Michigan · Nonprofit
SPARROW FOUNDATION
SPARROW FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,191,180 to it, the largest being DELTA DENTAL PLAN OF MICHIGAN INC ($1,428,502). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.6M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $5.2M
- Net assets
- $40M
What Sparrow Foundation does
Mission
The mission of the foundation is to operate for the benefit of and to carry out the purposes of the nonprofit and tax-exempt subsidiaries of umh- sparrow health system, a michigan nonprofit corporation ("sole member"), and its mission to improve the health of the people in our community by providing quality, compassionate care to everyone, every time.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
At the umh-Sparrow Foundation, we foster and create strong community partnerships that help umh-sparrow health system uphold its commitment to providing exceptional care close to home, no matter lifes circumstances. For more than 60 years, the umh-Sparrow Foundation has inspired philanthropy to strengthen the health of our communities. With continued growth of umh-sparrow to best meet community needs, the foundation has also grown. Were proud to be the hub of charitable giving for umh-sparrow, working with individual and corporate donors who give to help make vital investments in facilities, equipment, technology, education, programs and resources that support our patients, their families, and our teams delivering care across our hospitals and other sites of care spanning the region. In 2025, funding of these needs was over 2m.
$2,337,002 spentof which $2,337,002 as grants97% of program spendingThe helping hands fund of the umh-Sparrow Foundation was established more than 30 years ago to support umh-sparrow caregivers in crisis or who are experiencing a catastrophic need. In 2025, 114 requests for support were funded. We are proud to support our colleagues - frontline healthcare heroes through difficult times via these grants and allocations.
$82,627 spentof which $82,627 as grants3% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,419,629.
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 2020 to 2021, from $23M to $32M (+40%).
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.
75% of SPARROW FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 8 funders, grant income fell $1.2M → $333k.
8 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.9M from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Sparrow Women's Hospital Association). These are real filings, and they are not money SPARROW FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of SPARROW FOUNDATION’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
SPARROW FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 66%; 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 SPARROW FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 68% · 2019 65% · 2020 33% · 2021 45% · 2022 47% · 2023 51% — 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
42% of SPARROW FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
93% of SPARROW FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
SPARROW FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,002 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SPARROW FOUNDATION
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 30 related entities
- Regents of the Univ of Michigan · exempt
- West Michigan Radiation Oncology · exempt
- Metropolitan Hospital (Umh West) · exempt
- Um Health · exempt
- Metropolitan Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPARROW FOUNDATION: 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 SPARROW FOUNDATION?
- SPARROW FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,191,180 to it, the largest being DELTA DENTAL PLAN OF MICHIGAN INC ($1,428,502). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPARROW FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $5,191,180 in grants to SPARROW FOUNDATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARROW FOUNDATION?
- DELTA DENTAL PLAN OF MICHIGAN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,428,502 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARROW FOUNDATION 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.
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 30 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