Christian Assistance Ministry

What Christian Assistance Ministry does

Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM) is a Texas-based 501(c)-class faith-affiliated nonprofit founded in 1977 by nine downtown San Antonio churches to provide immediate safety-net assistance to individuals and families in crisis. Operating today with 10 full-time and 3 part-time staff supported by approximately 250 weekly volunteers, CAM runs two walk-in campuses in San Antonio (a downtown campus on the Grace Lutheran Church property at 110 McCullough Ave and a northwest campus at 5084 DeZavala) where approximately 70,000 people annually receive free services including sack lunches, groceries, clothing, utility and prescription financial assistance, ID and birth certificate recovery, showers, hygiene kits, mail service, and seasonal programs such as Back-to-School and the Emergency Christmas Store. 75% of those served are classified as working poor and roughly 14,000 are children.

CAM's service model is community-led and explicitly designed as an "emergency room of social services" — no appointment is required and clients arrive during operating hours to receive immediate assistance. CAM utilizes the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a HIPAA-regulated community-wide shared database, to coordinate client tracking and continuity of care. In January 2025 the organization launched the CAMpassion Care program, which delivers on-site psychiatric diagnosis and medication management to chronically homeless individuals at the downtown campus in partnership with Affective Mental Wellness LLC nurse practitioners and a referral pathway to the Center for Health Care Services for long-term treatment.

CAM's revenue is donation-driven and not publicly disclosed. Individual donors are reported to contribute approximately half of annual revenue via monthly CAM's Corner gifts ($5/$10/$15), one-time online donations through DonorPerfect and PayPal, and legacy bequests; the balance comes from over 100 member churches (CAM Council of Churches), corporate and foundation grants (including targeted funding for CAMpassion Care), and in-kind contributions of goods. CAM is governed by a board of directors, sits on the Alliance to House Everyone coalition alongside Haven for Hope, Close to Home, SAMMinistries, and the City of San Antonio, and was recognized in 2025 by United Way's Alamo Region as a top 5 San Antonio agency for referrals and resources.

Name

Christian Assistance Ministry

Legal name

Christian Assistance Ministry

Website

https://christianassistanceministry.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Christian Assistance Ministry is a San Antonio faith-based nonprofit, founded in 1977, operating two walk-in campuses that deliver free food, clothing, financial assistance, ID recovery, and (as of January 2025) on-site psychiatric care to approximately 70,000 low-income, homeless, and crisis-affected individuals annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Services / Nonprofit Human Services

NAICS

Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Community Food Services (624210), Community Housing Services (62422)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Emergency Shelter, Camp Management & Non-Food Items (NFI) (BPAGAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Food & Nutrition Assistance Programs (BPAIAKAF)

Keywords

• Emergency social services
• Homeless outreach programs
• Food assistance nonprofit
• Mental health services
• Humanitarian aid ministry

Headquarters

HQ city

San Antonio

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations/Bequests: Individual donors provide approximately half of CAM's annual revenue. CAM encourages monthly giving through its CAM's Corner program ($5, $10, $15 monthly), one-time donations via credit card or PayPal, and legacy giving through bequests.
2. Church/Religious Organization Support: CAM was founded by 9 downtown churches in 1977 and is currently supported by over 100 churches of various denominations through its Council of Churches. Churches provide financial pledges, tithes, in-kind donations, and volunteer coordination.
3. Corporate and Foundation Grants: CAM receives support from corporations and foundations, including grant funding for specific programs like the CAMpassion Care mental health initiative.
4. In-Kind Donations: CAM receives donated items including clothing, shoes, food, hygiene products, and other goods that are distributed to clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CAM provides free, walk-in emergency assistance to individuals and families in crisis in San Antonio. Core offerings include food (sustainable groceries and daily sack lunches), clothing for men, women, and children, financial assistance for utilities and prescriptions, ID and birth certificate recovery, showers, hygiene kits, mail service, and transportation assistance. The organization complements these with targeted programs such as the Back-to-School distribution, Christmas Store, Soles4Souls shoe drive, One Life at a Time homeless outreach, and the CAMpassion Care on-site mental health program.

Product overview

Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM) operates as a nonprofit social services organization offering emergency assistance programs rather than a technology product. The organization provides a coordinated suite of safety-net services centered around immediate crisis assistance: food distribution (groceries and daily sack lunches), clothing, financial assistance for utilities and prescriptions, ID recovery, and specialized programs including the Back-to-School Program, Christmas Store, CAMpassion Care mental health program, and the One Life at a Time homeless outreach initiative. CAM serves as an 'emergency room of social services' with no appointment required, operating from two campuses in San Antonio.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CAMpassion Care: A program launched in January 2025 providing psychiatric diagnosis and medication to the chronically homeless population, partnering with Affective Mental Wellness LLC for psychiatric nurse practitioner services.
• CAM Council of Churches

