Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $705,855 to it, the largest being GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ($447,097). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $706k
- Net assets
- $11M
What Center for Applied Linguistics does
Mission
The mission of the Center for Applied Linguistics (cal) is to promote language learning and cultural understanding by serving as a trusted source for research, resources, and policy analysis. Through its work, cal seeks solutions to issues involving language and culture as they relate to access and equity in education and society around the globe.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Venture activities: includes services (professional development and technical assistance), product and publication activities, and online education. Cal's services include pre-k-12 english language learners. This area primarily focuses on improving educational opportunities for english language learners, adult education, bilingual and dual language education, immigrant integration, and newcomers' activities. This area also includes sales of cal's product and publications and assessment instruments. This activity also includes the development, production, and sale of tests, books, and products that serve the needs of cal's clients and program areas, including professional development services. This area operates in the cal store. The store sells books, test, and other related educational material that cal has developed.
$7,762,254 spentof which $157,381 as grants$3,694,368 earned by the program71% of program spendingSponsored programs:funded projects remain cal's primary and most significant funding source. Areas of focus within sponsored programs include pre-k-12 english language learners, adult english language learners, world languages, and language planning and policy. Pre-k-12 english landguage learners includes the development testing and implementation of english language proficiency assessments. Cal's adult english language learners program focuses on enabling adult nonnative speakers to develop english proficiency they need as integral members of the u.s. Population. Cal possesses a worldwide repuation for expertise and quality in the education of adult nonnative speakers of english. The world languages programs focuses on test development, research, curriculum development, and evaluation. This program includes a focus on proficiency in languages other than english.
$3,180,676 spentof which $1,704,400 as grants$9,115,229 earned by the program29% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,942,930.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $10M to $13M (+25%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 10% · 2018 8% · 2019 6% · 2020 2% · 2021 9% · 2022 7% · 2023 9% · 2024 11% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Prof Ester De Jong
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $92k → $105k.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 3 of 4 funders by total. 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
CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 63% · 2020 59% · 2021 52% · 2022 62% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
63% of CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Government funding CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20.0M on record — $18.8M federal, $1.2M state.
- Department of Defense$18.0M
- Department of Education$737k
- Peace Corps$64k
- MA$758k
- NJ$377k
- DE$40k
- VT$34k
- OR$2k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS: 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 CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS?
- CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $705,855 to it, the largest being GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ($447,097). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $705,855 in grants to CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS?
- GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY is the largest funder on record, with $447,097 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 4 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