Ohio · Nonprofit
Better Way Ministries
Better Way Ministries (Ohio) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,025 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($163,225). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $325k
- Net assets
- $89k
What Better Way Ministries does
Mission
Better Way Ministries, d/b/a Columbus Dream Center, is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to providing hope to low-income, homeless, and under-served individuals and families in Columbus, Ohio. The Dream Center forms partnerships with area churches, organizations, and individuals to fund and provide resources for its various outreach programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Columbus dream center served the community through various events and programs including the following: adopt-a-block - a free grocery and resource delivery service to 10 neighborhoods across central ohio. Summer block parties - parties during the summer in local communities to connect with the kids and families of the area and provide resources during the non-school season. Super saturdays where the dream center engaged in youth mentorship activities for elementary aged kids. (continued on schedule o)hosting meal nights, breakfast serves, laundry/shower services, and haircuts to the homeless community weekly. Brotherhood and sisterhood - programming specifically geared toward mentoring middle and high school boys and girls in a small group setting. Holiday-specific outreach for thanksgiving, christmas, and easter.
$1,174,625 spentof which $548,863 as grants90% of program spendingThe columbus dream center responded to the covid-19 crisis in 2020 with a learning extension program where they offered a safe space for students to do remote schoolwork with support and meals. In 2021, as schools returned to in person, the dream center desired to maintain connection with the students and launched the after school program for students to continue with support on homework, receive snacks, and be connected with the volunteers and students in the area.
$109,635 spentof which $50,000 as grants8% of program spendingHilliard dream center - medical clinic - in october of 2023, the columbus dream center launched a free medical clinic to assist those in the community with medical evaluations and services. The delaware dreams center hosted a monthly legal advice clinic offering free legal counsel to those in the community who can't afford a lawyer.
$27,140 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,311,400.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $1.2M to $944k (−20%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2023 1% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Better Way Ministries’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Cris Gordon
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $19k → $76k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 85% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Better Way Ministries’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Better Way Ministries leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
89% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Better Way Ministries.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 37% · 2021 69% · 2022 82% · 2023 69% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
33% of Better Way Ministries's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
85% of Better Way Ministries's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $49k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside Ohio, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $276k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Better Way Ministries is better cushioned than half of the 2,394 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,394 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Better Way Ministries
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Rock City Church · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Better Way Ministries: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Better Way Ministries?
- Better Way Ministries (Ohio) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,025 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($163,225). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Better Way Ministries have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $325,025 in grants to Better Way Ministries, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Better Way Ministries?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $163,225 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Better Way Ministries find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), and the filings of 14 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing