Arizona · Nonprofit
DESERT MISSION INC
DESERT MISSION INC (Arizona) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,006,786 to it, the largest being VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY ($752,514). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 38
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Desert Mission Inc does
Mission
To help each person entrusted in our care to enjoy the fullest gift of health possible, and to help build a community where a helping hand is available for our most vulnerable members.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Desert mission, inc. Offers several free and reduced cost food programs to assist working poor families. Additionally, we provide nutrition education and community based case management programs to assist clients in reaching self-sufficiency. Also included are workforce development and financial coaching. In 2024, desert mission distributed 3,045,848 pounds of food onsite that served a total of 57,626 households and 111,127 individuals. Many clients are working poor families and seniors living on a fixed income.
$8,054,411 spentof which $6,005,441 as grants$26,903 earned by the program71% of program spendingLincoln learning center - offers quality childcare for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years. Lincoln learning center is accredited by the national association for the education of young children (naeyc). During the 2024 school year 274 children participated in before and after school programs, and in-class support. The center's early childhood education curriculum provides young children with the strong start they need to succeed in school and life. Lincoln learning center pre-k students have a 98 percent kindergarten readiness rate.
$2,422,882 spent$1,422,642 earned by the program21% of program spendingAdult day healthcare - desert mission, inc.'s adult day healthcare senior enrichment program provides a coordinated program of professional and compassionate services for adults in a community-based group setting. Services are designed to provide social, including intergenerational activities with the children attending the lincoln learning center, and some health services to adults who need supervised care in a safe place outside the home during the day. Adult day healthcare: many members of our community provide care for their senior family members. To support these families, desert mission, inc. Offers adult day healthcare, a place where seniors can spend the day in a setting that's friendly, dignified and stimulating while caregivers enjoy a break from their responsibilities. The professional staff at adult day healthcare welcomes seniors into an active environment that includes health monitoring by a registered nurse. Seniors enjoy activities both on and off site. Caregivers also are offered social services and counseling to help them in their role. 63 seniors attended adult day healthcare in 2024.
$868,663 spent$409,441 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $11,345,956.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $14M to $8.9M (−35%).
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: 2017 4% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 6% · 2022 3% · 2023 14% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of DESERT MISSION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
April Jones
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $211k → $281k.
9 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $12M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Honorhealth Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DESERT MISSION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of DESERT MISSION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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
DESERT MISSION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
76% 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 DESERT MISSION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 73% · 2019 58% · 2020 28% · 2021 31% · 2022 34% · 2023 68% — 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
21% of DESERT MISSION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
57% of DESERT MISSION INC's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $492k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
DESERT MISSION INC's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,289 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding DESERT MISSION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $807k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$521k
- Department of Veterans Affairs$287k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like DESERT MISSION 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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 9 related entities
- Honorhealth · exempt
- Honorhealth Ambulatory · exempt
- Honorhealth Foundation · exempt
- Honorhealth Research & Innovation Institute (Thru 52024) · exempt
- Intuitive Health of Maricopa County LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DESERT MISSION 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 DESERT MISSION INC?
- DESERT MISSION INC (Arizona) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,006,786 to it, the largest being VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY ($752,514). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DESERT MISSION INC have?
- IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $3,006,786 in grants to DESERT MISSION INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DESERT MISSION INC?
- VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY is the largest funder on record, with $752,514 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DESERT MISSION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Desert Mission →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 38 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing