Spirit & Word Ministries Inc.

Spirit & Word Ministries Inc. is a small Phoenix, AZ private foundation (EIN 27-3025512, ruled 2010, ~$1.6M in assets) run by two officers, President Charlie Van Dyke and Secretary Ingrid Haas, each drawing $25,000/year ($50,000 combined officer compensation annually) — a classic two-person family-foundation structure with no program staff. The foundation's own data flags it as 'preselected only': grants go to organizations the officers already know, not to applicants who find the foundation cold. GrantWatch's independent profile of this same EIN corroborates that the foundation 'only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations.' There is no grants page, no application portal, and no published deadline on file (application_instructions is blank in IRS data).

Despite carrying a Religion NTEE classification (X20) and a ministry name, every grant in the available data went to secular causes: cancer research, animal welfare, heart/kidney/neuro research, and education scholarships. Nothing in the visible grantee list went to a church, denomination, or religious nonprofit. This strongly suggests the corporate 'Ministries' name reflects the founders' personal or original intent rather than their current giving pattern, which now tracks the officers' personal philanthropic interests and networks (Arizona-based medical research institutions, a Texas Jesuit prep school, aviation education).

The standout relationship is City of Hope's 'Bill Austen Endowment,' which received two gifts totaling $425,000 — 61% of all disclosed giving — strongly indicating a named, personal endowment tied to a specific individual (likely a namesake connection to the founders or a deceased family member) rather than a competitive grant. Applicants without a pre-existing relationship to Van Dyke or Haas, or without overlap in Phoenix-area medical research, animal welfare, or the specific institutions already funded (Embry-Riddle, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, TGen, Barrow Neurological Foundation), should expect this foundation to be effectively closed. The realistic path in is a warm introduction through one of the funded organizations or a shared board/donor connection, not a written proposal.

Across the three most recently filed years (FY2021-FY2023), Spirit & Word Ministries Inc. made 22 tracked grants totaling $696,264, an average of $31,648 per grant. But that average is skewed hard by one relationship: City of Hope's Bill Austen Endowment received 2 gifts totaling $425,000 (avg. $212,500 each) — 61% of all disclosed dollars. Strip that out and the remaining 20 grants across 11 other organizations total $271,264, averaging roughly $13,563, though even that is pulled upward by Arizona Humane Society ($127,331 across 2 grants for 'animal ambulance' support). The bulk of smaller gifts cluster far lower: 18 of the 22 grants, after excluding the two largest recipients, total just $143,933 combined — an average near $8,000, which matches GrantWatch's independently reported median grant size of $8K for this same EIN. The smallest single gift on record is $500 to Apraxia Kids.

By dollar volume, medical/health research dominates: cancer research ($425,000 to City of Hope plus $9,000 combined to TGen and its Women's Philanthropy Council), heart research ($86,815 across 4 grants to the American Heart Association), kidney research ($20,800 combined to Arizona Women's Board and the American Kidney Foundation), and neuro research ($10,000 to Barrow Neurological Foundation). Animal welfare adds $127,331 (Arizona Humane Society). Education/scholarships account for a modest $15,818 (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University $12,658; Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas and its foundation, combined $3,160). No grants in the visible data went to religious organizations, churches, or ministries — a notable mismatch with the foundation's Religion/X20 classification and name.

Geographically, Arizona dominates by count (14 of 22 grants), followed by Texas (3), California (2), and one each in Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania — reflecting the officers' home-state ties plus a few out-of-state personal or family connections (the Dallas prep school, City of Hope's California and Arizona campuses). Overall giving has contracted sharply: total giving nearly halved from $331,163 (FY2021) to $141,396 (FY2023), and cash grants paid fell even further, from $247,480 to $54,831 over the same period, while assets stayed roughly flat near $1.6M and the foundation took in $0 in new contributions each year — a foundation coasting down on investment income, not growing its giving.

Spirit & Word Ministries sits among a cluster of similarly sized Religion-category private foundations, all in the $1.6-1.65M asset range, none of which have a public website on file — a pattern consistent with small, closed, family-run giving vehicles rather than institutional funders with public programs.

All six foundations in this peer set, including Spirit & Word Ministries, cluster tightly around $1.6M in assets and lack any web presence for grant seekers — meaning this is not an outlier within its peer group but representative of a broad class of small, closely held family foundations nominally coded 'Religion' by the IRS. Grant seekers should expect the same preselected, relationship-driven model across most of these peers unless independent research turns up a specific application channel; cold outreach is unlikely to be an effective strategy for any foundation in this cluster.

No 2025 or 2026 news coverage, press releases, or public announcements were found for Spirit & Word Ministries Inc. specifically — unsurprising for a two-officer private foundation with no communications function and a website that turns out to belong to an unrelated organization. The most recent verified data point in the underlying record is the FY2023 Form 990-PF (grants paid $54,831; total giving $141,396; assets $1,606,131), with the record itself last refreshed 2026-09-14.

The most notable finding from this research cycle is not a grant announcement but a data-quality issue worth flagging to any grant seeker: the website address on file, spiritandwordministries.org, does not belong to this foundation. It resolves to an active evangelical missionary ministry led by Nick and Debbie Boni, focused on outreach in the Philippines and donation-based support via CLUB1040.com (PO Box 414, Broken Arrow, OK) — a name collision, not the Phoenix, AZ private foundation covered here. The underlying record's own website_status field ('no_grant_info') is consistent with this mismatch.

Given the sharp three-year decline in both total giving (down 57%, FY2021-FY2023) and cash grants paid (down 78% over the same window) against flat assets and zero new contributions, the most plausible 'recent activity' reading is a foundation gradually winding down active distributions rather than one entering a new funding cycle or priority shift. There is no evidence of leadership change — Charlie Van Dyke (President) and Ingrid Haas (Secretary) appear consistently across all three years of officer records with unchanged compensation ($25,000 each annually).

Because Spirit & Word Ministries Inc. is flagged as preselected-only with no published grants page, application portal, deadline, or contact process, the standard cold-LOI approach that works for larger institutional funders is unlikely to succeed here. GrantWatch's independent listing for this same EIN (27-3025512) reinforces the same conclusion: the foundation selects its own grantees rather than reviewing unsolicited proposals.

The most productive strategy is relationship mapping, not proposal writing. Given that every disclosed grant went to organizations with a plausible personal connection to the officers — Arizona medical research institutions (TGen, Barrow Neurological Foundation, Arizona Women's Board), a named endowment at City of Hope, Arizona Humane Society, and a Dallas Jesuit prep school and its aviation-adjacent counterpart Embry-Riddle — organizations should look first for board, volunteer, or donor overlaps with Charlie Van Dyke or Ingrid Haas before drafting any outreach. A direct phone call to the foundation's listed number, (480) 951-8711, or a mailed letter to the registered contact ('% Charles S Van Dyke,' 4411 N 37th Way, Phoenix, AZ 85018), is more likely to reach a decision-maker than a web form, since none exists.

Do not rely on the website spiritandwordministries.org for any outreach — it belongs to an unrelated missionary organization, and using it risks contacting the wrong people entirely. Instead, pull the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF directly (via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer or Candid) for its registered address, officer names, and Part XV grant listing before attempting contact.

The common mistake to avoid: treating this like a program-driven religious funder because of its 'Ministries' name and Religion/X20 code. The evidence shows the opposite — a secular, personally-directed giving pattern skewed heavily toward one recipient (City of Hope, 61% of dollars). Faith-based or ministry-focused applicants pitching alignment with the foundation's name are likely to be poorly matched; health research, animal welfare, and education organizations with an Arizona or personal-network tie are the closer fit based on actual behavior, not stated classification.