Himalayan Bon Foundation

Mission Statement

The Himalayan Bon Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung under the auspices of H.E. Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. The purpose is to establish a means for donations to develop a foundation to support secular and spiritual initiatives spearheaded by the Triten Norbutse Monastery, the monks, and the Monastery’s projects in the Bon communities throughout the Himalayan region, especially to include Nepal, India and Tibet. The focus is primarily to establish, promote and sustain educational facilities and opportunities. These projects involve the establishing schools for the Bonpo children in the Himalaya. This will provide an education to support the Bonpo cultural heritage and also enhance the children’s ability to compete economically in the modern world. The Foundation will also provide scholarships for advanced educational opportunities to the children and the Bonpo monks and nuns.

As the focus is educational and cultural preservation, other projects are to include the establishment and support of the existing Tibetan medical schools and health care facilities, cultural heritage projects, community development and ecological initiatives in the Himalayan region. Finally, the Foundation will support the indigenous Bonpos, currently living and recently immigrated from Tibet, for their health care, shelter, food and general economic development to the rural Himalayan communities. The Foundation is considered an Educational/Religious not for profit organization. With this, as in the tradition of the Bon culture, the Foundation will provide religious teachings from the ancient Bonpo texts by the Bonpo Lamas and Teachers to lay individuals. The preservation of the vast wealth of scholastic texts and their translation to other languages underscores the mission of the Himalayan Bon Foundation to provide education of the Bon culture and religion to the disaffected Bon people and to interests worldwide.

Corporate Structure

Board of Directors
Honorary Director, H.E. Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche (Tenzin Lama)
Khenpo Tempa Yungdrung Lama, Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal
Geshe Gelek Jinpa Lama, Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal
James A. Fitzsimmons, LCSW, River Spring Farm Healing Centre, Woodstock, Virginia
Palden Hester, Denver, Colorado

Nonprofit Religious/Educational 501(C)

Establish endowments and charitable donations for: scholarships, new facility construction, social welfare, and health care.

Structure of Corporate Donations:

Proceeds from Teaching events
Direct donations from individuals and trusts
Grants
Fundraising activities
Gifts from Foundations and other corporate organizations

To provide offices in Colorado and Virginia for the purposes of the nonprofit’s business and to provide a newsletter and other media communications to document the Foundation’s charitable activities and educate the general public as to the needs of the Bonpo communities in the Himalayan four country region.

The by laws of the Foundation will reflect the mission statement and will instruct the directors to allocate funds based on priority of need and to be directed at the individual donor’s request or from the earnings of the established endowment at the discretion of the Board during the quarterly corporate meetings. These by laws will also reflect the laws of the state and federal government and meet the standard for nonprofit status.

source: http://himalayanbon.org/about-us/