Champion Ministries Inc Groundwire

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841341326
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Castle Rock, CO, USA
Phone
3036603582
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development – Religious Leadership
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,149,765
Expenses
$4,727,367
Assets
$928,421
Liabilities
$133,887

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SEAN DUNN (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • SEAN DUNN (President): $177,198 total reported compensation
  • BILL ALLISON (CHIEF INTEGRATION OFFICER): $128,000 total reported compensation
  • GILDA BASAVE (CHIEF CONECTIONS OFFICER): $96,600 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Christian outreach ministry to marginalized and at-risk youth and young adults

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization's mission is to lead every youth and young adult into a personal relationship with jesus by leveraging current media channels to connect with them wherever they are. This is being accomplished primarily through a series of age-relevant christ-centered spots finding its audience on different social media platforms (instagram, facebook, snapchat, etc...) . Curious viewers and observers are encouraged to go on-line to chat further with a specially trained spiritual coach. Started in 2003, groundwire leverages media and technology to connect with young people through their entertainment. Although traditional media (tv, radio, outdoor) was the primary source of delivery earlier, groundwire embraced digital and social media delivery in 2017 as it allows for more predictable and efficient outreach and response. The content gets their attention and gets them to the website where coaches await to engage in conversation. An extensive response team of over 686 specially trained spiritual coaches spent 100,257 hours in 2025 answering all inquiries. In addition to their current media driving people to www.groundwire.net, during 2015 the organization launched the "jesus cares" campaign, a media outreach targeting millenials with the message when life hurts, jesus cares.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.4%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 77.8%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.2%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.5% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.4% of revenue deployed · 77.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $177K · 15 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.