Michigan · Nonprofit
Literacy Center of West Michigan
Literacy Center of West Michigan (Michigan) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,672,079 to it, the largest being HEART OF WEST MICHIGAN UNITED WAY ($462,369). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $962k
What Literacy Center of West Michigan does
Mission
As the largest community-based adult literacy provider in Michigan and nationally recognized for best practice, we instructed 1,347 adults in 2024-2025 with free, contextualized literacy and English language instruction.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Across all programs, learners received 145,242 hours of free instruction designed to meet literacy needs where life happens, including workplaces, health clinics, schools, community settings, and libraries. The Literacy Center instructed 385 adults through Family Literacy programming in 13 schools and online, integrating English language instruction with parent leadership and school partnership. To reduce barriers, 2,809 hours of free childcare were provided.
$2,110,411 spent100% of program spendingThe Literacy Center instructed 350 learners through workforce development and Integrated Education and Training programs aligned with high-demand industries. This included 228 learners in Customized Workplace English at 17 employers and 70 learners who upskilled into healthcare career pathways.
$0 spent0% of program spendingThrough one-on-one tutoring, 195 learners were instructed with the support of 111 trained volunteer literacy coaches who contributed 5,595 hours of service. Health literacy and refugee-focused programming integrated literacy instruction into healthcare and resettlement contexts. Fifty-five additional learners became new United States citizens through citizenship instruction and application support, strengthening workforce participation and economic opportunity in West Michigan.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,110,411.
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 2022 to 2023, from $636k to $1.7M (+163%).
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 22% · 2019 32% · 2020 42% · 2021 53% · 2022 35% · 2023 28% · 2024 44% · 2025 49%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of Literacy Center of West Michigan’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Wendy Falb
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $233k → $408k.
6 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 Literacy Center of West Michigan’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
Literacy Center of West Michigan has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
52% 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 Literacy Center of West Michigan.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 25% · 2019 27% · 2020 39% · 2021 24% · 2022 55% · 2023 18% — 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
39% of Literacy Center of West Michigan's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
90% of Literacy Center of West Michigan's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $312k 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
Literacy Center of West Michigan has grown faster than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Literacy Center of West Michigan receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $797k on record.
- Department of Homeland Security$600k
- Federal Communications Commission$197k
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 Literacy Center of West Michigan
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
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 Literacy Center of West Michigan: 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 Literacy Center of West Michigan?
- Literacy Center of West Michigan (Michigan) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,672,079 to it, the largest being HEART OF WEST MICHIGAN UNITED WAY ($462,369). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Literacy Center of West Michigan have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $2,672,079 in grants to Literacy Center of West Michigan, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Literacy Center of West Michigan?
- HEART OF WEST MICHIGAN UNITED WAY is the largest funder on record, with $462,369 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Literacy Center of West Michigan 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 Literacy Center of West Michigan →
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 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