Texas · Nonprofit
Main Street Ministries Houston
Main Street Ministries Houston (Texas) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,013,774 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,182,941). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $954k
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $514k
What Main Street Ministries Houston does
Mission
Main Street Ministries (MSM) is on a mission to build paths out of poverty empowered by the love of Jesus.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
MSM's Life Empowerment services provide participants with tools and support to avoid homelessness, achieve stability, and move toward self-sustainability through various services: financial management and life-skills education, short-term financial assistance, one-on-one coaching, and personalized community resource referrals. Our core program is a 5-month workshop that guides participants in establishing long-term goals and developing relationships and resources to support long-term sustainability.
$384,387 spentof which $139,678 as grants63% of program spendingMSM's Identification Assistance services provide comprehensive support for obtaining Texas identification cards, birth certificates, and driver's licenses - essential documents for accessing employment, housing, banking, and other life-stabilizing resources. This 30+-year-old, volunteer-fueled program is Houston's primary ID assistance provider, receiving over 70 community agency referrals. We help individuals gather needed documentation, pay required fees, and complete applications necessary to obtain a state-issued identification card and supporting documentation.
$214,688 spentof which $36,476 as grants35% of program spendingThe MSM Community Garden allows MSM program participants and community volunteers to work side-by-side to care for a beautiful garden that glorifies God's creation. Fresh, healthy produce is harvested for the Heights Food Bank, an open zip-code food pantry that is a resource for our families.
$14,724 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $613,799.
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 2017 to 2018, from $230k to $436k (+90%).
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: 2020 1% · 2021 10% · 2022 29% · 2023 16% · 2024 11% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
102% of Main Street Ministries Houston’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Lesley Lilly
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income fell $706k → $431k.
9 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 Main Street Ministries Houston’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
Main Street Ministries Houston leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
91% 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 Main Street Ministries Houston.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 41% · 2019 60% · 2020 55% · 2021 57% · 2022 42% · 2023 37% — 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
60% of Main Street Ministries Houston's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
83% of Main Street Ministries Houston'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 $525k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
Main Street Ministries Houston is better cushioned than half of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Main Street Ministries Houston
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% 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 1 related entity
- First Presbyterian Church Houston · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Main Street Ministries Houston: 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 Main Street Ministries Houston?
- Main Street Ministries Houston (Texas) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,013,774 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,182,941). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Main Street Ministries Houston have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $3,013,774 in grants to Main Street Ministries Houston, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Main Street Ministries Houston?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,182,941 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Main Street Ministries Houston find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Main Street Ministries Houston →
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 25 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