Threshold Of Hope

Threshold Of Hope (EIN 20-3879071) is a Springfield, MO-based 501(c)(3) private grantmaking foundation, tax-exempt since February 2006, classified under the NTEE category "Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Grantmaking Foundations / Private Grantmaking Foundations." The foundation operates with an explicitly faith-based identity — its public website opens with a scripture anchor ("Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows" — Isaiah 1:17) and a mission summarized as "serving his mission of hope" with a tagline "No one should go hungry." Programmatic focus appears to be direct aid to individuals and families in need (food security, hardship relief) delivered through a "Request Help" intake on the site. This is a distinctive structural choice — the foundation appears to function as both a grantmaker and a direct-aid distribution vehicle, which is unusual for a 501(c)(3) private foundation (most direct-service activity flows through public charities). The board listed on the 990-PF (Kathleen K. Pozniak, President; Kylene K. Puckett, VP; Regan N. Wolf, Sec/Treas) takes no compensation. The foundation is small, local, and relationship-driven, with no evidence of an institutional grantmaking program or open RFP cycle for other nonprofits.

Per the 2024 Form 990-PF (fiscal year ending December 2024, filed November 10, 2025), Threshold Of Hope reported revenue of $566,035, expenses of $520,024, net income of $46,011, total assets of $7,352,260, and zero liabilities. Charitable disbursements were $458,926 (88.3% of total expenses) — a healthy payout ratio of roughly 6.2% of assets, above the IRS minimum. Revenue composition is almost entirely investment-driven: dividends $240,955 (42.6%), sales of assets $324,831 (57.4%), with negligible new contributions ($249 in 2024). This pattern — investment income covering distributions with near-zero external fundraising — is the classic signature of an endowed family foundation operating from a closed corpus. Year-over-year comparison: 2023 revenue was $207,563 against $448,045 in expenses (net loss $240K), while 2024 rebounded strongly. The foundation has filed 990-PFs continuously from 2011 forward. Specific grantee lists are not published on the website, so grant-size patterns must be inferred from 990-PF Schedule B/Part XV (available via ProPublica).

Threshold Of Hope's 6.2% payout ratio is slightly above the peer median for small private grantmaking foundations, and its 88.3% charitable-disbursement share of total expenses is notably high — meaning almost every dollar that leaves the foundation goes to mission work rather than overhead. Among Missouri-based faith-adjacent small foundations, Threshold Of Hope is comparable in asset size but more direct-aid oriented than most peers, which typically regrant to churches and faith-based nonprofits rather than intake individual requests.

The most recent filed Form 990-PF covers fiscal year 2024 (filed November 10, 2025) and shows the foundation returning to positive net income ($46K) after a $240K net loss in 2023. Charitable disbursements grew from 2023 to 2024 while total assets also rose from roughly $7.1M to $7.35M. The website (thresholdofhope.org) is stable but minimal — a handful of pages (Home, About Us, Testimonials, Request Help, Contact) with no news feed, blog, or grant announcement portal. No press coverage, staff changes, or programmatic expansion has been publicly documented in 2025–2026. The "Request Help" intake continues to operate as the primary public interface, suggesting individual-aid distribution remains the foundation's main activity. No open call for institutional grantee applications has been announced.

Threshold Of Hope is structured primarily as a direct-aid vehicle for individuals in hardship, not an institutional grantmaker with an open RFP. For nonprofits considering outreach: (1) First determine whether your request is a good fit. If you are an individual or family needing hardship relief, use the "Request Help" form on thresholdofhope.org — that is the intended intake path. (2) If you are a nonprofit seeking institutional funding, scope your ask narrowly to faith-based programming, food security, or direct relief for widows/orphans/hungry (matching the Isaiah 1:17 anchor). (3) Pull the 2024 Form 990-PF from ProPublica (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/203879071) and review the Schedule of Grants Paid in Part XV — if the grantee list shows only individuals or a narrow set of churches, do not submit a cold institutional proposal. (4) Contact via the "Contact" page and lead with a Springfield/southwest Missouri geographic tie — the foundation is hyperlocal. (5) Keep asks in the $5K–$25K range, sized to the foundation's typical individual-grant scale. (6) Faith-alignment matters: generic secular proposals are unlikely to match the foundation's stated mission.