Maryland · Nonprofit
SPARROW MINISTRIES INC
SPARROW MINISTRIES INC (Maryland) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $198,950 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($95,750). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $183k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $199k
- Net assets
- $119k
What Sparrow Ministries Inc does
Mission
Sparrow Ministries Mission: To prepare couples to begin well and coach couples gently through the unfolding, ongoing adventure story of their marriage. Sparrow Ministries objective is to support engaged couples in preparation for a life spent together and support married couples through the life stages of their marriage. This will be accomplished by offering workshops for large groups, small group meetings of 5-6 couples over a short term of 4-8 weeks, coaching individual couples on an as needed basis, and training leaders in local churches via speaking engagements.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Premarital preparation for engaged couples is provided by Sparrow Ministries through two interrelated offerings. These are a workshop and small group meetings. The first offering is A Marriage Worth Pursuing Workshop which takes place over two days for the purpose of foundation building using God's original design for marriage and covers several marriage-related topics such as communication, finances, in-law relationships, sex & sexuality, etc. In 2025, four workshops were scheduled, two were held and two were canceled. A total of five couples participated in the workshop that was held in January and four couples participated in the workshop held in June . It required 10 planning hours, 20 hours to prepare for the workshop, and 8.5 hours to implement the workshop. In addition to the workshop is Premarital-focused Small Groups which occur over a four week period following the workshop involving five to six couples and a trained couples coach where couples can explore and talk about their upcoming marriage in a safe small group environment. No premarital small groups were held in 2025.
$3,790 spent$2,294 earned by the program3% of program spendingMarriage enrichment for couples is where Sparrow Ministries offers a variety of events to keep marriages strong and growing, or to address issues that may be causing a rough patch in the marriage. These events and offerings can be in the form of a workshop or a marriage-focused small group that may meet for six to eight weeks. A two-day Thriving Marriage Workshop is planned around several topics to be covered: 1. spiritual, emotional, and sexual intimacy; 2. safety; characteristics of marriages that last, etc. through a balance of teaching, gender-based group discussion, and couple time. Other topically based workshops held for couples are Soul Care for Couples, Communicate to Connect, as well as Blended and Blessed. In addition to workshops, topically based marriage enrichment seminars in the form of small group meetings over several weeks are offered. In 2025 there were five Thriving Marriage workshops scheduled, one Soul Care for Couples workshop was scheduled, and two Communicate to Connect workshops were scheduled. Due to lack of participation, only three Thriving Marriage Workshops were held. Three couples attended in February, three couples attended in May, and 10 couples…
$4,738 spent$2,199 earned by the program4% of program spendingSparrow Ministries also offers Coaching for couples who have attended either a premarital workshop or a marriage workshop. Coaching is also offered for couples and individuals who have immediate needs and who have not attended a workshop. After a premarital workshop, Premarital Coaching is couple to couple coaching to complement the workshop where couples are encouraged to process the information from the workshop and personalize the help and support they may need to take the next step toward marriage. After a marriage workshop, Marriage Coaching can help a couple better understand the workshop material relative to their personal story as well as work to resolve rough patches in their marriage. In addition to the coaching that results from a workshop, a couple may contact Sparrow Ministries to meet with a coach who can help them through and beyond the rough patches in marriage, when having another couple to talk to, share with, and pray with is really all you need. In 2025, there were 64 appointments for premarital coaching, where either one or both members of the couple attended. There were also 244 appointments for marriage coaching, where either one or both members of the…
$101,580 spent$13,317 earned by the program85% of program spendingSparrow Ministries believes that healthy marriages and families are the heart and soul of every church and community. With this in mind, Sparrow Ministries will partner with local churches and organizations to better equip, support, and care for the marriages and families in their congregations. Erich and Virginia Becker of Sparrow Ministries make themselves available for Speaking Engagements at church conferences, retreats, and other church venues on topics related to marriage and family. Sparrow Ministries has its own packaged topics or can customize for the unique needs of the church. Sparrow Ministries also offers Coach Training, a program to train couples so that couples who attend Sparrow Ministry workshops can get follow-up and coaching at their home church. In 2025 Sparrow participated in two speaking engagements where 11 couples at one and 80 people at the other were involved and two small group speaking engagements that involved 13 couples in total. The two larger ones required a total of 55 hours of planning and preparation as well as a total of 8 hour for implementation. The two small groups required a total of 70 hours of planning and preparation as well as a total of…
$8,749 spent$310 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $118,857.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2019 to 2020, from $115k to $179k (+56%).
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.
90% of SPARROW MINISTRIES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Melissa Court
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $6k → $83k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 SPARROW MINISTRIES INC’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 MINISTRIES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 91%; 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 SPARROW MINISTRIES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 76% · 2021 45% · 2022 59% · 2023 67% — 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.
Where its funders are
91% of SPARROW MINISTRIES INC'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 $19k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $180k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 MINISTRIES INC is better cushioned than half of the 7,334 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SPARROW MINISTRIES INC
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
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 SPARROW MINISTRIES INC: 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 MINISTRIES INC?
- SPARROW MINISTRIES INC (Maryland) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $198,950 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($95,750). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SPARROW MINISTRIES INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $198,950 in grants to SPARROW MINISTRIES INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARROW MINISTRIES INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $95,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARROW MINISTRIES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Sparrow Ministries →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 6 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