A Distinct Year at CAFO

2025 Year in Review

OUR

mission

CAFO unites a growing movement in shared initiatives to inspire and equip God’s people to care effectively for vulnerable children and families, rooted always in Christian discipleship and the life of the local church.

323

Nonprofit Members

842

Church Members

Global Networks (representing 5,978 churches and 2,155 NGOs)

4192525

Children served by the CAFO community

6759521

Families served by the CAFO community

2025 By the numbers

Inspiring & Equipping God's people

795

Lesson completions in the CAFO Academy

472

Attendees at CAFO2025 (in-person & virtual)

176

Grant Funds distributed in support of collaboration & excellent practice

New books published, including 2 illustrated children's books

138

Live learning engagements (webinars, coaching, cohorts, live events, etc.)

118

People from 203 different countries visited our website

3472

CAFO2025 Attendees

48 states represented

68 countries represented (including Virtual Collaborate+)

207 workshops

266 presenters

Click through to explore photos & highlights from CAFO Initiatives in 2025... with a few exciting goals for next year!

Development & Discipleship

Guiding new approaches in fundraising

Highlights from 2025

$24 million in revenue growth across 225 ministries

Since CAFO launched the Development & Discipleship Initiative in 2020, we have supported more than 225 ministries through teaching and coaching. Of these ministries, those that have engaged regularly with CAFO have seen revenue growth of approximately 24 million during this time.

Highlights from 2025

Expanding funding for Christian service to children

CAFO's Development & Discipleship Initiative helped Christian ministries grow their fundraising and root it in a vision for helping givers grow closer to Christ — including workshops, peer learning and organizational coaching.

Looking Ahead to 2026

More group coaching opportunities

In 2026, we will offer even more exclusive group coaching and learning opportunities for engaged ministries and CAFO members.

Research Center

Connecting research with practice for effective global care

Highlights from 2025

CTAA program helps leaders transition to family care effectively

The CAFO Research Center’s Care Transition Accelerator Academy fellowship — a two-year intensive program that equips leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to transition to family care effectively — celebrated the success of 13 institutions transitioning to family care and 861 children placed in families.

Highlights from 2025

4,825 live coaching hours

We provided 4,825 live coaching hours through individual calls, peer learning communities and in-person training courses.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Renewing the call to help every child thrive in a digital world

In 2026, we will revise and release the second edition of “Vulnerable Children in a Digital Age.” This will be a renewed call to help every child thrive with wisdom and resilience in a digital world.

Global Network

Uniting global networks to work better, together

Highlights from 2025

Collaborate event united 1,400+ leaders from over 50 countries

The Global Network initiative at CAFO hosted Collaborate, a CAFO2025 pre-Summit intensive for global leaders, uniting 1,400+ leaders from over 50 countries via a global hybrid event. The Houston-based broadcast connected with 29 locations around the world to learn about cultivating collaboration and resilience.

Highlights from 2025

Community mapping cohort spurred 10 local projects worldwide

We hosted a peer-learning Community Mapping Cohort which resulted in 10 local projects spanning communities in Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Key results included: filling a gap of inaccessible female reproductive health services in Bossa, Nigeria; uniting faith and government leaders to collaborate toward better care of vulnerable children in Chisinau, Moldova (a post-Soviet culture); and inspiring care reform in Kisii County, Kenya, resulting in dozens of children being reintegrated with their families.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Going deeper to support network health through coaching

We will deepen our approach to coaching global networks toward more effective leadership, governance and health to better serve vulnerable children and families in their communities.

More Than Enough

Helping US communities transform foster care where they live

Highlights from 2025

New Unstuck events piloted to help local foster care collaborations

More Than Enough, CAFO’s US foster care initiative, piloted a new live event, Unstuck: Transforming Foster Care Where You Live, in Michigan and West Virginia. This one-day gathering is designed to bring together leaders from multiple counties to explore the launch of new local foster care networks in their communities.

Highlights from 2025

Served over 50 collaborative networks representing 62 counties in 26 states

The More Than Enough support team served over 50 collaborative networks representing 62 counties in 26 states with coaching, tools and resources to expand reach and impact through effective collaboration.

Highlights from 2025

Released 2nd edition of 'Until There's More Than Enough' book

The second edition of “Until There’s More Than Enough: Working Together to Transform Foster Care Where You Live” was released this year, with significantly expanded content and a new audiobook version.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Expanding local foster care networks across the US

We will be facilitating our new live one-day Unstuck events in multiple states in 2026. This one-day event is designed to gather local foster care leaders and advocates to explore forming new local foster care networks in their counties, and then equip them with practices of effective collaboration.

Click through to explore photos & highlights from CAFO Initiatives in 2025... with a few exciting goals for next year!

