Christian Heritage Ministries

Christian Heritage Ministries (CHM) is a small, all-volunteer Salt Lake City private foundation ($6.17M in assets) that funds Christian ministries and faith-based nonprofits serving Northern Utah. Every officer and director — Board Chair Parry Higginson, President/Vice-Chair John Whitford, Treasurer Christopher Tracy, Secretary Michelle Sullivan, VP/Director Bryan Grosgebauer, and Director Wes Shelnutt — draws $0 compensation across every filing year in the data, a strong signal this is a hands-on, relationship-driven board rather than a staffed institutional funder. That matters for strategy: CHM historically operated as a preselected/invitation-only funder (the database record still flags preselected_only), and only recently opened a public online application via Submittable. First-time applicants should not assume the portal alone gets them funded — qualifying applications are invited to present in person to the full board before an award is decided, so the written application functions as a gate to a relationship conversation, not the final decision point.

CHM favors small, hands-on, locally rooted organizations over large institutions. Its tracked grantee list is dominated by individual churches (Redemption Church, Elevation Church, Washington Heights Church), youth and camp programs (Stone of Hope Youth, Clydehurst Christian Camp, Bible Explorers Academy Preschool), a recovery-housing program (Clean Pathways), campus ministry (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship), and local media outreach (Utah Partnership for Christ radio) — not national Christian charities or large human-services agencies. Applicants should come with a specific, tangible ask (camp lodging, rent, program supplies, scholarships) rather than a general operating-support pitch, and should be prepared to explicitly frame the work in terms of Biblical principles and discipleship, echoing the foundation's own mission language of ministering to "spiritual and social needs of individuals, families, staff, and the Northern Utah community." Organizations without an existing Utah ministry footprint, or without a warm introduction into this network, face a steeper climb given the foundation's recent shift from a closed to an open process.

CHM's total giving has fluctuated with its investment income: $672,042 (2018), $486,070 (2019), $532,604 (2020), $514,405 (2021), and $377,162 (2022) per the foundation's own filings, with actual grants-paid (as opposed to total giving, which includes non-grant disbursements) running lower — $419,602 (2018) down to $234,300 (2022). More recent third-party 990 data shows renewed growth: 21 grants totaling $356K in 2024, rising to 26 grants totaling $396,356 in 2025, with individual 2025 awards ranging $1,800-$50,000.

The foundation's own typical-grant-size metadata reports a median of $25,000 and average of $40,300 across a small sample (5 grants, range $6,500-$130,000). But the tracked grantee list (19 grants, $749,443 total, $39,444 average) is skewed heavily by one outlier: $513,420 (68% of tracked dollars) went to National Philanthropic Trust as a donor-advised-fund contribution across two transfers — a philanthropic vehicle transfer, not a program grant to an operating ministry. Excluding that DAF outlier, the remaining 17 direct grants total roughly $236,023, averaging closer to $13,880 — a figure much more representative of what an operating nonprofit or church should expect. Individual program grants in the data run from $3,250 (Utah Advance Ministries, conference support) up to $35,000 (Redemption Church, in-kind rent plus youth program support across two grants).

Geographically, 15 of 19 tracked grantees are Utah-based, consistent with the foundation's stated Northern Utah focus; the small out-of-state exceptions — Montana (Clydehurst Christian Camp, $10,000), Wisconsin (1 grantee), Pennsylvania (2 grantees) — appear tied to camp or ministry partnerships rather than a broader footprint. By purpose, funding clusters into four buckets: church operations/rent (Redemption Church, Washington Heights Church), youth camps and preschool programs (Stone of Hope Youth, Bible Explorers Academy, Elevation Church camp support), recovery and social-service support (Clean Pathways' food/rent/supplies for program residents), and campus/local outreach ministry (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Utah Partnership for Christ radio).

CHM sits squarely in the middle of this asset-size peer cohort ($5.1M-$7.0M), all classified under the same Human Services NTEE umbrella, though CHM's actual grantmaking is distinctly faith-based rather than generalist human-services in the way the NTEE label implies. Unlike its peers — for whom the platform has no published application posture — CHM is unusually transparent and accessible for a foundation this size, having recently moved to a documented biannual, publicly announced online application cycle rather than relying purely on trustee relationships. Applicants unable to get traction with the geographically-narrower peer trusts (several appear to have no public website at all) may find CHM comparatively easier to approach for a first cold application, provided the Northern Utah / Biblical-principles fit is genuine.

CHM's most concrete recent activity is procedural rather than programmatic: the foundation stood up a new online grant application (via Submittable, linked from the site's "Grant Application" tab) and published a defined Spring 2026 cycle — applications open January 15, 2026, close midnight March 8, 2026, the board meets April 17, 2026, and award decisions go out within two weeks of an applicant's board presentation (so by roughly early May 2026). This is a shift from the foundation's historical posture, reflected in the database's preselected_only flag, of not accepting unsolicited applications at all.

On the numbers, giving has grown for two consecutive years: 21 grants totaling $356K in 2024, and 26 grants totaling $396,356 in 2025 (range $1,800-$50,000 per grant), a meaningful step up from the $234,300 in grants paid reported for fiscal 2022 in the foundation's own filing data. No press coverage, news articles, or social-media activity were found for CHM beyond its own website — the Facebook link in its record resolves to a generic placeholder rather than an active page, consistent with a foundation that operates without public-facing communications or a media presence. Leadership has been stable across the filings reviewed: Board Chair Parry Higginson, President/Vice-Chair John Whitford, Treasurer Christopher Tracy, Secretary Michelle Sullivan, Vice President/Director Bryan Grosgebauer, and Director Wes Shelnutt, all uncompensated. No leadership transitions, program launches, or major single grants beyond the routine cycle were identified in available reporting.

Apply only inside the announced window. For the cycle currently open, that is January 15 - March 8, 2026 (midnight) for Spring 2026; a Fall cycle follows later in the year on a pattern the foundation has not yet published for 2026. CHM explicitly does not accept unsolicited applications outside these windows, so track the site's Grant Application tab rather than emailing cold.

Expect a two-stage process, not a single form. Submitting through the Submittable portal is step one; qualifying applicants are then invited to present in person to the CHM Board, with the decision following within about two weeks of that presentation. Prepare a concise, presentation-ready narrative in addition to the written application — this is a hands-on, all-volunteer board (every officer reports $0 compensation across every filing year reviewed), and personal credibility in the room likely carries real weight.

Use explicitly Biblical, mission-aligned language. CHM's own mission statement centers on ministries "based on a foundation of faith in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Bible" serving "spiritual and social needs of individuals, families, staff, and the Northern Utah community." Applications that lean into discipleship, Gospel outreach, or Biblically-grounded social service will read as a stronger fit than generically framed human-services requests.

Size the ask realistically. Excluding an outlier donor-advised-fund transfer, typical program grants in the data run roughly $3,250-$35,000, with the foundation's own metadata citing a median of $25,000 across a small recent sample (range $6,500-$130,000). Ask for a specific, itemized use — rent, camp costs, program supplies, scholarships — rather than general operating support; nearly every tracked grantee received funding tied to a named cost.

Stay inside Northern Utah unless you have a documented Utah ministry connection. The rare out-of-state grants in the record (a Montana camp, a Wisconsin and two Pennsylvania recipients) all trace back to Utah-linked ministry or camp partnerships rather than standalone national programs — a purely out-of-state applicant with no Utah tie is a weak fit. Finally, because CHM only recently opened its process to unsolicited applicants (the database still flags it as historically preselected-only), a warm introduction from an existing grantee or board contact — where one can be found — will likely still outperform a cold portal submission.