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California · Nonprofit

CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC

CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $822,085 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($640,822). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$363k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$822k
Net assets
$46k
5/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 38%
01What it does

What Centers for Apologetics Research Inc does

Mission

The Centers For Apologetics Research Inc.'s mission is to support pastors in foreign countries as they contend for the historic Christian faith. Efforts include research, training, and producing print and digital resources for pastors and others.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Grants to East Africa. Promoted practical Christian apologetics among pastors, chaplains, seminarians, high-school and university students, and the general Christian public via research, writing, translation, and distribution of Christian literature, as well as training courses. Television interviews and pre-recorded messages in English and Runyankore. Radio messages in English, Luganda, and Swahili. Translation of informational literature into various local languages.

    $212,974 spentof which $190,901 as grants
    63% of program spending
  2. Grants to Russia. Promoted the production and distribution of Christian apologetics materials for pastors and others by: (1) developing online resources for use by the general public and Christians in Russia-including quarterly research bulletin and online news summaries; (2) teaching on apologetics and contemporary cult groups at Christian churches, universities, and seminaries; (3) researching new religious groups active in Russian-speaking countries (4) developing print and online teaching resources to clarify differences between the historic Christian faith and other religious ideologies and spiritual movements, including weekly live-stream presentations. Participated in radio programs on new and controversial religious groups

    $61,192 spentof which $54,850 as grants
    18% of program spending
  3. Grants to Southern Africa. Printing and distribution of educational literature on new religious groups. Informational presentations via Christian radio and livestream Internet interviews. Promoted practical Christian apologetics among pastors, elders, seminarians, parachurch workers, and the general Christian public via classes and conferences in Zambia and Malawi. Conducted field research on controversial spiritual movements of local and foreign origin. Counseled persons adversely affected by abusive and exploitative religious entities.

    $51,192 spentof which $45,886 as grants
    15% of program spending
  4. Additional grants to foreign locations totaled $11,900. Grants to Brazil - $1,000. Grants to Hungary $10,900. The service accomplishments for Brazil and Hungary are similar and consistent with the service organizations described for the areas described in sections 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c) of Part III form.

    $13,276 spentof which $11,900 as grants
    4% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $338,634.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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.

100 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($331k) Expenses 100 ($298k) Net assets 100 ($71k)2022 Revenue 100 ($331k) Expenses 118 ($351k) Net assets 72 ($51k)2023 Revenue 98 ($326k) Expenses 109 ($326k) Net assets 71 ($50k)2024 Revenue 99 ($327k) Expenses 110 ($329k) Net assets 69 ($49k)2025 Revenue 110 ($363k) Expenses 123 ($366k) Net assets 65 ($46k)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (110)Expenses (123)Net assets (65)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $93k to $65k (−30%).

$93k
$65k
$61k
$58k
$57k
20212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 15,288 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$33k
’21
−$20k
’22
−$389
’23
−$1k
’24
−$3k
’25
1.7
months of
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.

Chief executive

Paul Carden

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20212022202320242025
Listed88789
Joined·+1+2+1+1
No longer listed·1300
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $94k → $88k.

5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH 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

CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

99% 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 CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC.

78%
largest funder
96%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 87% · 2019 92% · 2020 85% · 2021 79% · 2022 70% · 2023 78% — 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

97% of CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH 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 $27k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 2 states.

IL
WI

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’22
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $795k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $822k to it.

Operating margin−1% · below the median
Months of reserve1.7mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)2% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 6%Fundraising 1%

Governance

9
board members
89%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH 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.

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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 CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC?
CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $822,085 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($640,822). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $822,085 in grants to CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH INC?
NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $640,822 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CENTERS FOR APOLOGETICS RESEARCH 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 Centers for Apologetics Research →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 7 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