Mission Increase Foundation

Mission Increase Foundation (MIF, EIN 81-0618279, Portland OR) is a private Christian foundation whose primary role is to fund and govern "Mission Increase," the operating nonprofit that delivers training, coaching, and matching cash grants to Christian ministries nationwide. This structural detail matters enormously for applicants: MIF's own 990 program breakdown shows $2,470,187 spent on "support for regional giving training offices" versus just $12,803 classified as "direct grant funding for other charitable organizations" — confirming that training, not grantmaking, is the foundation's core activity. In the DB grantee sample, 5 of 10 recorded grants ($10,379,218) flowed to "Mission Increase" itself as general operating support for its affiliate, while the only genuine third-party grantee, Responder Life, received 5 grants totaling $52,456 (about $10,491 each). First-time applicants should not think of MIF as a conventional open-call grantmaker. There is no LOI portal or public RFP. The pathway is relational and sequential: attend a free Mi Core workshop or enroll in the self-paced Mi Academy, complete a follow-up consultation with a regional Area Director, build a track record of engagement, and only then become eligible for an invitation to apply for a matching cash grant. Eligibility is narrow and mission-specific — registered 501(c)3 status, at least two years of operating history, an annual budget between roughly $100,000 and $2 million, and clear practice of direct evangelism or service to the poor/at-risk. Churches and church-umbrella ministries are explicitly excluded. Grants are always matching (dollar-for-dollar), capped at up to three consecutive years of eligibility, and contingent on the ministry raising its own match and filing a completion report. Given the foundation's modest and declining asset base ($12.45M in FY2024, down from $30.2M in FY2012), grant sizes skew small and capacity-building focused rather than transformational in dollar terms — the real value MIF offers is free fundraising and leadership training plus a matching incentive, not a large check.

MIF's financials show a foundation in long-run asset decline paired with volatile year-to-year giving. Total assets fell from $30,208,404 in FY2012 to $12,450,487 in FY2024 — a roughly 59% contraction over twelve years, driven by spend-down and inconsistent investment returns rather than steady new contributions (contributions received were $0 in FY2021-2023). Annual grants paid have swung widely: $184,915 (FY2019, an unusually low training-heavy year), $3,038,297 (FY2020, the peak in the dataset), $1,186,904 (FY2021), $2,482,990 (FY2022), and $1,240,493 (FY2023); total giving (which includes program/training spend alongside cash grants) ranged from $1,531,635 to $3,799,135 over the same span. FY2024 data shows total assets of $12,450,487 and revenue of $1,084,039, with grants-paid figures not yet disclosed in this filing. On individual grant size, the only clean external benchmark in the record is Responder Life's five grants averaging $10,491 each — consistent with web research showing MIF matching grants are modest, capacity-building awards (matching funds a ministry raises itself) rather than large lump sums. By contrast, the $10,379,218 recorded across five grants to "Mission Increase" itself is intercompany general support to the affiliated operating charity (EIN 83-4503439), not a benchmark for outside applicants. Geographically, 100% of the ten recorded grants in the dataset went to Oregon-based recipients (the foundation's home state and its own affiliate), though the foundation's actual training footprint is national — Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, West regions plus new 2025-2026 launches in Gulf Coast, Central Texas, Central Arkansas, Jacksonville FL, and South Asia. Officer compensation data shows Scott Scharpen (Chief Strategy Officer) at $179,250 and Chairman Dale Stockamp at $84,018 in the most recent disclosed year, with most board members serving uncompensated — a governance structure typical of a founder-led family/operating foundation (founded 1999 by Dale Stockamp, Gail Stockamp, and Ron Post).

Among this asset-matched peer set (all clustered tightly between $11.7M and $13.2M in total assets), Mission Increase Foundation is the clear outlier in transparency and accessibility — it is the only one with a public website, published eligibility criteria, training curriculum, and a documented (if invitation-gated) pathway to funding. The five peer foundations have no discoverable web presence, application process, or public grant history, suggesting they operate as closed, relationship-driven family or single-purpose religious trusts with no realistic cold-outreach path. For grant seekers in the Religion/faith-based capacity-building space, MIF is by far the more actionable target of this group, but success still requires investing in its free training pipeline before any grant request is possible.

The most concrete recent developments come from the foundation's own web presence rather than press coverage, as MIF does not appear to issue conventional press releases. In 2025, Mission Increase launched three new regional communities — Gulf Coast, Central Texas, and Central Arkansas — continuing a pattern of steady geographic expansion of its Area Director network. For Q1 2026, the organization has announced planned launches in Jacksonville, FL and its first community in South Asia, marking an initial move toward international programming. Operationally, Mi Academy — a self-paced, AI-coached online learning track — has become a significant recent addition, letting ministries outside physical hub regions access Mission Increase's fundraising and leadership curriculum without an in-person Area Director. The foundation published its "Gratitude Report" for 2025 (posted as a stewardship/impact PDF on missionincrease.org), summarizing training reach and donor impact, and its most recent primary tax return (Form 990) was filed October 6, 2025, per ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. No leadership changes were identified in this research window; Dan Davis continues as President, with Dale Stockamp as Chairman and Scott Scharpen as Chief Strategy Officer per the most recent compensation disclosures in the data bundle. No large individual grant announcements or new named initiatives beyond the community launches and Mi Academy were surfaced — consistent with a foundation whose activity is concentrated in training infrastructure rather than headline-grabbing grantmaking.

Do not submit an unsolicited grant application to Mission Increase Foundation — there is no open RFP or LOI portal, and cold requests will not be considered. The only real entry point is the training pipeline: attend a free Mi Core workshop (in a region with an active Area Director) or enroll in Mi Academy's self-paced online track, then follow up with a phone consultation. Treat this first engagement as the actual "application" — Area Directors decide which ministries get invited to apply for a matching cash grant based on demonstrated engagement, leadership quality, and alignment with MIF's evangelism/poverty-service mission, not on a written proposal alone. Before engaging, confirm hard eligibility: registered 501(c)3, U.S.-based, at least two years of operating history, annual budget between roughly $100,000 and $2,000,000, and clear practice of direct evangelism or service to the poor and at-risk populations — churches and ministries under a church's own 501(c)3 exemption do not qualify, which rules out a meaningful share of typical faith-based applicants. Use explicitly biblical, relationship-centered language when describing your development strategy; MIF's own materials frame their approach as "biblical champion development" versus "transactional fundraising," and Area Directors are evaluating cultural fit as much as financial need. A common mistake is treating the matching grant as a standalone cash award — every grant requires the ministry to raise its own matching funds and submit a completed matching report before MIF disburses; organizations that can't demonstrate real fundraising capacity to hit the match will not get invited back. Keep your Mission Increase ministry account current annually (end of fiscal year) and after any material organizational change — a lapsed account is a documented disqualifier for future invitations. Because grants renew for up to three years, plan for a multi-year relationship rather than a one-time ask, and budget internal capacity to sustain the match requirement each cycle. Given MIF's shrinking asset base (down nearly 60% since 2012) and its heavy internal allocation to training infrastructure, applicants should calibrate expectations toward modest matching grants (recorded external awards averaged roughly $10,500) rather than large capital gifts — the greater and more reliable value is the free training, coaching, and Area Director relationship itself.