Ministry with Community

What Ministry with Community does

Ministry with Community is a secular 501(c)(3) nonprofit (Ministry with Community, Inc., EIN 38-2596981) operating a daytime shelter and resource center at 500 N. Edwards Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1978 by Dorothy Markusse at North Presbyterian Church with a $10,000 seed grant from the Presbytery of Lake Michigan, the organization serves adults experiencing homelessness, poverty, substance use disorder, mental illness, and crisis. All services are provided free of charge, with no requirements or referrals, 365 days per year from 6:30am to 4:00pm.

Core offerings fall into two integrated service lines: Drop-in Services (shelter, showers, laundry, hygiene products, clothing, phones, mail, fax/copy, and lockers) and Social Services & Peer Support (substance abuse recovery support, employment support, crisis intervention, notary services, ID/birth certificate assistance, and partner-agency referrals to Housing Resource Inc., Loaves & Fishes, ISK, and Street Med). The organization serves 400-600 meals daily across breakfast and lunch and serves 500+ unique individuals annually.

The business model is donation-funded rather than revenue-generating. Funding streams include individual donations, structured Sponsor-a-Meal donations ($350 for one meal, $500 for both), Material Donations (clothing, toiletries, transit passes), Planned Giving / Legacy Society (wills, securities, life insurance, retirement assets), and historical grants from foundations and the faith community. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors (President Jeffrey B. Stoops, VP Sarah Taylor, Treasurer Keith Hayden, Secretary Laceey McClain, plus 13 additional board members), maintains a four-star Charity Navigator rating, and operates exclusively within the Kalamazoo, Michigan market with a single facility.

Name

Ministry with Community

Legal name

Ministry with Community, Inc.

Website

https://ministrywithcommunity.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ministry with Community is a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based secular 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides free daytime shelter, meals (400-600 daily), hygiene facilities, and social services to adults experiencing homelessness, poverty, and crisis, funded by donations, grants, and planned giving.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Homeless & Social Services

NAICS

Temporary Shelters (624221), Community Food Services (62421), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Homelessness Prevention, Shelter & Supportive Housing Services (BPAIANAC)

Keywords

• Homeless day shelter
• Social services support
• Community resource center
• Meal assistance program
• Peer support services

Headquarters

HQ city

Kalamazoo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Ministry with Community relies on donations from individuals, organizations, and community members. They accept monetary donations via their website, check, or money order. EIN 38-2596981 for tax-deductible donations.
2. Planned Giving and Legacy Gifts: Accepts planned gifts including wills and bequests, gifts of securities, life insurance, and retirement assets through their Legacy Society program.
3. Sponsored Meals Program: Community members and organizations can sponsor meals at $350 for breakfast or lunch, or $500 for both breakfast and lunch on a chosen day.
4. Government and Foundation Grants: Historical funding from organizations such as the Presbytery of Lake Michigan ($10,000 grant in 1978).

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Ministry with Community operates a free, daytime drop-in shelter and resource center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, providing adults experiencing homelessness, poverty, or substance use disorder with showers, laundry, meals (breakfast and lunch), mail, phone, hygiene items, document assistance, and on-site social and peer-support services. All services are offered at no cost with no eligibility barriers, Monday through Saturday, 365 days a year.

Product overview

Ministry with Community is a daytime shelter and resource center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, offering a unified set of free services to individuals experiencing homelessness, poverty, substance use disorder, and other crises. The organization provides Drop-in Services (shelter, showers, laundry, meals, mail, hygiene products, and other basic needs), Social Services and Peer Support (substance abuse recovery, employment support, crisis intervention, notary services, ID support), and operates donor programs for Meal Sponsoring, Material Donations, and Planned Giving. All services are provided free-of-charge with no requirements or referrals needed.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Drop-In Day Services Free daytime drop-in services for adults experiencing homelessness, poverty, or substance use disorder, providing showers, laundry, hygiene supplies, mail and message service, phone use, document scanning and printing, and storage. Available Monday-Friday 7:00 AM-4:00 PM and Saturday 7:00 AM-1:00 PM, 365 days a year, at no cost with no eligibility requirements.
• Meal Services Free breakfast and lunch meals served daily to shelter guests at the Kalamazoo facility, with take-away/to-go food options available. Meals can be sponsored by donors at fixed sponsorship levels.
• Social Services and Peer Support On-site social services and peer support delivered by staff with lived experience of homelessness and substance use, helping members access housing, recovery, faith, and medical resources, including coordinated referrals to partner agencies Housing Resource Inc., Loaves & Fishes, ISK, and Street Med.
• Sponsor a Meal Program Donor/corporate sponsorship program offering fixed-price funding of guest meals: $350 to sponsor breakfast served to approximately 50 guests and $500 to sponsor lunch served to approximately 100 guests. Available through the organization's website.
• Drop-In Donation (In-Kind) Program In-kind donation program accepting specific high-need items directly from the community, including travel-size toiletries, men's and women's underwear, socks, men's and women's clothing, sweatshirts/sweatpants, shoes and boots, blankets, towels, washcloths, sheets, laundry detergent, and dish soap. Distributed to shelter guests free of charge.
• Ministry with Community Legacy Society (Planned Giving) Planned-giving program inviting donors to remember Ministry with Community in their wills, estates, or other planned giving instruments, with gifts used to sustain the organization's free services into the future.

