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Illinois · Nonprofit

LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES

LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,300 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($29,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$401k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$76k
Net assets
$365k
4/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 4%
01What it does

What Lutheran Outdoor Ministries does

Mission

Lutheran Outdoor Ministries encourages, equips, educates and empowers bold and faithful ministry leaders for service in the church and the world.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Educational events for 100 plus participants in the area of operations and ministry in outdoor ministry settings. A variety of areas related to their positions include hospitality, risk management, theology, program developement, financial management, employee relations, leading bible studies, etc.

    $153,695 spent$149,870 earned by the program
    58% of program spending
  2. Curriculum developemt for 2024 summer camp season & bible study.

    $26,825 spent$25,135 earned by the program
    10% of program spending
  3. Membership services, maintaining database website for sharing information nationally, processing contributions, connecting members to needed resources and committee meetings.

    $83,696 spent$87,894 earned by the program
    32% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $264,216.

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 ($336k) Expenses 100 ($346k) Net assets 100 ($283k)2018 Revenue 92 ($310k) Expenses 96 ($331k) Net assets 93 ($263k)2019 Revenue 75 ($253k) Expenses 72 ($248k) Net assets 94 ($266k)2020 Revenue 68 ($228k) Expenses 65 ($224k) Net assets 95 ($269k)2021 Revenue 98 ($327k) Expenses 91 ($316k) Net assets 99 ($280k)2022 Revenue 101 ($339k) Expenses 92 ($319k) Net assets 106 ($300k)2023 Revenue 139 ($467k) Expenses 117 ($405k) Net assets 128 ($362k)2024 Revenue 120 ($401k) Expenses 115 ($398k) Net assets 129 ($365k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (120)Expenses (115)Net assets (129)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 2022 to 2023, from $304k to $365k (+20%).

$284k
$263k
$266k
$274k
$290k
$304k
$365k
$368k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

47% of LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 15,342 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$10k
’17
−$21k
’18
$4k
’19
$3k
’20
$11k
’21
$20k
’22
$62k
’23
$4k
’24
11
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1312121112131212
Joined·+4+5+2+3+3+5+4
No longer listed·5532264
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $3k → $18k.

2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES’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

LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

65% 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 LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES.

39%
largest funder
95%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 56% · 2021 56% · 2022 100% · 2023 86% — 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

65% of LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES'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 $27k that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
KS

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES is better cushioned than half of the 12,843 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin1% · below the median
Months of reserve10.5mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,843 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 28%Fundraising 6%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

0%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES: 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 LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES?
LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,300 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($29,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $76,300 in grants to LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $29,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES 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.

Play a game about who funds Lutheran Outdoor Ministries →

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 4 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