California · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC
CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,176,322 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($576,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $738k
What Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment Inc does
Mission
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment CAUSE is a 501c3 nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based organization with a mission to advance the political and civic empowerment of the Asian Pacific American APA community through nonpartisan voter outreach, training, and education as well as leadership development. Founded in 1993, CAUSE is comprised of committed professional, business, community and political leaders, and has established itself as a unique nonpartisan APA organization dedicated mainly to APA civic and political participation. Based in the Greater Los Angeles area, CAUSE's influence reaches throughout Southern California. CAUSE's primary programs focus on three main areas: VOTE - Voter Outreach, Training, and Education VOTE Initiatives empower individuals to be active political participants, vote in elections, and share resources that educate APA communities about elections. This includes information about in-language resources, voting processes, and insights
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
CAUSE elevates Asian Pacific American voices through Voter Outreach, Training, & Education VOTE Initiatives by continuing to provide in-language access and educate APA voters about issues that impact their communities. In 2020, CAUSE held two events with then-Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, to provide information to the APA community, the fastest-growing sector of voters, about mail-in voting and COVID-19 safety protocols. This initiative also included Cross Cultural Dialogues focused on a series of Multiethnic Statewide Community Polls conducted in partnership with Hispanas Organized for Political Equality and Los Angeles Urban League, in consultation with the Los Angeles Times. The poll captured perceptions of race relations and identity, responses to COVID-19 efforts, and insights into issues including elections, immigration, and hate crime.
$398,960 spent45% of program spendingThe CAUSE Leadership Academy CLA for Students is a nine-week internship program for college students who are interested in civic engagement, public policy, and Asian Pacific American APA community issues. Through CLA, students are exposed to thought leaders and policymakers while gaining a deeper awareness of the civic issues facing the APA community in California. Interns leave the program with a better understanding of how to engage in local politics and affect the change they want to see in the world. Traditionally, the program consists of four elements: The Internship, Civic Leadership Workshops, Civic Engagement Project, and an Annual Capitol Summit. Graduates of this program have gone on to run for political office and become leaders in politics, business, and nonprofits.
$381,148 spent43% of program spendingCAUSE ON CAMPUS IS A LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FOR California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) students. This program provides students with the opportunity to develop leadership, advocacy, and civic engagement skills while working on a hands-on voter engagement project.
$76,446 spent9% of program spendingThe CAUSE Leadership Institute CLI for Professionals, is a 6-month community leadership and advocacy training certificate program for high-potential professionals with seasoned leadership experience and a passion for serving the needs of the Asian Pacific Americans APA community in California. Participants complete the program armed with the skills and connections vital to advocate for the APA community. Graduates of this program have gone on to change the civic landscape in the region through elected office and leadership roles in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
$20,315 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $876,869.
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. 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 2020 to 2021, from $402k to $724k (+80%).
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: 2020 13% · 2022 9% · 2023 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Charlie Woo
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $19k → $150k.
7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 76% 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 CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT 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
CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% 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 ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 67% · 2019 50% · 2020 99% · 2021 21% · 2022 44% · 2023 37% — 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
22% of CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
76% of CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $283k that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $894k 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
CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC's revenue grew 112% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 976 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT 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 CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC?
- CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,176,322 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($576,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,176,322 in grants to CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC?
- CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $576,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED FOR SELF-EMPOWERMENT INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 22 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