Bluestem Ministries
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 852491862
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- West Fargo, ND, USA
- Phone
- 3204916649
- Rating
- 47
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $140,923
- Expenses
- $140,386
- Assets
- $67,571
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
2 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BRANDON SMITH (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- AMY SMITH (VICE PRESIDE)
- BRANDON SMITH (PRESIDENT)
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
Bluestem ministries exists to help evangelize the world and to equip, encourage, and comfort the body of christ to live and witness fruitfully.
What it reported doing in 2025
Bluestem ministries is a religous organization teaching biblical truths and equipping others to live out biblical compassion.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 89% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 16
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 15.6%; rating input score 16
- Program expense ratio: 15.7%; rating input score 16
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 73.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 29.6% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 15.6% of revenue deployed · 15.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 16/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 16/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.