Illinois · Nonprofit
LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC
LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC (Illinois) receives grants from 200 organizations whose IRS filings report $80,565,043 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($42,218,495). 102 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $52M
- Funders on record
- 200
- Grants received
- $81M
- Net assets
- $86M
What Lifesong for Orphans Inc does
Mission
Lifesongs mission is to bring joy and purpose to orphans and vulnerable children. We do this by mobilizing the church to care for the orphan, where each member can provide a unique and special service: some to adopt, some to care, some to give.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Orphan and vulnerable children care program - provide support to orphan and vulnerable children in the united states of america and throughout the world, including humanitarian aid; establishing schools and living quarters; assisting and training families; biblical training in schools, homes and orphanages; support other charitable organizations whose ministries are focused on at-risk children; supporting mentors to meet the needs of at-risk chilrden; short-term mission trips to various locations; approximate number of individuals reached - russia region - 3,384; europe region - 820; sub-sahara africa region - 5,703; south asia region - 109; south america region - 75; central america region - 1,759; east asia region - 241; north america region - 25
$20,426,771 spentof which $3,415,719 as grants58% of program spendingAdoption and post-adoption assistance program - provide grants and loans to assist in the adoption of orphans by christian families; provide post-adoption assistance including literature, counseling and training; support other charitable organizations that provide such assistance; financial assistance is provided to offset only documented adoption costs; covenant loans to adoptive families are also part of this program; lifesong helped facilitate adoption and post-adoption support to over 3,500 individuals/families during the year
$10,818,273 spentof which $8,130,399 as grants31% of program spendingSustainable businesses program - provide job opportunities for orphaned children as they transition to adulthood as well as orphan care-givers; job skill training for orphaned children in the lifesong programs; lifesong currently has 10 business programs located in haiti, india, uganda, ukraine and zambia; businesses include farms, food and lodging establishments and construction businesses
$4,052,155 spent$3,105,335 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $35,297,199.
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 2024 to 2025, from $72M to $86M (+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: 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 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
Rodney Brenneman
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 71 funders, grant income rose $3.3M → $13M.
44 of 200 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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: $623k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Tmg Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 200 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
LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 69%; 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 LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 49% · 2019 61% · 2020 70% · 2021 61% · 2022 58% · 2023 53% — 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
35% of LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
74% of LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS 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 $21M that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 32 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $60M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 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
LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 190 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 190 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- My Life My Gift LLC · disregarded
- Manna Foundation · exempt
- Lifesong Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS 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 LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC?
- LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC (Illinois) receives grants from 200 organizations whose IRS filings report $80,565,043 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($42,218,495). 102 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC have?
- IRS filings report 200 organizations giving $80,565,043 in grants to LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC, 102 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $42,218,495 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 200 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