01 · Women in the lineage
Female Geshe-mas & Nuns
The first female Geshe-mas were awarded in 2016. We fund the housing, healthcare, and exam costs that get them there.
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Tibetan Buddhist monastics · Schools across Asia
Where wisdom grows, the world improves.
The Maitri Project funds the people who keep wisdom alive: monastics, female Geshe-mas, and children in rural schools, wherever resources are scarce.
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Our Mission
Support the people who keep wisdom alive.
For a thousand years, communities sustained monks and nuns so they could give their lives to study and practice. That tradition is now under strain. The world has taken a great deal from these lineages, from meditation to ethics to ways of meeting the mind, and given little back. We exist to close that gap.
We work directly with practitioners and institutions, so support reaches where it is needed most.
Housing, healthcare, food, education. The needs are named by monastics themselves.
Explore our work →
501(c)(3) · EIN 88-1720325
Your gift goes directly to the cause
Wisdom survives because people choose to sustain it.
85% of every donation reaches monastics and students directly. A registered 501(c)(3), so gifts are tax-deductible in the U.S.
Who We Support
Six paths, one aim: the continuity of wisdom.
02 · Housing & study
Sera Mey's Gyalrong House
65 rooms for over 100 of Sera Mey's 1,700 monks. Ten apartments are already complete. More remain.
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03 · Children's education
Anandakuthi School
In rural Nepal, this school pairs academics with well-being, mind science, and meditation. Funding covers tuition, supplies, and technology.
Educate a child →
04 · Healthcare
Medical & Life-Saving Aid
Many monasteries can't afford medicine. We cover healthcare for nuns and monks, including life-saving diabetic medication in the Kathmandu Valley.
Provide care →
05 · Sponsorship
Monastic Education
Monks and nuns rely on sponsorship to survive. We support vetted institutions across Asia teaching ethics, wisdom, and concentration.
Fund a scholar →
06 · Deep practice
Meditation Retreat
Deep retreat is where contemplative life comes to fruition. A thousand-year-old tradition, and a powerful cause of peace.
Sustain practice →
Female Geshes & Nuns
Trailblazing women advancing the teachings.
The Geshema path takes decades of study, and funding is scarce. We cover housing, healthcare, and exam costs so these women can finish.
We also support Western monastics with no institution behind them, where modest funding sustains a life of practice.
Nunneries across Asia & India
Sera Mey Monastery · est. 1419
A new home for Gyalrong College.
Sera Mey is one of the two colleges of Sera, one of the three great monastic universities of the Gelugpa tradition. Re-established in Karnataka after 1959, it is home to 1,700 monks on site and 2,500 worldwide. New students have pushed Gyalrong College's housing far past capacity.
Ten apartments are already complete; more remain. Your gift builds the rest.
Karnataka, India
$100Kraised so far
$500Kgoal
20%
We've contributed $100,000 toward Gyalrong House, 20% of our $500,000 goal. Help us build the rest.
A living tradition
A thousand years of practice, carried forward today.
Every gift sustains the daily rhythm of study, prayer, and retreat you see here.
Watch & Witness
Stories from the field.
Short films from the places your generosity reaches. Tap any to unmute.
Female Geshes & Nuns
Rise of the Geshe-Ma
The trailblazing women earning Tibetan Buddhism's highest scholarly degree.
Sera Mey · Gyalrong House
A Home for Gyalrong College
Building dignified housing for the monks of one of the great monastic universities.
Anandakuthi School · Nepal
Educating the Next Generation
Where children from underprivileged backgrounds learn academics, ethics, and meditation.
Our Impact & Milestones
What collective generosity has made possible.
Every figure below is work already done, funded by donors.
$100K+
Donated in direct support to date
Given to monastics, retreats, education, and life-saving care, through relationships we maintain ourselves.
Across Asia
& worldwide
& worldwide
10
Residential apartments built
Safe, dignified housing for monks in advanced study at Sera Mey.
Sera Mey
Monastery
Monastery
3
Doctoral-level degrees supported
Years of disciplined study brought to completion.
Across Asia
Geshe-mas
Female monastics funded across Asia
Housing, healthcare, and exam costs for nuns pursuing the Geshema degree, the highest level of training.
Nunneries
across Asia
across Asia
Western
Western monastic institutions in need
Practitioners and communities with no institutional backing, where small sums make the difference.
Worldwide
~12
Children's full school years funded
Covering tuition, supplies, and basic needs at the Anandakuthi School in rural Nepal.
Nepal
100
Monks fed for a full month
Food at the World Peace Temple, so practitioners can stay focused on prayer and study.
World Peace
Temple
Temple
Life-saving
Diabetic medication provided
For monks and nuns in the Kathmandu Valley who would otherwise go without treatment.
Kathmandu
Valley
Valley
Hundreds
Children guided in Vipassana retreat
Meditation retreats in rural villages bringing ethics, attention, and compassion directly into communities.
Rural villages
How We Steward Your Gift
Every dollar is directed, not diluted.
No intermediaries, no layers. Here is exactly where it goes.
85%
of every donation goes to the causes: housing, education, healthcare, food, and retreat. The rest runs the organization and funds the media we share freely.
Five program categories, 85%. Operations and open media, 15%.
The Collection
An exhibition of lives sustained.
Each plate documents a place your generosity reaches. Select any to view full size.
Every face here is a life your support sustains. Add your gift.
Donate
Your donation supports the growth of wisdom, compassion, and clarity globally.
Choose where your gift goes: study, healthcare, housing, or retreat. Under a minute, secure, and tax-deductible.
$25
A week of meals for a monastic in study
$75
Life-saving medicine where care is scarce
Most chosen
$150
A month of a child's education at Anandakuthi
$500
A room toward the new Gyalrong House
$
Give →
🔒 Secure · Tax-deductible · 501(c)(3) · EIN 88-1720325