Darkness to Light
Darkness to Light is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers evidence-informed child sexual abuse prevention training to adults through its flagship Stewards of Children® program and a global network of 13,000+ Authorized Facilitators across 50 US states and 115 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersMt Pleasant, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Darkness to Light does
Darkness to Light is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2000 and headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, that delivers evidence-informed child sexual abuse prevention training to adults. The organization's core product is Stewards of Children®, a 2.5-hour training built on the proprietary 5 Steps to Protecting Children™ framework (Learn the Facts, Minimize Opportunity, Talk About It, Recognize the Signs, React Responsibly), available in-person, virtually, and asynchronously online through a CSOD (Cornerstone OnDemand) learning portal. Pricing is $16 per individual for online access and $450 per participant for the train-the-trainer Facilitator Workshop; a full curriculum of supplementary modules (Recognizing and Reporting Harm, From Bystander to Upstander, Preventing Child Sex Trafficking, Consent/Healthy Touch/Boundaries, Conversations About Safety, Camp Counselor Training, Protecting Children During a Crisis) extends the catalog, most with bilingual English/Spanish versions (Spanish branded as Guardianes de los Niños®).
The organization serves four primary customer segments: individual parents and caregivers, youth-serving organizations (schools, camps, religious institutions, sports leagues, childcare), mandated reporters (educators, healthcare, mental health, law enforcement, childcare), and organizations pursuing the Partner in Prevention (PIP) designation. Distribution is hybrid — a self-serve online portal for individuals, a global network of 13,000+ Authorized Facilitators delivering group training across all 50 US states and 115 countries, virtual facilitator-led sessions, and train-the-trainer workshops. Revenue is generated through training fees, donations (with 80% directed to prevention programs), grants and foundation funding (Oak Foundation, Select Equity Foundation, SC.GOV, Tides, World Childhood Foundation, and others), and merchandise. To date, the organization has trained more than 2.4 million adults, served 15,000+ organizations over 25 years, and reached 52,003 individuals trained in fiscal year 2025 alone.
The organization operates with 101-250 employees and a Board of Directors led by Chair Jim Wilson, with CEO Rhonda Newton at the helm. Strategic positioning emphasizes CDC- and university-validated outcome data (e.g., 4x likelihood of asking about prevention policies at 18 months; 82% increase in reporting among trained Texas educators; 1.67 additional reports per 10,000 children in trained communities). Certifications include a Candid Platinum Seal and Charity Navigator Four-Star Rating, supporting donor and institutional funder confidence.
Darkness to Light firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Darkness to Light
- Legal name
- Darkness to Light
- Website
- https://d2l.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Darkness to Light is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers evidence-informed child sexual abuse prevention training to adults through its flagship Stewards of Children® program and a global network of 13,000+ Authorized Facilitators across 50 US states and 115 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Darkness to Light industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Child and Youth Services (624110), Educational Support Services (6117)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Child Protection & Child Rights (BPAGABAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Safeguarding, Student Welfare & Child Protection Compliance Audits (EDADAGAI), Health, Safety & Compliance Training (CPR/First Aid, Safeguarding, Licensing) (EDACAIAH)
Keywords
Where Darkness to Light is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Mt Pleasant
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Darkness to Light business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Training Fees: Revenue from sale of training programs including Stewards of Children® at $16 per individual and Facilitator Workshop training at $450. Bulk pricing available for organizations.
- Donations and Contributions: Tax-deductible donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations. Includes one-time donations, monthly recurring giving, tribute gifts, and corporate matching programs.
- Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise through bonfire.com store.
- Grants and Foundation Funding: Funding from foundations and government sources including Oak Foundation, Select Equity Foundation, SC.GOV, World Childhood Foundation, and others to support scholarship programs and prevention initiatives.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Stewards of Children® Online Training - $16 per person |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Facilitator Workshop - $450 per person |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Safety in Seconds - Free |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Bulk Pricing - Available |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Darkness to Light product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Darkness to Light is a national nonprofit organization that delivers evidence-informed adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention training. Its flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is a 2.5-hour curriculum built around the 5 Steps to Protecting Children™ framework, available in English and Spanish, online, in-person, and virtually. The organization also provides a Facilitator Workshop to certify trainers, the Partner in Prevention organizational designation program, and free Safety in Seconds microlearning.
Product overview
Darkness to Light is a national nonprofit offering a comprehensive suite of evidence-informed child sexual abuse prevention training programs for adults. The core product is the award-winning Stewards of Children® training (2.5 hours, $16 per person), available in English and Spanish (as Guardianes de los Niños®), delivered online, in-person, or virtually. The training ecosystem includes supplementary modules such as Recognizing and Reporting Harm, From Bystander to Upstander, Preventing Child Sex Trafficking, Consent/Healthy Touch/Boundaries, and Conversations About Safety from Abuse—most available in both English and Spanish. Additional offerings include Camp Counselor Training, Protecting Children During a Crisis, and the free Safety in Seconds microlearning program. The Partner in Prevention program provides organizational certification for entities meeting training and policy standards. All programs are built around the 5 Steps to Protecting Children™ framework. Darkness to Light also offers a Facilitator Workshop for individuals seeking to become authorized trainers, and CE/CEU credits are available for various professional categories.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Stewards of Children®: Darkness to Light's flagship evidence-informed adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention training program that teaches adults practical actions they can take to reduce instances of child sexual abuse in their organizations, families, and communities.
