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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC

CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,410,164 to it, the largest being LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,018,453). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$3.0M
Funders on record
5
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
$15M
3/5 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 12%
01What it does

What Creative Ministries Inc does

Mission

Creative ministries, inc. Was organized in 1984 as a non-profit corporation for the purpose of promoting christian values featuring the best in christian music, art and other activities; and to acquire one or more noncommercial educational broadcast stations for the advancement of christian education and music programs responsive to the needs and interests of the general public residing in the communities of the licensee, and the broadcast station's service area. In december 1990, the organization acquired wjtl-fm, a radio station licensed by the federal communications commission (fcc) servicing the lancaster, harrisburg, york, lebanon, and northern maryland areas, to operate a noncommercial educational broadcast station dedicated to the advancement of christian education and music programs.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Promotion of christian concerts/festivals and artists featuring christian music, art, and other activities. The number of persons benefitting ranges with each concert/festival from hundreds to thousands.

    $1,433,845 spent$945,599 earned by the program
    70% of program spending
  2. Public educational radio broadcasting of christian music and programming to the wjtl listening area. The number of persons benefitting varies with the programming.

    $619,069 spent$191,885 earned by the program
    30% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,052,914.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($2.0M) Net assets 100 ($14M)2018 Revenue 106 ($2.1M) Expenses 113 ($2.2M) Net assets 99 ($13M)2019 Revenue 114 ($2.3M) Expenses 110 ($2.2M) Net assets 100 ($14M)2020 Revenue 101 ($2.0M) Expenses 94 ($1.9M) Net assets 101 ($14M)2021 Revenue 106 ($2.1M) Expenses 75 ($1.5M) Net assets 106 ($14M)2022 Revenue 129 ($2.6M) Expenses 107 ($2.1M) Net assets 109 ($15M)2023 Revenue 138 ($2.8M) Expenses 136 ($2.7M) Net assets 111 ($15M)2024 Revenue 128 ($2.6M) Expenses 135 ($2.7M) Net assets 110 ($15M)2025 Revenue 146 ($3.0M) Expenses 142 ($2.8M) Net assets 112 ($15M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (146)Expenses (142)Net assets (112)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $14M to $14M (+5%).

$14M
$14M
$14M
$14M
$14M
$15M
$15M
$15M
$15M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 10% · 2021 27% · 2022 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

39% of CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (90% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,735 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$42k
’17
−$86k
’18
$127k
’19
$196k
’20
$653k
’21
$506k
’22
$94k
’23
−$80k
’24
$149k
’25
7.6
months of
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.

Board chair

John Smucker

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed555666655
Joined·+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·00000010
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $187k → $28k.

4 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC’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

CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

100% 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 CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC.

72%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 98% · 2019 99% · 2020 93% · 2021 91% · 2022 100% · 2023 72% — 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.

Where its funders are

100% of CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC'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 $3k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.

PA

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC is better cushioned than half of the 1,211 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin5% · below the median
Months of reserve7.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,211 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like CREATIVE MINISTRIES 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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 21%Fundraising 6%

Governance

5
board members
80%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

75%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

PA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CREATIVE MINISTRIES 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.

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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 CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC?
CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,410,164 to it, the largest being LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,018,453). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC have?
IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $1,410,164 in grants to CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC?
LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,018,453 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CREATIVE MINISTRIES INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Creative Ministries →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 5 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