Pure Religion Project

Inspiring a holy and helpful vision for the Church

Highlights from 2025

25,000+ copies of 'Everyone Can Do Something' book distributed

The Pure Religion Project, CAFO’s church ministry initiative, released the third edition of "Everyone Can Do Something" with new, expanded content, integration of powerful stories and videos, and additional resources to serve and equip churches. Since its release at Summit in 2018, we’ve put nearly 25,000 copies into the hands of leaders around the country.

Highlights from 2025

New Arts & The Church projects inspire the church to action

We completed a special project with the creators of the Izidor film, developing turn-key resources for churches designed to help them leverage the power of the film to engage their people in caring for vulnerable children and families. This project now rests within our newly developed “The Arts & The Church” section on our website, where we utilize music, film and other mediums to resource and inspire the Church to care for vulnerable children and families.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Expanding resources for effective church engagement

In 2026, we plan to build on the “Effectively Engaging Churches” primer. We aim to create a limited-series podcast and potentially a full-length book with expanded insights, practical tools and next steps organizations and networks can take to serve, resource and mobilize churches in their local context.

Family Institute

Helping foster and adoptive families nurture growth and healing

Highlights from 2025

Launched new handbook for families in crisis

The Institute for Family-Centered Healing & Health released a new book, “When There Is Crisis: A Handbook for Christian Foster & Adoptive Families Facing Serious Struggle” — a much-needed resource offering practical, biblically-grounded guidance rooted in research to better support foster and adoptive families facing serious struggle.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Equipping foster and adoptive families to flourish at home

In 2026, we will create a new “Field Guide” to help families cultivate healing and flourishing in the home over time through simple, research-informed habits and everyday Christian practices.

Communications & Advocacy

Spurring the CAFO community through compelling communications

Highlights from 2025

Commissioned new research to survey Christian engagement in foster care

In 2025, we commissioned new research with Pinkston, a leading communications agency, which uncovered surprising and encouraging findings about Christian engagement in US foster care and adoption. The data led to significant media coverage and the development of new resources to better support recruitment and engagement in the field.

Highlights from 2025

Published landmark article spurring policy discussions

In 2025, CAFO published a landmark article in the journal National Affairs titled, “A Watershed Perspective of Child Welfare,” sparking serious policy discussions in DC and considerations for reform.

Highlights from 2025

Led a working group to develop wise AI guidelines

We strengthened the communications of Christian organizations across the field through live training events and coaching, and initiated a working group of leaders to develop wise AI guidelines for ministries caring for vulnerable children and families.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Expanding storytelling & behind-the-scenes public policy conversations

In 2026, we will continue CAFO’s behind-the-scenes public policy influence on key issues from religious liberty to the rising costs of nonprofit liability insurance. We’ll also expand CAFO’s storytelling and media outreach in 2026 — both to inspire Christians to fresh generosity and personal service to children and families, and to help the broader culture see the God-honoring service of His people.

Soul Care

Encouraging habits God uses to sustain us in the work of justice and mercy

Highlights from 2025

100+ CEOs and spouses refreshed at Soul & Strategy Retreat

The 2025 Soul & Strategy Retreat poured into more than 100 member ministry CEOs and CEO spouses — both caring for leaders and helping them build strategies to care well for their teams.

Highlights from 2025

Published new research on organizational practices for soul care

CAFO published new academic research in 2025 in the Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion on organizational practices of soul care and formation — empirically confirming the measurable difference these commitments make for employee wellbeing, work satisfaction and resilience.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Expanding resources and guidance for CAFO members to integrate fruitful soul care practices

We will continue to expand our resources, research and guidance for Christian leaders across the field — helping CAFO’s 300+ member organizations integrate fruitful soul care and formation practices.

We’re Committed to YOU Through Transparency, Excellence and Financial Accountability

For the first time, Ministry Watch included CAFO on its list of "Largest Christian Advocacy Organizations." CAFO was the only organization on the list to receive a perfect 100 Rating for Minstry Watch’s Donor Confidence Score in 2025.

CAFO’s 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator demonstrates adherence to the highest standards of accountability, transparency, and financial health.

CAFO meets or exceeds all Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship from, and is accredited by, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

All CAFO administration costs are covered by sponsors, membership and other sources, so 100% of your donations go to fuel CAFO initiatives that grow and guide effective care for children.

CAFO earned the prestigious Excellence in Giving Transparency Certificate by sharing 175 data points on our strategy, leadership, financials and impact. View our profile for impact and analytics.

For the first time, Ministry Watch included CAFO on its list of "Largest Christian Advocacy Organizations." CAFO was the only organization on the list to receive a perfect 100 Rating for Minstry Watch’s Donor Confidence Score

Thank You!

Thank you for caring for vulnerable children and families! Your support helps strengthen Christian collaboration and provide wise, effective care for orphaned and vulnerable children and families in the US and all around the world.