- Partner in Prevention (PIP)
- 5 Steps to Protecting Children™
- Child Safety Foundations
- Honest Conversations
- Honoring Their Voices
- Safety in Seconds
- Guardianes de los Niños®
Quantifiable outcome
- 4x more likely to ask about sexual abuse prevention policies 18 months after training (Ford Family Foundation/University of Oregon study)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Darkness to Light
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Darkness to Light technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Darkness to Light partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and minor.
- Kappa DeltacoreSorority organization partnered with Darkness to Light for prevention education initiatives and awareness campaigns.
- National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and ExploitationcoreCoalition partner working together on national prevention efforts and policy initiatives.
- National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrencoreStrategic partner in child protection, collaborating on resources and prevention education.
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthcoreAcademic partner including Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, supporting research and program evaluation.
- American Camp AssociationsupportingPartnership to deliver prevention training to camp staff and administrators across the organization.
- Monique Burr FoundationsupportingFoundation partner focused on prevention education for children.
- Keep Kids SafesupportingPartner organization focused on child safety initiatives.
- Coalition to Protect Kids OnlinesupportingCoalition partner addressing online child protection issues.
- The National Exchange ClubsupportingService organization partner in child protection efforts.
- Esports TowerminorPartner addressing child protection in esports and gaming communities.
- San Francisco Bay Area MomsminorCommunity partner for local prevention education outreach.
- Carousel Center CACsupportingChild Abuse Prevention Supervisor Rebecca Martin quoted on Partner in Prevention program addressing challenges through organizational partnerships.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Darkness to Light competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Bark Technologies: Bark is an emerging player in child online safety, offering monitoring software and educational content for parents. It addresses adjacent child protection use cases (online rather than in-person) and competes for the same parent and school segments.
- Stop It Now: Stop It Now focuses specifically on preventing child sexual abuse through helplines, resources, and adult-focused education—closely aligned with D2L's adult-learner prevention model but operating at a smaller footprint.
Direct peers
- National Children's Alliance: NCA is the national association of Child Advocacy Centers, working on child abuse response and prevention. It overlaps with D2L on the child protection mission and serves similar youth-serving organizational and CAC customers.
- Monique Burr Foundation for Children: MBF delivers evidence-based child safety and prevention education programs (MBF Child Safety Matters, MBF Teen Safety Matters) to schools and youth-serving organizations, directly competing with Darkness to Light in K-12 and youth-serving markets.
- Childhelp: Childhelp operates a national abuse hotline, advocacy programs, and prevention education for children and adults. It competes for donor dollars and overlapping prevention curriculum within schools and community organizations.
- Prevent Child Abuse America: PCAA leads national awareness (Pinwheels for Prevention) and supports state chapters on child abuse prevention. Both D2L and PCAA target the same end-customer—parents, caregivers, and youth-serving organizations—with prevention education.
Broad incumbents
- Khan Academy: A large-scale nonprofit online education platform. While not a direct competitor on child protection content, Khan Academy exemplifies the freemium nonprofit EdTech distribution model D2L could emulate for its Safety in Seconds microlearning.
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC): NCMEC is a larger, established child protection organization that delivers NetSmartz and other prevention education to schools. It is a D2L strategic partner and overlapping provider of prevention content at national scale.
- Gryphon Place / Praesidium: Praesidium provides organizational abuse risk management, training, and consulting to youth-serving organizations—overlapping with D2L's Partner in Prevention program and Stewards of Children training at the institutional customer level.
Regional players
- ASCA (Association of School and College Leaders) - safeguarding training providers: ASCA-aligned UK safeguarding training organizations serve schools in mandated safeguarding reporter training, paralleling D2L's U.S. education-segment training but in a different geography and regulatory framework.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Darkness to Light social profiles
Digital presenceDarkness to Light financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Darkness to Light leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Darkness to Light funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Darkness to Light M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Darkness to Light
What does Darkness to Light do?
Darkness to Light is a national nonprofit organization that delivers evidence-informed adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention training. Its flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is a 2.5-hour curriculum built around the 5 Steps to Protecting Children™ framework, available in English and Spanish, online, in-person, and virtually. The organization also provides a Facilitator Workshop to certify trainers, the Partner in Prevention organizational designation program, and free Safety in Seconds microlearning.
Is Darkness to Light a public or private company?
Darkness to Light is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Darkness to Light founded?
Darkness to Light was founded in 2000. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Darkness to Light based?
Darkness to Light is headquartered in Mt Pleasant, United States, in the North America region.
How does Darkness to Light make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Training Fees are the primary driver. The others are donations and Contributions, merchandise Sales and grants and Foundation Funding.
Who are Darkness to Light's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Bark Technologies and Stop It Now. Direct peers are National Children's Alliance, Monique Burr Foundation for Children, Childhelp and Prevent Child Abuse America. Broad incumbents are Khan Academy, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Gryphon Place / Praesidium. ASCA (Association of School and College Leaders) - safeguarding training providers is listed as a regional player.
Does Darkness to Light have an API?
No public API is recorded for Darkness to Light.
What industry is Darkness to Light in?
Darkness to Light's product category is Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGABAG, Child Protection & Child Rights, with a secondary code of EDADAGAI, Safeguarding, Student Welfare & Child Protection Compliance Audits. Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.