Michigan · Nonprofit
BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC
BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC (Michigan) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $637,661 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($200,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $367k
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $638k
- Net assets
- $374k
What Blue Star Service Dogs Inc does
Mission
We rescue shelter dogs, start training them in prison housed programs, pair them with military veterans and first responders diagnosed with visible and invisible wounds and continue training them together to be service dogs and qualified handlers. Doing this we are rescuing one to heal another.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In 2025, 49 students were approved and enrolled in the Blue Star Service Dogs program. During the onboarding phase, 13 students determined they were unable to commit to the time and training requirements of the program and chose not to move forward before training began.Of the 36 students who progressed into the program, three participants began training and later determined that a service dog was not the appropriate tool for their needs. These decisions were made collaboratively and early in the process to ensure ethical placement and the best long-term outcomes for both the individuals and the dogs.In 2025, Blue Star Service Dogs proudly graduated 14 students, including 11 veterans and 3 first responders, each completing our individualized service dog training program. Graduation timelines reflect individualized pacing, particularly for participants living with PTSD or traumatic brain injury (TBI), to support long-term success. Graduated teams continued to receive follow-up support, training guidance, and access to Blue Star Service Dogs resources to support long-term success.
$215,325 spent77% of program spendingDuring the year, Blue Star Service Dogs brought 29 dogs into training, including 24 dogs rescued from shelters across Michigan and 5 dogs entering the program through responsible breeder donations. Five dogs were career-changed and returned to their original shelters after careful evaluation to ensure the best possible outcome for each dog, and all five were adopted into permanent homes within one week of their return.Overall, approximately 83% of dogs brought into training in 2025 successfully remained in the program. This retention rate reflects a thoughtful intake and selection process that prioritizes ethical decision-making and long-term success for both dogs and handlers.Our prison-based training program remained a cornerstone of our work, with 29 dogs actively training inside Michigan correctional facilities. In 2025, 78 incarcerated teammate handlers participated in the program, providing daily care, structure, and foundational obedience and early task training under the guidance and supervision of Blue Star Service Dogs trainers, who visited the facilities weekly to support progress and maintain training standards.In addition to our service dog program, Blue Star Service…
$52,165 spent19% of program spendingThroughout 2025, Blue Star Service Dogs expanded its education and outreach efforts, delivering 94 educational presentations and community engagement events, including both in-person and virtual (Zoom) sessions. These presentations addressed service dogs and public etiquette, disability awareness, shelter rescue partnerships, the prison dog training program, and the organization's work supporting veterans and first responders. Programs and outreach activities served communities across Michigan.
$13,193 spent5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $280,683.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $547k to $699k (+28%).
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: 2021 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $11k → $193k.
7 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 funders by total. 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
BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
38% 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 BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 52% · 2019 67% · 2020 78% · 2021 49% · 2022 89% · 2023 52% — diversifying over time.
“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
29% of BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC draws 63% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 14 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $165k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC is better cushioned than half of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC: 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 BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC?
- BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC (Michigan) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $637,661 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($200,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $637,661 in grants to BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC?
- The Pew Charitable Trusts is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUE STAR SERVICE DOGS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Blue Star Service Dogs →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 41 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