Illinois · Nonprofit
WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES
WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,986,823 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($3,205,146). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $31M
- Funders on record
- 119
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $50M
What Word on Fire Catholic Ministries does
Mission
Word on Fire Catholic Ministries is a global media apostolate that supports the work of bishop robert barron and reaches millons of individuals to draw them back to or into the catholic faith.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
WORD ON FIRE BOOKSTORE Word on Fire continued its unprecedented growth in Catholic publishing, releasing 34 new titles and earning a record-breaking 34 honors at the 2025 Catholic Media Association Book Awards. We expanded our impact on young readers through the Word on Fire Votive imprint, releasing our first children's Bible, The Story of All Stories, which was a huge success. A major milestone was reached with the release of The Word on Fire Bible: Volume V (Exile and Return), pushing this groundbreaking series past its halfway point. Through our Works of Mercy Fund, we distributed over 19,000 books and 4,200 Bibles to parishes, military bases, and campus ministries globally. Furthermore, our Liturgy of the Hours initiative reached a new peak of 30,000 monthly subscribers, coinciding with Word on Fire being officially selected by the USCCB as a publisher for the new Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition.
$11,003,078 spent$9,763,935 earned by the program77% of program spendingWORD ON FIRE INSTITUTE Word on Fire Institute continued to expand its mission of forming and equipping Catholics for evangelization, reaching a new milestone of over 30,000 active members during the fiscal year. The Institute provided members with comprehensive formation through online courses, engaged communities and specialized development tracks designed to deepen understanding of the faith and prepare individuals to evangelize effectively in today's world. A highlight was inaugural Lenten Retreat featuring Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., which garnered 4,200 participants. During this period, Bishop Barron and Institute leadership engaged members and supporters through in-person and virtual events, including lectures, conferences, and international speaking engagements that further advanced the Institute's global reach. The Institute began a new partnership with the Catholic University of America in the Evangelization and Culture Master's Program, an accredited Master of Arts degree that equips students with the intellectual, spiritual, and practical tools necessary to proclaim the Gospel in our secular age.
$2,810,457 spent$4,605,685 earned by the program20% of program spendingWORD ON FIRE MEDIA Word on Fire Media significantly expanded its evangelical reach, headlined by Bishop Barron's keynote address to over 50,000 pilgrims at the National Eucharistic Congress, which broadcasted the Gospel to a global audience. The YouTube channel achieved a historic milestone by surpassing 2 million subscribers, doubling its base from the previous year and generating record engagement through "Sunday Sermons "Bishop Barron Presents." To celebrate the apostolate's 25th anniversary, we launched a major documentary project on French Gothic architecture and initiated the "10,000 Rosaries" digital campaign, fostering a global community of prayer. Our digital platforms experienced continued growth, with Bishop Barron's YouTube channel, podcasts, and social media content reaching millions of viewers and listeners. Core content series such as Sunday Sermons and Bishop Barron Presents continued to foster deeper engagement with the Catholic faith and invite audiences into ongoing formation and conversion. We further expanded our media capabilities through enhanced studio production, enabling high-quality video content and in-depth conversations with leading voices in…
$561,597 spent$152,175 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,375,132.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2023 to 2024, from $39M to $52M (+34%).
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.
49% of WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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
Stephen Grunow
CEO & Executive Producer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $137k → $1.8M.
31 of 119 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 76% 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 WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 119 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
WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 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 WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 39% · 2019 40% · 2020 38% · 2021 48% · 2022 32% · 2023 40% — 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
37% of WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
76% of WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES'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 $3.6M that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 30 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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
WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES has grown faster than three-quarters of the 127 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 127 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
55% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC 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 WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES?
- WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,986,823 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($3,205,146). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES have?
- IRS filings report 119 organizations giving $14,986,823 in grants to WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,205,146 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 119 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