Maryland · Nonprofit
CHILD TRENDS INC
CHILD TRENDS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $58,223,899 to it, the largest being Annie E Casey Foundation Inc ($10,365,471). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $43M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $58M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Child Trends Inc does
Mission
Child trends, inc. (child trends) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to improving the lives of children by conducting research and providing science-based information to improve the decisions, programs and policies that affect children and their families. In advancing its mission, child trends collects and analyzes data; conducts, synthesizes, and disseminates research; designs and evaluates programs; and develops and tests promising approaches to research in the field.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
The hispanic center was cancelled in december 2025, which was previously reported as a major program under population focused research.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Early childhood development - the early childhood development program at child trends provides research and technical assistance support to practitioners and policymakers to improve early childhood care, education, and systems.
$13,883,579 spentof which $1,106,479 as grants44% of program spendingSexual and reproductive health - the sexual and reproductive health program at child trends provides research and technical assistance to practitioners and policymakers to further prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and diseases among adolescents and young adults.
$5,123,428 spentof which $1,847,717 as grants16% of program spendingChild welfare - the child welfare program at child trends provides research and technical assistance to practitioners and policymakers to improve services for children and youth in the foster care system, including those served by facilities, kinship care, and in the adoption process.
$3,129,868 spent10% of program spendingEducation research - child trends education research program provides research and technical assistance to practitioners and policymakers to support student learning and well-being in educational contexts.
$2,331,869 spentof which $332,101 as grants7% of program spendingPopulation-focused research - child trends' population-focused research program advances research on hispanic, indigenous, and black children, youth, and families.
$2,247,873 spentof which $558,638 as grants$500 earned by the program7% of program spendingParenting & family dynamics - child trends parenting & family dynamics program provides research and technical assistance to practitioners and policymakers to strengthen families to improve outcomes for children and youth.
$1,806,349 spentof which $104,842 as grants6% of program spendingYouth development - the youth development program at child trends provides research and technical assistance to practitioners and policymakers to improve youth-serving programs, including out of school time care, juvenile justice programs, and career transition programs and to inform the broader public on positive youth development.
$1,791,764 spentof which $451,876 as grants6% of program spendingOther programs:client communications & strategic communications & data sciencechild trends' communications programs provide strategic dissemination support to partners and clients to advance research on children youth and families.
$1,113,906 spent4% of program spending
The 8 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,428,636.
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 2021 to 2022, from $19M to $26M (+40%).
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 55% · 2018 60% · 2019 59% · 2020 68% · 2021 62% · 2022 58% · 2023 80% · 2024 70% · 2025 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of CHILD TRENDS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Ron Richter
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $2.9M → $7.3M.
9 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 CHILD TRENDS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 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
CHILD TRENDS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
35% 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 CHILD TRENDS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 27% · 2019 33% · 2020 33% · 2021 25% · 2022 61% · 2023 26% — 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.
How long its funders stay
52% of CHILD TRENDS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
CHILD TRENDS INC draws 76% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
CHILD TRENDS INC has grown faster than half of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CHILD TRENDS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $167.8M on record — $165.6M federal, $2.2M state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$132.3M
- Department of the Interior$16.1M
- National Science Foundation$9.7M
- Department of Justice$4.5M
- Department of Education$3.0M
- NJ$934k
- VT$758k
- MD$288k
- CT$146k
- MA$50k
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 CHILD TRENDS 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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 CHILD TRENDS 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 CHILD TRENDS INC?
- CHILD TRENDS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $58,223,899 to it, the largest being Annie E Casey Foundation Inc ($10,365,471). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHILD TRENDS INC have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $58,223,899 in grants to CHILD TRENDS INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHILD TRENDS INC?
- Annie E Casey Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $10,365,471 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHILD TRENDS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 50 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing