Michigan · Nonprofit
THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES
THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES (Michigan) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,420,420 to it, the largest being Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative ($1,376,060). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What The Other Way Ministries does
Mission
The other way works to empower neighbors residing in a low-income community in grand rapids, mi through providing assistance with basic needs and referral services, along with a variety of holistic programming to achieve spiritual, relational, and economic growth
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Early childhood education: little lights infant and toddler program provides tuition-free infant, toddler, and pre-school program for income-qualifying families. Infant/toddler classrooms operate 10 hours per day, 5 days per week, using evidence based curriculum and practices. Participation in little lights also includes meals, diapers, and formula at no cost, and number of family supports including teacher home visits, resource referrals, dental and developmental screenings, supports for special needs students, and other services.
$604,044 spent$538,063 earned by the program27% of program spendingFood assistance: a three-tiered approach to food assistance geared toward food sovereignty: 1. Emergency food pantry: availabile 5 days per week for low income households for weekly use, with emphasis on health, choice, and dignity for all of our neighbors. Resource assistance and referall also provided to address other needs. 2. Agape food co-op: community of neighbors who meet regularly and receive additional, more targeted assistance with food and household product needs determined by members themselves. A nominal membership fee is charged to offset costs and is set by members themselves. 3. Fresh market: retail space selling fresh, local produce at 50% discount for income-qualifying neighbors. Snap benefits are accepted.
$1,251,367 spent$20,832 earned by the program56% of program spendingFamily/community development: several other programs are offered to support our community at no cost, including: a daily after school program for neighborhood elementary students, weekly teen club, summer youth workforce development program, a men's group, christmas store, mental health/ counseling services, a community garden, and other resource assistance and referrall services.
$389,415 spent17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,244,826.
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 2019 to 2020, from $302k to $736k (+144%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Scott Bloem
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $189k → $218k.
9 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 27 of 28 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
THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
78% 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 THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 88% · 2019 65% · 2020 73% · 2021 47% · 2022 24% · 2023 23% — 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
63% of THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
99% of THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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
THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES has grown faster than half of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES: 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 THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES?
- THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES (Michigan) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,420,420 to it, the largest being Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative ($1,376,060). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $3,420,420 in grants to THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES?
- Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative is the largest funder on record, with $1,376,060 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE OTHER WAY MINISTRIES 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 28 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