California Baptist University

Overview

Mission

California Baptist University believes each person has been created for a unique purpose and strives to help students understand and engage this purpose through a Christ-centered educational experience that integrates academics with spiritual and social development opportunities. CBU's Original Mission Statement _(from 1954 Articles of Incorporation)_ The primary purpose of this corporation is to conduct regular four-year college courses in education, music, sciences and the liberal arts, and to grant certificates, diplomas and any and all degrees evidencing completion of any course of training, together with any and all honorary degrees and to provide training for Baptist youth and others desiring to be affiliated with Baptist theology and theological instruction and such other instruction as may be needful and advantageous in preparing and qualifying ministers and others for...

Operating model

Revenue model

Earned-program. 83% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.

Distribution model

Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.

• Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

• Financial Efficiency: 82
• Transparency & Controls: 74
• Accountability: 100
• Sustainability: 49
• Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site
• Where the money goes: 85.6% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 36 of 36 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
• Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $409.1M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $2.3M · 43 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
• Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $6M reported
• Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
• Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
• Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
• Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
• Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
• People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

• High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
• Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
• Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
• High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.