Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CARDUS INC
CARDUS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,993,400 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($850,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $11k
What Cardus Inc does
Mission
Cardus, inc. Is a think tank. We build intellectual capacity, social networks and policy alternatives to sustain a wide range of cultural entrepreneurs for the renewal of north american social architecture. Cardus, inc. Is inspired by a long tradition of christian social thought.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The cardus education survey research project on the culture shaping impact of christian education in the us and canada originally began as a two year pilot project in 2009. Extended into 2012, this has now become a long term project, conducted jointly with the cardus institute, to provide reliable, credible data for non-government school administrators, associations and other interested groups.
$4,842 spent$81,300 earned by the program0% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$33,876 spent$335,000 earned by the program3% of program spendingComment is one of the core publications of cardus, a think tank devoted to renewing north american social architecture, rooted in 2000 years of christian social thought. In our print and online essays and reviews we zoom in on the multiple components that make up this "social architecture": the institutions that serve as the scaffolding and skeleton of social life. It's our families and financial systems, politics and education, museums and labour unions, and much more.
$1,233,855 spent$618,806 earned by the program97% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,272,573.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $403k to $1.1M (+178%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
88% of CARDUS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $13k → $262k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of CARDUS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
CARDUS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 53% · 2023 38% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
57% of CARDUS INC's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
CARDUS INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $374k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
CARDUS INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CARDUS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Cardus Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CARDUS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds CARDUS INC?
- CARDUS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,993,400 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($850,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CARDUS INC have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,993,400 in grants to CARDUS INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CARDUS INC?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $850,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CARDUS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Cardus →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 12 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing