A Faith-Based and Organizational Breakdown of California’s FY 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Awards
On May 22, 2026, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) published its FY 2025 California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP) Allocations, distributing the full $76,000,000 appropriated in the 2025 to 2026 state budget across 343 nonprofit recipients statewide. The CSNSGP is the state companion to the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program and is designed to fund physical security upgrades, such as reinforced doors, fencing, lighting, access control, and security planning, at nonprofits considered to be at heightened risk of hate-motivated violence because of their ideology, beliefs, or mission.
At Kearnan Consulting Group, we work with faith-based and community-serving nonprofits across California, so we read every CSNSGP allocation list closely. The headline question we hear most often from clients and reporters is simple: Who actually got the money this year? The short answer is that the FY 2025 round, like prior cycles, is dominated by faith-based applicants, with Jewish institutions receiving the single largest share of both awards and dollars. The longer answer, with the supporting data, is below.
The Headline Numbers
Of the 343 awards published in the allocations list, 285 went to faith-based or religiously affiliated organizations (83.09% of awards, totaling $64,412,203, or 84.75% of dollars), while 58 awards (16.91% of awards, $11,587,797 in dollars) went to organizations that are secular, ethnic, or cultural in nature. Maximum award size is capped at $250,000 per location under the published Request for Proposal; 178 of the 343 awards (51.9%) were funded at that ceiling.
A Note on How We Categorized
We classified each of the 343 recipients into one of ten faith and affiliation categories and one of eight organization-type categories, working from organizational names, public filings, and the institutions’ own descriptions of themselves. Some grants required judgment: for example, hospital systems with historic Catholic sponsorship (Providence, Saint Agnes Medical Center, Saint Joseph Health) were classified as Catholic, while community hospitals that no longer hold a religious mission (Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Emanate Health, Hanford Community Hospital) were classified as Secular. Covenant House California, founded by a Franciscan priest but operated today as a non-sectarian shelter for homeless youth, was classified as Secular. Organizations such as the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) school in Canoga Park and Homenetmen serve a community defined by shared faith and ethnicity but are themselves ethnic and cultural rather than strictly religious; those are reported separately in the table below.
Awards by Faith and Affiliation
The table below presents the FY 2025 CSNSGP awards broken down by faith category, with both the count of awards and the total dollars awarded.
| Faith / Affiliation Category | # Awards | % of Awards | $ Amount Awarded | % of $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish | 127 | 37.03% | $29,749,094 | 39.14% |
| Protestant/Other Christian | 58 | 16.91% | $12,810,174 | 16.86% |
| Catholic | 57 | 16.62% | $11,554,632 | 15.20% |
| Muslim/Islamic | 23 | 6.71% | $5,680,000 | 7.47% |
| Orthodox Christian | 4 | 1.17% | $857,843 | 1.13% |
| Hindu | 10 | 2.92% | $2,260,560 | 2.97% |
| Sikh | 4 | 1.17% | $999,900 | 1.32% |
| Other religious / spiritual | 2 | 0.58% | $500,000 | 0.66% |
| Ethnic/cultural community (non-religious) | 2 | 0.58% | $405,925 | 0.53% |
| Secular / Non-religious | 56 | 16.33% | $11,181,872 | 14.71% |
| TOTAL | 343 | 100.00% | $76,000,000 | 100.00% |
Source: Cal OES, FY 2025 CSNSGP Allocations (April 29, 2026); analysis by Kearnan Consulting Group, LLC.
What the Faith Breakdown Tells Us
Jewish organizations are by a wide margin the largest single category. With 127 awards and $29,749,094 in funding, Jewish institutions captured 37.03% of all awards and 39.14% of all dollars in this round, drawing more funding than any other religion and roughly equal in dollars to the Catholic and Protestant categories combined. This is consistent with the program’s design: the FY 2025 RFP and prior Cal OES guidance specifically reference the heightened threat environment facing Jewish institutions, and the Governor’s Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism (January 2024) directly cites CSNSGP as a key implementation tool. The Jewish category in this round includes 79 awards to Chabad houses, synagogues, congregations, Shuls, and Shtieblach (houses of worship), 18 awards to Jewish day schools and academies, 10 awards to Jewish Community Centers and cultural institutions, 9 Hillel and Jewish campus organizations, and 4 awards to Jewish-sponsored hospitals and senior-care facilities.
Protestant and other Christian groups (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Episcopal, Foursquare, Adventist, and nondenominational congregations) received 58 awards totaling $12,810,174 (16.91% of awards, 16.86% of dollars). Roman Catholic recipients (parishes, schools, hospitals, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey, Orange, San Jose, and Santa Rosa) received 57 awards totaling $11,554,632 (16.62% and 15.20%). Together, Christian institutions (Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox combined) received 119 awards and $25,222,649, accounting for 34.69% of awards and 33.19% of dollars.
Muslim and Islamic organizations received 23 awards totaling $5,680,000 (6.71% of awards, 7.47% of dollars), including masjids, Islamic centers, Muslim Community Associations in the Bay Area, the Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi schools, and Muslim-founded health and social-service organizations such as Shifa Health Center and Muhajer Foundation. Hindu organizations received 10 awards totaling $2,260,560 (2.97% of dollars), including the Hindu Temple Southbay, two India Heritage Foundation grants, the Krishna Consciousness Sacramento center, two Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog locations, and the Balaji Seva Foundation. Sikh organizations (Silicon Valley Gurdwara, Tri-Valley Sikh Center, Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha, and the Legacy of Yogi Bhajan Foundation) received 4 awards totaling $999,900. Orthodox Christian congregations (Greek, Coptic, Armenian Apostolic, and Indian Malankara) received 4 awards totaling $857,843.
The remaining 58 recipients (16.91% of awards and 15.25% of dollars) are not religious in mission, even though many serve communities that face hate-motivated threats. This category includes Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, the Japanese American National Museum, San Francisco and San Diego LGBTQ Community Centers, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, immigrant-rights organizations such as CHIRLA, food banks, women’s shelters, charter schools, and community hospitals that no longer operate under religious sponsorship.
Awards by Organization Type
Sorting the same 343 awards by the type of institution that received them tells a complementary story. The CSNSGP is, at its core, a program for hardening physical sites, so the dominance of houses of worship in the recipient list is not a surprise.
| Organization Type | # Awards | % of Awards | $ Amount Awarded | % of $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of worship | 184 | 53.64% | $41,480,070 | 54.58% |
| School | 58 | 16.91% | $12,872,179 | 16.94% |
| Social service / charity | 32 | 9.33% | $6,049,668 | 7.96% |
| Community / cultural center | 19 | 5.54% | $4,427,887 | 5.83% |
| Hospital / Healthcare | 20 | 5.83% | $4,398,604 | 5.79% |
| University / Seminary | 15 | 4.37% | $3,418,970 | 4.50% |
| Youth / recreation | 11 | 3.21% | $2,208,807 | 2.91% |
| Foundation / federation | 4 | 1.17% | $1,143,815 | 1.51% |
| TOTAL | 343 | 100.00% | $76,000,000 | 100.00% |
Source: Cal OES, FY 2025 CSNSGP Allocations (April 29, 2026); analysis by Kearnan Consulting Group, LLC.
Houses of worship (churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, gurdwaras, Chabads, and similar congregational facilities) account for the majority of awards on both metrics: 184 awards, or 53.64% of recipients, and $41,480,070, or 54.58% of dollars. Day schools, K-12 academies, yeshivas, and parochial schools were the second largest type with 58 awards and $12,872,179 (16.91% and 16.94%). Together, houses of worship and schools account for more than 70% of every dollar and every award in the program.
Social-service nonprofits and charities (rescue missions, food banks, women’s shelters, Catholic Charities, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, immigrant-rights groups, legal aid) received 32 awards totaling $6,049,668 (9.33% and 7.96%). Hospitals and healthcare nonprofits received 20 awards totaling $4,398,604 (5.83% and 5.79%). Community and cultural centers (JCCs, ethnic museums, LGBTQ resource centers) received 19 awards totaling $4,427,887 (5.54% and 5.83%). Universities and seminaries received 15 awards totaling $3,418,970 (4.37% and 4.50%), including the four UC and CSU Hillels, two Azusa Pacific University locations, two Master’s University and Seminary campuses, American Jewish University, Simpson University, and William Jessup University. Youth and recreation organizations (Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, Girl Scouts of San Diego, Sacramento Youth Center, and Chabad’s Friendship Circle) received 11 awards totaling $2,208,807. The smallest category, foundations and federations, received 4 awards totaling $1,143,815 (1.51%), including a single $499,815 award to the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, the only award in the entire list that exceeds the $250,000 per-location cap (because federations are eligible for a $500,000 ceiling under the Support Services subaward category).
Faith by Organization Type (Award Counts)
The table below cross-tabulates the two classifications to show, for each faith category, how the awards split across institution types.
| Faith / Affiliation | House of worship | School | University / Seminary | Hospital / Healthcare | Community / cultural center | Social service / charity | Youth / recreation | Foundation / federation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish | 79 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Protestant/Other Christian | 43 | 4 | 6 | 1 | – | 4 | – | – |
| Catholic | 23 | 25 | – | 7 | – | 2 | – | – |
| Muslim/Islamic | 21 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| Orthodox Christian | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Hindu | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Sikh | 3 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – |
| Other religious / spiritual | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ethnic/cultural community (non-religious) | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – |
| Secular / Non-religious | – | 9 | – | 7 | 7 | 23 | 10 | – |
Cells show the number of awards. Source: Cal OES, FY 2025 CSNSGP Allocations; analysis by Kearnan Consulting Group, LLC.
Program Context
The CSNSGP is administered by Cal OES, Grants Management. The $76,000,000 distributed in this FY 2025 cycle was authorized by the 2025 to 2026 California state budget. The current round’s RFP opened on October 22, 2025 and closed for general applicants on December 12, 2025, with the Support Services applicant deadline extended to January 12, 2026; the program received more than 1,600 applications during this cycle in prior reporting from the Governor’s office. The performance period for awarded projects runs from March 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027.
Award ceilings are $250,000 per location, $500,000 for organizations applying across two locations, and $500,000 for Support Services applicants (typically federations and umbrella organizations). Eligible costs are limited to physical security enhancements (reinforced doors, gates, fencing, lighting, surveillance, access control, security planning, and approved contracted security services), and projects are scored on a 48-point scale with a 40-point minimum threshold for funding consideration.
Since the program’s inception in fiscal year 2015, Cal OES reports that California has awarded $228,750,000 in state funding to 1,271 high-risk organizations under CSNSGP. The FY 2025 cycle reviewed in this brief is one of the largest individual cycles to date and was preceded by the FY 2024 cycle, which Governor Newsom announced on March 24, 2025, distributing the same $76,000,000 ceiling to 347 awardees, of which 269 were identified by Cal OES as ideology and spiritually-based organizations.
What This Means for Applicants
Three patterns from the FY 2025 data are worth flagging for nonprofits considering an application in the next cycle. First, the program continues to function largely as a faith-community physical-security program: more than five of every six dollars go to a religiously identified recipient, and more than half of every dollar goes to a single building category, namely houses of worship. Second, geographic concentration is real but not exclusive: the FY 2025 list reaches recipients in Humboldt, Tehama, Butte, Shasta, Madera, Sutter, Yolo, Solano, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Nevada, El Dorado, Placer, and other less-urban counties, suggesting that Cal OES is funding qualified applications from outside the major metropolitan centers when they are submitted. Third, the per-location cap is binding for the great majority of awardees: 178 of 343 recipients (51.9%) received the full $250,000 ceiling, which means a well-scored proposal is far more likely to be funded near the maximum than to be partially funded.
For nonprofits whose security needs exceed the per-location ceiling, the practical lesson is to structure the application around an eligible scope that fits the cap, to score above the 40-point threshold on the published criteria, and (when relevant) to coordinate a parallel application to the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program administered by FEMA, which uses a similar threat-based eligibility model and offers higher per-site ceilings.
For applicants that did not receive a FY 2025 funding award, the most productive next step is to carefully review the notification letter received from Cal OES, which identifies the score applied to each category of the application as well as the overall score. Working through the category-by-category scoring allows an unsuccessful applicant to determine exactly where the proposal fell short, decide whether targeted improvements in those specific categories would make a future submission more competitive, or recognize that the organization may not yet have sufficient documented threat history, vulnerability data, or risk profile to compete against more qualified candidates in the current cycle. State Administrators have advised that applicants who do not engage an experienced grant writer or submit a comprehensive vulnerability assessment prepared by a qualified assessor may receive lower scores in certain categories, so closing those two gaps before reapplying is often the single most actionable change an unsuccessful applicant can make. Applicants located in low-risk geographic areas with no documented history of threats will face challenges when compared to those with higher risk profiles. Overall, schools received a relatively small share of this year’s grant awards. This may reflect a lower number of school applicants or the fact that other facility types scored higher for various reasons. For context: Jewish schools (18) received approximately 5% of total awards, Catholic schools (25) received 7%, and Protestant/Other Christian schools (4) received only 1%.
Methodology and Sources
All recipient names, cities, counties, and subaward amounts were taken directly from the Cal OES PDF titled FY 2025 California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP) Allocations (Microsoft Word document created April 29, 2026 by the Cal OES Public Information Office). Subaward amounts in the source PDF total exactly $76,000,000, which matches the FY 2025 to 2026 state budget appropriation. Faith and type classifications were assigned by Kearnan Consulting Group, LLC from the organization names, IRS Form 990 filings, organizational websites, and public reporting. The full categorized dataset is available in the companion Excel workbook accompanying this brief.
Primary and supporting sources:
• Cal OES, FY 2025 CSNSGP Allocations (Cal OES Grants Management, published April 29, 2026).
• Cal OES, 2025 to 2026 California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP) Request for Proposal. https://www.caloes.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Grants/Documents/RFP/FY-2025-CSNSGP-RFP.pdf
• Cal OES, 2025 to 2026 California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP) RFP announcement. https://www.caloes.ca.gov/grant-announcement/2025-26-california-state-nonprofit-security-grant-program-csnsgp-rfp/
• Cal OES Grant Management Memorandum 2025 to 13 (FY 2025 CSNSGP Request for Proposal). https://www.caloes.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Grants/Documents/GMM-2025-13-FY-2025-CSNSGP-Request-for-Proposal-ht.pdf
• Cal OES News, Governor Newsom announces record-breaking $76 million to safeguard local faith communities and nonprofits (March 24, 2025). https://www.news.caloes.ca.gov/governor-newsom-announces-record-breaking-76-million-to-safeguard-local-faith-communities-and-nonprofits/
• Cal OES, Infrastructure Protection Grants (program landing page). https://www.caloes.ca.gov/office-of-the-director/policy-administration/finance-administration/grants-management/homeland-security-emergency-management-programs/infrastructure-protection-grants/
• California Governor’s Office, Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism (January 2024).
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Grant strategy, public funding analysis, and proposal development for California nonprofits, schools, and faith-based institutions.
