California · Nonprofit
EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL
EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,720,243 to it, the largest being ORPHANS HOPE INTERNATIONAL ($1,184,608). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Empowering Lives International does
Mission
Empowering Lives International (ELI) ignites world changers. We equip families and orphans to crush poverty, embrace Christ, and share their transformation with others through their God-honoring income, their deepening relationship with Jesus, and their skills to empower others.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Kenya - ELI works strategically alongside gifted national leaders emphasizing collaboration, decentralization, and multiplication to break the cycle of poverty and "Ignite World Changers." Real change takes place in countless villages around East Africa through trained World Changers who have been equipped with life, communication, and leadership skills, as well as deepening relationships with God. Because life-skills, income-generating ideas, and agribusiness are dynamically integrated with trauma healing and the Gospel, former alcoholics, former brewers, widows, orphans, elders, chiefs, police officers, and many others are living transformed lives, impacting families, neighborhoods, communities, and villages! Additionally, ELI operates two orphanages which serve as homes for over 330 orphans, as well as a school that offers primary education to over 200 children from the orphanage and local community. Empowering orphans (the ultimate victims of poverty) and other vulnerable children to become World Changers is critical to ensure that future generations are trained and equipped to continue the real change taking place through Godly, life-giving influence on communities. In South…
$1,009,013 spentof which $1,009,013 as grants51% of program spendingUSA/General Fund - The US-based staff are much more than administrators. They are active participants in ELIs mission and ministry. Through advising, consulting, and overseeing work in Africa, as well as communicating with sponsors, partners, and donors in the USA, ELIs US staff fuels the dynamic ministry and relationship building happening domestically. Though some staff hours are spent processing donations and engaging in necessary administrative functions, the majority of US human resource time is spent directly investing in, participating in, and advancing the mission in Africa and in the hearts and lives of ELIs wonderful partners who help to finance this special and unique ministry.
$698,030 spent35% of program spendingTanzania - For the majority of people in Tanzania the daily struggle for water impacts every other area of life. Where there is water, it is often contaminated with bacteria and parasites, leading to debilitating sicknesses and draining peoples energy and lives. To address this widespread problem, ELI is drilling and establishing clean water wells in communities and schools around the Lake Region. With a training base in Ramadi, ELI staff build relationships with suffering communities and work with the Mighty Men Drilling team to research and provide the best locations for safe water sources. The ELI Extension Training Program complements the water drilling program with short workshops in business, agriculture, and spiritual growth to help suffering families gain poverty-breaking knowledge and skills to better utilize the clean water sources for holistic transformation.
$134,854 spentof which $134,854 as grants7% of program spendingDR Congo - In the heart of the bustling city of Bukavu in the war-torn nation of DR Congo, ELI established the Empowering Lives Christian Academy. The school, located in the Keredi slum, provides a Christian education and a nutritious lunch to over 650 children (K-12) who would otherwise not have access to education or nutrition. The ELI Extension Training Program complements the school program with short workshops in business and agriculture to help suffering families gain vital knowledge and skills to break the cycle of poverty.
$153,532 spentof which $153,532 as grants8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,995,429.
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 $1.3M to $1.8M (+44%).
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 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Jim Caya
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $156k → $201k.
8 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL’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
EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 98% · 2019 95% · 2020 83% · 2021 83% · 2022 82% · 2023 75% — 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
45% of EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL'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
100% of EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $247k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL is better cushioned than half of the 1,211 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,211 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL: 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 EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL?
- EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,720,243 to it, the largest being ORPHANS HOPE INTERNATIONAL ($1,184,608). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,720,243 in grants to EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL?
- ORPHANS HOPE INTERNATIONAL is the largest funder on record, with $1,184,608 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EMPOWERING LIVES INTERNATIONAL 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 Empowering Lives International →
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 20 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