Oklahoma · Nonprofit
Children of Character Inc
Children of Character Inc (Oklahoma) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,877,540 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,242,960). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $994k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $3.9M
- Net assets
- $762k
What Children of Character Inc does
Mission
Called to go to challenging places and unreached people. Children in Christ inspires, equips and mobilizes a God-grown indigenous ministry from local church to broader communities that values children, ministers Gods love to them, matures them in Christ and empowers them.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
During FY25, Children of Character, Inc., dba Children in Christ (the Organization), a 501(c)(3) public charity, delivered childrens discipleship clubs through indigenous volunteers across 27 Sub-Saharan African countries. Operations were affected by escalated political instability and terrorism in several countries. The Organization adapted by expanding programming through schools, churches, and house churches where feasible. In FY25, the Organization launched a three-year physical field audit initiative, beginning with a conservative club-count reset, reporting only clubs that were physically verified by pastors, community members, or staff. Based on the above, the Organization reached and discipled over 138,000 children, with over 10,000,000 child-hours of discipleship. Program average cost was less than $7 USD per child per year, due to indigenous volunteer leadership, African contributions, no buildings, and a pro bono U.S.-based CEO.
$484,280 spent60% of program spendingChildren in Christ inspires, equips and empowers children and youth (ages 9-18) to lead effectively as positive, healthy role models and servant leaders in 3 ways: (1) Weekly and monthly youth leadership discipleship meetings (2) 5-day child and youth leadership trainings (3) Equipped and empowered active leadership roles within CIC club ministry and peer trainings.
$242,140 spent30% of program spendingChildren in Christ inspires, equips and trains indigenous African church leaders and lay ministry volunteers in the importance of children and how to minister to them effectively. We train pastors and churches to understand that childen, who are 48% of the poplulation in Africa, are very important to God and shoud be very important to the church as well. Additionally, CIC emphasizes the importance of the local church reaching the unchurched childen and ministering Gods love to them. CIC provides interested pastors and churches with 5 days of childrens ministry vision and ministry trainings so that those churches can establish ministry to unchurched children in their proximate regions through childrens weekly clubs. In FY25, CIC inspired and mobilized indigenous ministry volunteers to minister in these clubs. Total participants trained in FY25 were 6,272 in which 838 pastors were trained and equipped for the ministry. 761 training events were held.
$80,713 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $807,133.
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 2017 to 2018, from $86k to $640k (+644%).
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.
99% of Children of Character Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Jennifer Merryman
President and CEO
Board chair
Frank Williams
Secretary and Board Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $168k → $354k.
8 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 Children of Character 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
Children of Character Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
52% 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 Children of Character Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 51% · 2019 26% · 2020 34% · 2021 25% · 2022 33% · 2023 31% — 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
64% of Children of Character Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
Children of Character Inc draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Oklahoma, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
Children of Character Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 7,334 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Children of Character 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 Oklahoma
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 4 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Children of Character 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 Children of Character Inc?
- Children of Character Inc (Oklahoma) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,877,540 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,242,960). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Children of Character Inc have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $3,877,540 in grants to Children of Character Inc, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Children of Character Inc?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,242,960 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Children of Character Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oklahoma. 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 Children of Character →
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 17 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