Building on over thirteen years of cultural preservation work, Terma Heritage Foundation is a New York not-for-profit dedicated to preserving Tibetan and Himalayan heritage through technology, arts, education, and community programs.
To preserve, promote, and advance Himalayan and Tibetan cultural heritage, including language preservation and revitalization, through technology, education, arts, and community programs — for the benefit of Tibetan, Himalayan, and broader communities worldwide.
A world where Tibetan language, art, and knowledge are fully accessible in the digital age — where any child can read Tibetan on any device, where sacred arts and music thrive across generations, and where the tools to engage with this civilization are available to all.
Theory of Change
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama stated in March 2026, “the deeper meaning of these teachings can be understood only in Tibetan; it cannot be fully conveyed in other languages.” When children lose their mother tongue, they lose access to centuries of philosophy, medicine, literature, and spiritual practice encoded within it. Terma Heritage Foundation works at every stage of this chain — from the youngest learners to the oldest knowledge holders — to ensure that Tibetan heritage is not merely archived, but actively lived.
Recover endangered recordings, manuscripts, and oral histories before they are lost. Convert analog materials to permanent digital formats with rigorous quality assurance.
Create the digital tools communities need to read, write, study, and publish in Tibetan — dictionaries, word processors, OCR engines, fonts, and educational platforms.
Produce children’s music, animated videos, and language learning resources that make Tibetan joyful and accessible for young learners — preserving language at the root.
Support performing arts, community programs, and creator ecosystems that keep Tibetan culture vibrant — not as a museum artifact, but as a living tradition.
Why This Matters
Tibetan is one of the world’s most complex scripts. Viable digital tools for reading, writing, and publishing in Tibetan remain scarce, outdated, or inaccessible to the communities who need them most.
Over 1 million Tibetan children inside Tibet are enrolled in Chinese state boarding schools where Tibetan language is restricted and Mandarin is prioritized. As the Dalai Lama has warned, losing the Tibetan language means losing the storehouse of an entire civilization’s collective memory.
Ancient manuscripts, sacred art, and oral traditions are being lost as elders pass away and monasteries are destroyed. Without digital infrastructure and sustained cultural programming, this knowledge cannot be preserved or transmitted.
How We Work
Technology, arts, education, and community — integrated programs across all four pillars
Every tool and resource we create is free and publicly available to communities worldwide
Built with and for Tibetan communities in diaspora and beyond
Grounded in scholarly rigor, traditional knowledge, and partnerships with cultural institutions
Our Work
Since 2012, our founder has led preservation efforts across technology, arts, education, and community — work now formalized under the Foundation.
Terma Heritage Foundation welcomes partnerships with foundations, cultural institutions, universities, and government agencies committed to cultural preservation.