Texas · Nonprofit
Stronghold Ministry
Stronghold Ministry (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $997,614 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($557,400). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $366k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $998k
- Net assets
- $217k
What Stronghold Ministry does
Mission
The ministrys mission is to reach cancer patients, their networks, others in life crisis with love, comfort, the good news of Jesus Christ. It will provide spiritual support comfort to cancer patients, caretakers others in a major life crisis. Outreach is through the internet, books, support groups, training seminars, retreats workshops.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Stronghold Ministry sent 2,755 gift baskets free of charge to cancer patients in 2025. Contents include a large canvas tote 3 books on coping with cancer by co-founders, Joe Terri Fornear 2 wristbands and a 15 Walmart gift card. Our cost for each basket is approximately 50 retail value 100. We have sent these gift baskets to all 50 states and 45 countries, over 32,151 in 17 years.
$151,582 spentof which $80,401 as grants53% of program spendingEmail and Facebook correspondence - Our Executive Director Joe Fornear spent an average of 3 to 4 hours per day responding to email and Facebook correspondence from a pool of approximately 35,000 cancer patients we have connected with over 17 years. Phone calls - We averaged 5-10 calls per week from cancer patients or caretakers who ask for support. We have a monthly email newsletter called, In His Grip, which is sent to 19,000 cancer patients and caretakers and supporters each month. We also post these emails as blog posts on our website - www.mystronghold.org/blog/. Many patients and caretakers respond to these emails for further help, prayer, and support. Hospital and home visits upon request.
$85,964 spent30% of program spendingSupport Group Life Coaching Meetings - We are speakers and support group leaders at several Cancer and Support group meetings in the Dallas area. We have spoken or participated in support groups of various other cancer organizations, groups related to local hospitals and churches. We hold weekly womens support and Life Coaching meetings. In 2025, we continued training 6 Life Coaches and had 543 discounted service Life Coaching sessions. Prayer Meetings - We hosted monthly online prayer meetings on Facebook to support and pray for people with cancer.
$46,965 spent17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $284,511.
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 $269k to $365k (+36%).
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 Stronghold Ministry’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. 7 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.
Chief executive
Joe Fornear
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $1k → $142k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 Stronghold Ministry’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
Stronghold Ministry leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 Stronghold Ministry.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 95% · 2019 58% · 2020 53% · 2021 45% · 2022 50% · 2023 49% — 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
93% of Stronghold Ministry'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 $71k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $927k 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
Stronghold Ministry 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 Stronghold Ministry
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Stronghold Ministry: 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 Stronghold Ministry?
- Stronghold Ministry (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $997,614 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($557,400). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Stronghold Ministry have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $997,614 in grants to Stronghold Ministry, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Stronghold Ministry?
- COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC is the largest funder on record, with $557,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Stronghold Ministry find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Stronghold Ministry →
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 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