Black Catholic Messenger Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 853572355
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- St Louis, MO, USA
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religious Printing, Publishing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $64,904
- Expenses
- $72,850
- Assets
- $8,782
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Nathaniel Tinner (President)
People named in this filing
- Nathaniel Tinner (President)
- Sheila Hodges (at-large board member)
- Gunnar Bjorn Gundersen (board secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Black Catholic Messenger Foundation exists for the publishing of news events art op-eds and other media relevant to African-American Catholics. More specifically the organization will: a advocate for Black Catholics nationwide making stories known that would otherwise be buried or not covered at all. b nurture Black Catholic journalists and those non-black journalists with a special dedication to serving the Black Catholic community. c serve God the Catholic Church America and the world by celebrating Black Catholic achievements as well as making their concerns known and amplified. d partner with other organizations within the United States looking to further the goals of the Black Catholic community in conjunction with the larger Church and her goals as a global religious entity working for peace justice and human flourishing. e adhere fully to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025 Black Catholic Messenger celebrated its fifth anniversary as a vital independent news source for the estimated three million Black Catholics in the United States. Operating as a nonprofit digital media platform BCM published hundreds of original news articles investigative reports interviews and opinion pieces significantly expanding its reach through its republishing partnership with the National Catholic Reporter and recognition from the National Press Foundation. Key programmatic achievements for the 2025 tax year included: Groundbreaking Papal Coverage: BCM led domestic and international reporting on the historic election of Pope Leo XIV the first American pontiff. BCM was among the first to report extensively on the Popes Creole and Black family lineage. This journalism provided a unique cultural lens to a global event and resulted in BCMs reporting being cited by major media outlets including The New Yorker The Root and NPR. Documenting the Path to Sainthood: BCM continued its critical role in tracking and publicizing the canonization processes of prominent African American Catholics. The publication provided regular updates on the advancement of figures such as Venerable Mother Mary Lange Servant of God Thea Bowman Venerable Augustus Tolton and Servant of God Martin Maria de Porres Ward educating the public on Black Catholic history. Advocacy and Catholic Social Teaching: The publication provided a platform for moral witness and advocacy publishing in-depth commentary on the intersection of faith and systemic issues affecting the Black community. 2025 coverage heavily focused on applying Catholic Social Teaching to modern challenges including voting rights mass incarceration mental health and the ongoing need for racial solidarity within the U.S. Church. Cultural Curation and Education: BCM fostered intellectual and spiritual engagement by publishing the 2025 edition of "Black Catholic Books of Note," promoting literature by Black Catholic authors. The platform also honored liturgical history such as coverage of the historical marker for Fr. Clarence Rivers the father of Black Catholic liturgy. Through these journalistic efforts BCM successfully countered the erasure of Black Catholic narratives offering a nuanced culturally informed perspective that secular or general Catholic media often misses thereby fulfilling its educational and charitable tax-exempt mission.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 100
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -12.2%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $73K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.