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Michigan · Nonprofit

MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES

MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES (Michigan) receives grants from 149 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,489,615 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,392,451). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$25M
Funders on record
149
Grants received
$25M
Net assets
$33M
95/149 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 22%
01What it does

What Mel Trotter Ministries does

Mission

To demonstrate the compassion of jesus christ, through rescue and restoration for anyone experiencing hunger and homelessness.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. In 2025 (fy), the ministries provided the following to disadvantaged in west michigan: provided bed nights for 2,640 men, women, and children; served 185,768 hot meals, an average 510 per day; received food donated for our food programs, value at $2,385,772; provided medical, vision, chiropractic, legal, and dental clinics; moved 391 people into housing; diverted 118 families from homelessness; helped 361 people secure employment; connected 215 people through street outreach.

    $10,546,639 spentof which $2,474,744 as grants$619,473 earned by the program
    72% of program spending
  2. Thrift stores provided affordable clothing and household goods at 7 thrift store locations in west michigan.

    $4,027,965 spent$4,181,156 earned by the program
    28% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,574,604.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($10M) Expenses 100 ($9.8M) Net assets 100 ($5.8M)2018 Revenue 102 ($11M) Expenses 106 ($10M) Net assets 102 ($5.9M)2019 Revenue 111 ($11M) Expenses 108 ($11M) Net assets 116 ($6.7M)2020 Revenue 171 ($18M) Expenses 128 ($13M) Net assets 202 ($12M)2021 Revenue 231 ($24M) Expenses 157 ($15M) Net assets 350 ($20M)2022 Revenue 233 ($24M) Expenses 188 ($18M) Net assets 442 ($26M)2023 Revenue 223 ($23M) Expenses 203 ($20M) Net assets 455 ($26M)2024 Revenue 185 ($19M) Expenses 184 ($18M) Net assets 473 ($27M)2025 Revenue 241 ($25M) Expenses 197 ($19M) Net assets 566 ($33M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (241)Expenses (197)Net assets (566)

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 $29M to $46M (+59%).

$6.4M
$6.6M
$7.4M
$14M
$21M
$29M
$46M
$43M
$52M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 5% · 2022 15% · 2023 9% · 2024 12% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$468k
’17
$163k
’18
$833k
’19
$5.0M
’20
$8.3M
’21
$5.5M
’22
$3.0M
’23
$1.0M
’24
$5.4M
’25
5.8
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.

Chief executive

Christopher Palusky

Chief executive officer

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed151918171518151518
Joined·+7+2+3+7+3+8+1+8
No longer listed·334901115
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 73 funders, grant income rose $826k → $4.4M.

29 of 149 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 149 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

MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES 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

50% 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 MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES.

17%
largest funder
39%
top three
~14
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 30% · 2019 37% · 2020 19% · 2021 36% · 2022 21% · 2023 29% — 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

54% of MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

80% of MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

IL
WI
MI
NY
IN
OH
CT
CA
MO
TN
NC
DC
TX
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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

Government funding MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.9M on record.

Federal$3.9M
grants $3.9Mcontracts $0
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Department of Health and Human Services$3.9M

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 MEL TROTTER 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 Michigan

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 15%Fundraising 9%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

97%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Part of a family of 6 related entities

  • Mel Trotter Mission Thrift LLC · disregarded
  • Mtm Housing LLC · disregarded
  • Mtm Mc LLC · disregarded
  • Mtm Community Development · disregarded
  • Next Step of West Michigan · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MEL TROTTER 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES?
MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES (Michigan) receives grants from 149 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,489,615 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,392,451). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES have?
IRS filings report 149 organizations giving $25,489,615 in grants to MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES, 95 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES?
NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,392,451 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES 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 Mel Trotter Ministries →

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 149 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