"[4] The founding of INFORM was motivated by a shared impression among clergy and academics that groups hostile to cults often aimed to feed rather than alleviate enquirers' fears.

[5] During the 1980s, the British Home Office received many complaints related to cults and NRMs from concerned parents, but did not feel that any of the existing counter-cult and anti-cult groups deserved state funding.

[3] Where parents have lost all contact with their son or daughter, INFORM may be able to put them in touch with a go-between who has established lines of communication to the movement.

More recently INFORM staff and affiliates have provided Factsheets for the Religion Media Centre[17] and the Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millennial Movements (CDAMM).

"[19] Recently INFORM has been involved in the AHRC-funded Abuse in Religious Contexts[20] and in a Culham St Gabriel's-funded project exploring the teaching of Religion and Worldviews in English schools.

[21] In a book of essays in tribute of Eileen Barker, Bryan R. Wilson, a leading scholar of religion from Oxford University, stated that INFORM has often managed to resolve or defuse the deeply emotional conflicts surrounding membership in a new religious movement.

"[22] During 2021 a letter to The Lancet cited research from Inform-associated authors, suggesting that the sociological approach to studying "cults" which emphasises "inquisitive dialogue and contextual understanding" might be usefully applied to the anti-vax movement.