poorest regions of Asia.
- Income
- $745,666
- Spending
- $808,973
- Spent on programs
- 82%
- Reserves
- 2.1 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
- Employees
- 3
- Volunteers
- 22
- Highest pay
- $90,904, executive dir.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 59 out of 100. Higher than 26% of charities in its peer group (youth development, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
10 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 2.1 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 1% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 8% of income.
Income trend
10 of 15Income fell 4% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1582% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 17 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 95 out of 100. Higher than 90% of charities in its peer group (youth development, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 2512 of 13 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (22)
- $177,806 spent. BLOSSOM BUS:The Blossom Bus provides vehicles driven by trustworthy drivers to safely deliver young women to secondary school and college. We currently transport over 650 girls to secondary school and 40 young women to college. Until proper secondary schools and colleges become available to all villagers, the Blossom Bus aims to provide transportation to girls and young women at this transitional stage, leading the way in establishing female education as a norm rather than an anomaly.
- $89,426 spent. SKILLS TRAINING FOR EMPLOYMENT (STEP): Skills Training for Employment seeks to reduce poverty by providing income-generating skills to those who most need them. Women learn tailoring and men are taught electrical and mechanical skills. Without this ability to earn greater income, these women and men would remain in poverty, eking out a living on $4 per day as daily wage earners.
- $88,177 spent. CATALYST: Through full scholarships (covering tuition, food, residence, utilities, class fees, and a daily allowance) of approximately $1,800 per girl, per year, the CATALYST program carries on the work of GATE by seeing through our long-term investment in girls education by helping to rebuild the intellectual class that was completely decimated by the Khmer Rouge only a generation ago.
- $51,236 spent. EQU+: The EQU+ after school program serves children of migrant laborers by enrolling them in school and providing evening bridge classes to ensure they keep up at an age-appropriate level. The program also engages parents and seeks to establish formal relationships between parents and the schools.
- $50,863 spent. LOCAM: Operating support for Lotus Outreach Cambodia programs
- $47,121 spent. Girls Access to Education (GATE): Provides scholarships to girls who are at-risk or are survivors of violence in order to keep them enrolled in school. Our goal is for these girls to attend school through the third year of high school, and further if possible.
- $29,041 spent. The Buddha Smiles program is designed to ensure access to quality education for children whose parents are illiterate and from low income sectors including migrant labor, poor weavers and for children of poor villagers that depend on government schools which lack resources to ensure such children are able to cope with their studies. Children from high-income families are able to send their children to private schools or at least, pay for after school tuition, so this program is aimed at ensuring equal access to quality education for low-income families.
- $26,118 spent. Rice 4 Education: Provides rice support to poor village families with girls in scholarship programs in Cambodia keeping the most vulnerable from dropping out of school.
- $25,293 spent. Lotus Pedals: By providing bicycles with locks and repair kits, Lotus Pedals has changed the lives of hundreds of girls by supplying safe, reliable transportation. When girls stay in school, their achievements far exceed the basics of formal lessons: they gain confidence, access to academic communities, and the respect of their families and neighbors.
- $24,907 spent. SANTI SENA: Through our partnership with Santi Sena, this program will work to empower and create wellbeing in beneficiary communities through two-fold objectives: to reduce barriers to food security for the poor through saving, resilient agriculture, marketing and supply chain improvement, and to improve practices of sanitation and hygiene behavior.
- $18,079 spent. PASSARELLES NUMERIQUES CAMBODIA (PNC): PNC supports GATE scholars in attending PNCs IT training program offering courses in System and Network Administration (SNA) and Web Programming (WEB). Lotus Outreach supports 50% of the cost for students to attend this two-year residential program.
- $15,399 spent. The Kapadia Tertiary Scholars program supports tertiary education for community-minded post-secondary students from lower income groups across several states in India. Included in the financial support are tuition, annual fees, education materials, and text books. Successful candidates receive orientation including being initiated into a "giving back and paying forward" mindset.
- $11,492 spent. Counseling and Reintegration (CTC): The counseling and reintegration project supported by Lotus Outreach provides a safe haven for survivors of violence, guarantees them physical protection and emotional support, and provides them the sanctuary needed for recovery. Support includes individual and group counseling, literacy courses, vocational training, life skills classes, legal services and reintegration assistance.
- $6,499 spent. GARDEN OF PEACE - INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT (IRD): This project established oil processing units for Self Help Groups in Tamil Nadu, India, as part of a sustainable rural development project, which will provide employment for economically challenged rural women and men (80% / 20%), especially those impacted by the Covid pandemic.
- Khemar Pre-School: Provides early childhood development for the neediest children through games, nutrition, and education.
- Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA): ASHA improves women and childrens village health care by training local government healthcare workers, ensuring better quality, and increasing access by education their communities about vital health care rights and practices in rural Rajasthan, India.
- LOTUS RELIEF: This program was established in 2020 to meet the urgent needs of the communities we serve during crises. This emergency relief supports at-home study materials, health education advocacy, and emergency food aid for students and families affected by the pandemic.
- First Steps: In partnership with Primeros Pasos, First Steps provides crucial healthcare and resources to people living in a very remote region of Guatemala where there are high incidents of malnutrition and a general lack of infrastructure and resources for public health.
- Getting Wells: This program installs water wells that serve entire villages in drought prone regions of rural Cambodia, as well as providing education to recipient communities regarding water sanitation and hygiene.
- Kapadia Scholars: Kapadia Scholars provides youth from destitute urban neighborhoods in Delhi with mentoring, university annual fee scholarships including online degrees and ongoing peripheral support.
- Solidarity Market: Solidarity Market serves some of the poorest families in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our partner, Mulheres da Parada, distributes food every 15 days in a market, prioritizing single-parent families headed by women.
- Water in Schools (WINS): WINS installs water filtration systems in rural Cambodian schools in collaboration with committed faculty to provide school children access to clean drinking water.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 2002.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.