Products and services

• CAM Emergency Assistance Services Free, walk-in emergency assistance program providing immediate help to individuals and families in crisis. Includes food (sustainable groceries and daily sack lunches), clothing for men, women, and children, financial assistance for utilities and prescriptions, and ID and birth certificate recovery. Operates at both the Downtown and Northwest San Antonio campuses with no appointment required.
• Back-to-School Program Annual donation drive providing school supplies, backpacks, uniforms, socks, and underwear to children from kindergarten through high school whose families are facing financial crisis. Donors and organizations adopt a child, purchase items from that child's school supply list, and CAM staff and volunteers coordinate the matching and delivery.
• Christmas Store Emergency free shopping experience providing new toys, gifts, books, stuffed animals, socks, and gloves for children ages 0-18 from families facing severe financial crisis. Reaches approximately 1,500 children annually.
• CAMpassion Care Mental health program that brings psychiatric diagnosis and medication directly to chronically homeless individuals at CAM's downtown campus. Partners with Affective Mental Wellness LLC to provide twice-weekly on-campus psychiatric nurse practitioner presence, while CAM staff administer daily medication and track dosage, providing care to individuals who cannot access traditional shelter-based mental health services.
• Soles4Souls Shoe Drive Annual shoe donation drive collecting gently used shoes to provide dignity, courage, and hope to people living in poverty in the San Antonio community.
• One Life at a Time Pilot program partnering with downtown Bike Patrol officers that links police and social work to provide alternatives to jail or arrest for individuals experiencing homelessness, supporting stabilization and connection to services.
• Homeless Services Comprehensive services for unsheltered homeless individuals at the downtown campus, including daily sack lunches, showers, hygiene kits, free mail service, and ID/birth certificate assistance to support survival and stabilization.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Grace Lutheran ChurchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrace Lutheran Church is one of CAM's founding churches (1977) and continues to host CAM's downtown campus on their property. Without Grace Lutheran Church's commitment, CAM would not exist. CAM's downtown campus is located on Grace Lutheran Church's campus.
• Affective Mental Wellness LLCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPsychiatric nurse practitioner practice providing twice-weekly on-campus presence for the CAMpassion Care mental health program. They supervise diagnosis and medication prescribing for chronically homeless individuals.
• Haven for HopecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in San Antonio's Homeless Response System (Alliance to House Everyone). Worked with CAM to help individuals like Daniel transition off the streets into shelter and rehab facilities.
• Center for Health Care ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity organization that can provide long-term medication and treatment for clients stabilized through CAMpassion Care program.
• Close to HomecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead agency in San Antonio's continuum of care for homelessness (Alliance to House Everyone). CAM sits on committees with Close to Home and helps develop local guidelines for the Homeless Response System and Strategic Plan.
• San Antonio Food BankminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAM works with the SA Food Bank along with Haven for Hope and the City of San Antonio to formalize strategic processes and coordinate food resources.
• SAMMinistriesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition working to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring in San Antonio.
• Corazon MinistriesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition providing services to the homeless population in San Antonio.
• Centro San AntoniominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition working on homelessness response in downtown San Antonio.
• City of San AntoniominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in homeless response system. CAM works with local SAPD, DA's office, hospital systems, and city departments. Part of coalition working on housing and shelter solutions.
• Hope4HoundsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit that helped reunite Bill (a homeless veteran) with his dog Gizmo, which was instrumental in convincing Bill to move off the streets into housing.
• Dr. Miller (Psychiatrist)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWell-known San Antonio Doctor of Psychiatry who supervised early work with chronically homeless clients that led to the CAMpassion Care program model.
• AbodeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit that provides homes and end-of-life care for people who are dying and have no one. CAM helped advocate for James to be placed there.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Haven for Hope: San Antonio's flagship homeless services campus, operating a transformative multi-service shelter model that overlaps heavily with CAM's homeless services. As a direct CAM partner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition, it is the most directly comparable organization in the same geography.
• San Antonio Food Bank: Major regional food assistance organization that partners with CAM, Haven for Hope, and the City of San Antonio to coordinate food resources. Closely comparable on CAM's largest service line — food distribution (52,000 sack lunches and 20,000 groceries annually).
• SAMMinistries: San Antonio-based nonprofit providing family homelessness prevention, transitional housing, and emergency assistance. Listed as a direct CAM partner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition and serves overlapping working-poor and homeless populations.
• Corazon Ministries: San Antonio nonprofit serving people experiencing homelessness with day services, showers, meals, and case management. Direct CAM partner in the Alliance to House Everyone coalition and serves nearly identical client segments in the same geography.
• Family Promise of San Antonio: Local affiliate of the national Family Promise network providing shelter, housing stabilization, and case management for families experiencing homelessness in San Antonio. Comparable on family-crisis service delivery and emergency housing-adjacent assistance.

Regional players

• Los Angeles Mission: Skid-row-based nonprofit providing food, clothing, showers, recovery programs, and emergency shelter to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Closely comparable to CAM's walk-in 'emergency room of social services' model, but operating in a different geography.
• Houston Area Urban League: Houston-based community safety-net and empowerment organization providing emergency assistance, workforce development, and social services to low-income populations. Operates a comparable community-assistance model in a different large Texas metro, useful as a regional benchmark.

Others

• Goodwill Industries of San Antonio: Regional workforce-development and community-services nonprofit operating thrift stores and job-training programs. Comparable on serving working-poor and homeless populations in San Antonio (including CAM's haircut-for-employment program), but focused on employment rather than emergency relief.

Broad incumbents

• The Salvation Army San Antonio: National faith-based nonprofit operating a significant San Antonio presence providing emergency shelter, food, clothing, and utility assistance. Comparable on the core safety-net services CAM offers, but as part of a national organization with substantially larger resources.
• Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of San Antonio: Larger, established faith-affiliated social services organization providing emergency assistance, housing, immigration, and family services across the region. Comparable on emergency assistance mission but with a much broader service portfolio and institutional footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/christianassistanceministry
• Instagraminstagram.com/christianassistanceministry
• TikToktiktok.com/@cam_satx
• Xx.com/cam_sanantonio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/christian-assistance-ministry-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Christian Assistance Ministry