California · Nonprofit
MIRACLE MESSAGES
MIRACLE MESSAGES (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,164,687 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($3,361,925). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $8.2M
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What Miracle Messages does
Mission
Miracle Messages helps people experiencing homelessness rebuild their social support systems and financial security, primarily through family reunification services, a phone buddy program, and basic income pilots.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Miracle friends: miracle friends matches unhoused neighbors with trained volunteers for weekly phone calls and texts. We receive referrals from case managers, volunteers, community members, and unhoused individuals who are looking to build social connections. We match participants with volunteers using key data to predict seeds of connection that can blossom. We provide support to both volunteers and participants as requested. As the relationship grows, we tailor support to the relationship status. In 2024, 470 referrals connected with a volunteer (matched phone buddies), 17k interactions were logged documenting over 131k minutes of conversation and connection.
$290,978 spentof which $54,960 as grants28% of program spendingMiracle money: miracle money explores direct cash through different distribution models.the combination of cash and social connection supports agency, well-being, and a sense of belonging-key ingredients for sustainable transformation. We take a "cash plus" approach, which includes additional supports that create conditions for lasting change, allowing people to move beyond survival and toward long-term stability and self-determined success. Distribution models include: a) direct cash transfers of $300/monthly for one year to participants who have engaged in our phone buddy program for a minimum of 6 months (dignity funds); b) $750/monthly for one year for participants associated with programs run by 5 partnering homeless service organizations (thriving community fund); c) other forms of cash such as travel funds for specific reunion needs or one time backup relief funds. We have distributed $1.1m through miracle money, $970k of which was through basic income.
$406,328 spentof which $157,633 as grants39% of program spendingReunion services: we receive referrals from case managers, health care workers, volunteers, community members, and unhoused individuals requesting reconnection with a loved one. With consent from the loved one, we facilitate the reunion. Our trained digital detectives search for loved ones across the country using public records and online tools. With dual consent, we facilitate a reunion. This is typically an initial phone call through the case manager or referring party. In 2024, we facilitated 182 reunions, leading to more than 1000 reunions total.
$159,341 spent15% of program spendingStorytelling/narrative changes
$186,827 spentof which $1,147 as grants18% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,043,474.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $979k to $3.5M (+256%).
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 12% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of MIRACLE MESSAGES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
Mary Carl
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 16 funders, grant income rose $510 → $1.1M.
11 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 MIRACLE MESSAGES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
MIRACLE MESSAGES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 MIRACLE MESSAGES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 75% · 2020 58% · 2021 25% · 2022 57% · 2023 38% — 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
33% of MIRACLE MESSAGES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
86% of MIRACLE MESSAGES'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.0M 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
MIRACLE MESSAGES runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,274 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like MIRACLE MESSAGES
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 MIRACLE MESSAGES: 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 MIRACLE MESSAGES?
- MIRACLE MESSAGES (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,164,687 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($3,361,925). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MIRACLE MESSAGES have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $8,164,687 in grants to MIRACLE MESSAGES, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MIRACLE MESSAGES?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,361,925 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MIRACLE MESSAGES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Miracle Messages →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 36 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