Quantifiable outcome

• 400-600 meals served daily, 365 days per year
• +3 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Housing Resource Inc. (HRI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHousing Resource Inc. is one of two partner non-profits that evolved from the founding of Ministry with Community. HRI provides housing assistance while MwC serves as the daytime shelter and resource center. Partnership among the three organizations (MwC, HRI, Loaves & Fishes) continues today.
• Loaves & Fishes of KalamazoocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLoaves & Fishes is one of two partner non-profits that evolved from Ministry with Community's founding. Loaves & Fishes provides groceries to those in need while MwC provides prepared meals. Partnership among the three organizations continues today. Loaves & Fishes serves nearly 34,000 unduplicated individuals annually.
• ISKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner agency outreach connection. MwC connects members to ISK for additional services as part of their comprehensive support network.
• Street MedminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner agency outreach connection. MwC connects members to Street Med for healthcare services as part of their comprehensive support network.
• West Michigan Cancer CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with MwC to provide holiday gifts filled with winter clothes, toiletries, and surprises for over 230 community members at the Holiday 2025 Event.
• North Presbyterian ChurchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded in 1978 at North Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo. Started serving meals at the church around 1982. Original founding location and spiritual home of the organization.
• United Way of South Central MichiganminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated organization shown in footer of website. Referenced in community context for Kalamazoo area services.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Kalamazoo Gospel Mission: Direct local peer providing overnight shelter, meals, and recovery services to Kalamazoo's homeless and impoverished populations — fundamentally the same client base and mission as Ministry with Community, but with overnight and residential programming.
• Open Doors Kalamazoo: Daytime drop-in center serving individuals experiencing homelessness in Kalamazoo with similar amenities (shower, mail, laundry, ID assistance) — the closest direct functional peer operating the same no-barrier daytime model.
• Family Promise of Greater Kalamazoo: Family-focused emergency shelter and stabilization nonprofit; directly comparable as a community-based shelter/social-services organization serving Kalamazoo-area families facing housing insecurity.
• Loaves & Fishes of Kalamazoo: Long-standing partner nonprofit providing groceries to those in need, serving nearly 34,000 unduplicated individuals annually; directly comparable social-services nonprofit addressing food insecurity in Kalamazoo.
• Housing Resource Inc. (HRI): Co-evolved partner nonprofit from MwC's 1978 founding that provides housing assistance to those in need; directly comparable as a Kalamazoo-based social services nonprofit targeting the same unhoused population.

Others

• United Way of South Central Michigan: Federated funder and convener for southwestern Michigan health and human services, including MwC as an affiliated agency; comparable as a community-impact ecosystem participant rather than direct service provider.

Broad incumbents

• Goodwill of Southwestern Michigan: Workforce-development and community-services nonprofit operating across southwestern Michigan; comparable as a Kalamazoo-anchored anti-poverty nonprofit addressing employment and basic-needs barriers — the same employment-support use case MwC offers.
• The Salvation Army of Kalamazoo: Established national nonprofit with a Kalamazoo location offering shelter, meals, and social services; broader portfolio (overnight shelter, thrift, emergency assistance) but materially overlapping client population and services.
• Feeding America West Michigan: Regional food bank distributing millions of meals annually across West Michigan; comparable meal-service mission and food-insecurity focus, but operating at multi-county scale rather than single-site.
• Catholic Charities of Southwest Michigan: Regional affiliate of a national nonprofit offering emergency assistance, housing support, and case management to low-income and vulnerable populations — overlapping service mix and target geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ministry with Community