Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC
CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,653,440 to it, the largest being Lumina Foundation for Education Inc ($4,098,700). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Credential Engine Inc does
Mission
To map the credential landscape with clear and consistent information, fueling the creation of resources that empower people to find the pathways that are best for them. Credential engine provides a suite of web-based services that creates for the first time a centralized credential registry to house up-to-date information about all credentials, the credential transparency description language (ctdl) a common description language to enable credential comparability, and a platform to support customized applications to search and retrieve information about credentials.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2023 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Credential engine, inc. Undertook a new program service during the year that was not previously listed on form 990: policy - as requested, credential engine educates and supports policy makers at institution, system, state, federal, and national levels so they can craft guidance, regulation, funding, procurement, or legislative actions to advance credential transparency
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Education programs: credential engine, inc. Maintains an open registry of all credentials, describes them using a common language and supports an open application marketplace to allow user access to the credential data.
$2,691,865 spent$2,702,401 earned by the program99% of program spendingPolicy - as requested, credential engine educates and supports policy makers at institution, system, state, federal, and national levels so they can craft guidance, regulation, funding, procurement, or legislative actions to advance credential transparency
$24,961 spent1% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,716,826.
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 2019 to 2020, from $4.2M to $2.4M (−42%).
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: 2018 6% · 2019 6% · 2020 20% · 2021 3% · 2022 4% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
49% of CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Scott Cheney
Executive director & CEO
Board chair
Barbara Gellman-Danley
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $1.0M → $436k.
3 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 CREDENTIAL ENGINE 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
CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 71% · 2019 59% · 2020 42% · 2021 57% · 2022 100% · 2023 83% — 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
17% of CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $950k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $459k on record.
- National Science Foundation$459k
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 CREDENTIAL ENGINE 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
48%
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 CREDENTIAL ENGINE 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 CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC?
- CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,653,440 to it, the largest being Lumina Foundation for Education Inc ($4,098,700). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $11,653,440 in grants to CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC?
- Lumina Foundation for Education Inc is the largest funder on record, with $4,098,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CREDENTIAL ENGINE INC 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 10 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