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Michigan · Nonprofit

NORTH STAR REACH

NORTH STAR REACH (Michigan) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,816,771 to it, the largest being TED AND JANE VON VOIGTLANDER FOUNDATION ($4,045,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$730k
Funders on record
57
Grants received
$9.8M
Net assets
$11M
29/57 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What North Star Reach does

Mission

To provide life-changing camp experiences for children with serious health challenges through both residential camps and ongoing virtual (remote) programming.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. North Star Reach operates a camp in southeastern michigan that serves children with serious health challenges from across the great lakes region. Through weekly residential children's camps, weekend residential family camps, and ongoing virtual (remote) programming, the organization offers children and their families an opportunity to build community and make new friends with similar challenges, develop self-confidence and self-esteem, and improve their overall recovery and management of their own significant health challenges. The programs help kids and their families feel "normal", often for the first time. The camp includes a state-of-the-art health center that is staffed 24/7 during camp sessions by medical professionals from leading hospitals and medical centers throughout michigan and chicago. As a member of seriousfun children's network, founded by paul newman, North Star Reach is part of one of the world's largest networks of camps and programs for children with serious illnesses. Like all camps in the network, camp attendance and access to programming is offered at no expense to the campers and families. Funding to operate the camps is provided through support from…

    $1,326,343 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,326,343.

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 ($2.1M) Expenses 100 ($3.0M) Net assets 100 ($19M)2018 Revenue 60 ($1.3M) Expenses 101 ($3.1M) Net assets 90 ($17M)2019 Revenue 85 ($1.8M) Expenses 106 ($3.2M) Net assets 83 ($16M)2020 Revenue 63 ($1.3M) Expenses 92 ($2.8M) Net assets 76 ($14M)2021 Revenue 102 ($2.1M) Expenses 74 ($2.2M) Net assets 76 ($14M)2022 Revenue 67 ($1.4M) Expenses 82 ($2.5M) Net assets 70 ($13M)2023 Revenue 34 ($702k) Expenses 57 ($1.7M) Net assets 65 ($12M)2024 Revenue 35 ($730k) Expenses 54 ($1.6M) Net assets 60 ($11M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (35)Expenses (54)Net assets (60)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 2017 to 2018, from $22M to $20M (−9%).

$22M
$20M
$18M
$16M
$16M
$15M
$14M
$13M
'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: 2020 1% · 2021 34% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

90% of NORTH STAR REACH’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,387 orgs

Surplus & reserves

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

−$923k
’17
−$1.8M
’18
−$1.4M
’19
−$1.5M
’20
−$92k
’21
−$1.1M
’22
−$1.0M
’23
−$896k
’24
1.0
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

Jj Lewis

CEO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

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

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed141181011999
Joined·+0+2+3+1+4+6+1
No longer listed·3510661
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 15 funders to 11 funders, grant income fell $2.0M → $498k.

8 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 NORTH STAR REACH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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

NORTH STAR REACH leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

37% 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 NORTH STAR REACH.

41%
largest funder
84%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 61% · 2019 58% · 2020 54% · 2021 53% · 2022 65% · 2023 78% — growing more concentrated.

“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

32% of NORTH STAR REACH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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

68% of NORTH STAR REACH's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
SD
CT
CA
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. $408k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

NORTH STAR REACH's revenue fell 65% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−123% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.0mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−14% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,688 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like NORTH STAR REACH

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

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 13%Fundraising 9%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

71%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTH STAR REACH: 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 NORTH STAR REACH?
NORTH STAR REACH (Michigan) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,816,771 to it, the largest being TED AND JANE VON VOIGTLANDER FOUNDATION ($4,045,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does NORTH STAR REACH have?
IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $9,816,771 in grants to NORTH STAR REACH, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NORTH STAR REACH?
TED AND JANE VON VOIGTLANDER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,045,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NORTH STAR REACH 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 North Star Reach →

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 57 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