Amidst the ongoing case with Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation and the Madras High Court, a chartered accountant has posted about the interesting business model of nonprofit organizations (NPOs).
What Did The CA Claim?
Sathrak Ahuja, a business consultant and CA, posted about the “Sadhguru business model” on his Instagram. In his post, he claimed that he had gotten his hands on the financial statements of the Isha Foundation, which Sadhgruru runs, and what they revealed.
In his video, Ahuja stated that according to him, Isha Foundation’s “business model is actually fabulous”.
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He spoke about the foundation’s revenue from its US counterpart, stating, “Well firstly, the entity is not just registered in India, they have a US entity which did over 40 million dollars of revenues in the last year, and the profit margin 66%.”
He claimed that this was “Because a lot of the manpower does not even need to be paid salaries. They have an army of volunteers. And the US entity itself has over hundred million dollars of assets. Which is just the book value. The real market value would be much higher.”
For the Indian entity, he said, “I found the FCRA bank account. Well, that account in itself holds over a hundred crores in cash balance which is absolutely crazy.”
He also said that “the company has three products to sell. The first is courses like inner engineering, breath work, meditation. The second is events and excursions of community members. And the third is ayurvedic products and other lifestyle products that they sell from their stores.”
He then said, “Now a lot of people tend to think, that not-for-profit organisations should not really be making a profit. However, that’s the wrong approach. Most NGOs around the world today focus on being more sustainable. Which means they are reducing their dependency on donations.
Creating these revenues so that they can create larger impact in other rural areas and be helpful to society at large. And that’s what Isha Foundation is also doing. It’s benefitting massively from Sadhguru’s personal brand and they are one of the largest spenders on digital ads as a social organisation in India.”
Read More: Sadhguru’s Cauvery Campaign Gets Controversial After Leonardo DiCaprio Was Asked To Withdraw Support, By ESG
In the caption of his post, he wrote, “I found the financial statements for Isha Foundation operated by Sadhguru and here are some fun insights…
In 2022, the US entity had total receipts of over USD 40 Mn… that’s more than Rs 300 crores
That’s up from ~$30 Mn in 2021, and ~$20 Mn in 2020 And at a $40 Mn receipt, their expenses stand at $13.5 Mn, which means a profit / surplus percentage of 66%… that’s $26 Mn of tax free funds
The trust in the US alone has assets worth over $110 Mn on the books… the real value of all the real estate within which would be multifolds… Indian land possibly not included.
In the Indian foreign currency account itself, they received over Rs 32 crores of donations from outside of India… and have bank deposits of ~Rs 100 crores – just in the FCRA account.
In terms of products, they seem to have 3 verticals: The first is yoga and meditation classes, online and offline, with programs such as the Inner Engineering.
Secondly, there are events and excursions for which group tours are conducted.
And then, there are ayurvedic products and consumer goods sold through their stores.
Now, a number of people get pained to see not for profits make money… but that’s the wrong lens to look at things…
As long as the work they do adds value to people’s lives… it’s amazing…
They run rural schools, save the soil campaigns and hopefully make people’s lives worth living by training them on core life skills like breathwork, meditation and improving their life’s focus.”
The video got mixed comments with some supporting Ahuja while others brought up the timing of the video. One Instagram user wrote “Nice video, felt like you actually had an unbiased perspective without favoring or going against the organization. Money is not inherently good or bad. It is a tool. How we use the tool is what matters.
Are we using it for our selfish purposes, or are we using it to make the world a better place. This idea that a spiritual organization should be poor, or not make money is silly because to support the lives of thousands of volunteers, to build/maintain ashrams, centers where thousands of people can live, to fund all the social projects, campaigns, and all the work of the foundation costs money.
Ive gone to the Isha Foundation center both in USA and India both, have seen the infrastructure being built and volunteered for many of their projects. They couldn’t have created the worlds largest ecological movement and become one of the worlds biggest spiritual movements without money. Now some people say “Oh throughout history gurus never collected money” – This is true, however gurus never had to fund their own ashrams, temples, centers, and projects – this was all sponsored by the kings, now if a guru has to do all this he has to earn his own money!”
While a few other users wrote, “Timing of this video after HC statement and subsequent Police visit is purely co incidental” and that it “Looks like sadguru paid you for this video”.
Another wrote “To anyone in the comment section who is being sour, please go to Coimbatore and see the work they are doing over there for yourself. It’s actually impeccable. The entire institution is being run so efficiently that it’ll blow your mind. The aura of that place is magical!”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Instagram, Hindustan Times, The Hindu
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Sarthak Ahuja sadhguru, Sarthak Ahuja ca, Sarthak Ahuja instagram, sadhguru, sadhguru news, sadhguru madras high court, isha foundation, isha foundation sadhguru, sadhguru latest news, sadhguru ashram raid, isha foundation india, isha foundation news, isha foundation rais, isha foundation police, isha foundation coimbatore
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