Where Does $100 to Samaritan’s Purse Go (2022)?

Samaritan’s Purse is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) (3) established in 1970 by Bob Pierce who died in 1978. W. Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) became Chairman, President, and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse in 1979 and has held the position since although he is also an evangelist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Based in Boone, North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational Christian organization that provides “spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world.” How do they do this? Primarily through grants (i.e. transporting shoebox gifts:  a box filled with toys, supplies, and hygiene items) which prior to 2020 averaged 40% of revenue although in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the percentage was lower at 28% , 27%, and 28%, respectively because Samaritan’s Purse focused on building up savings and to do this they spent significantly less than they collected (about 30% of every $100 in revenue was placed annually in savings over the past 3 years):

Samaritan’s Purse only spent $72 out of every $100 raised in 2020, $67 out of $100 raised in 2021, and $75 out of every $100 in 2022.

In actual dollars, Samaritan’s Purse raised $1.3 billion and spent $981 million, putting about $330 million in savings in 2022, $300 million into savings in 2021, and $225 million in savings in 2020, which means in 3 years, Samaritan’s Purse put more than $850 million into savings.

The $1.3 billion in revenue in 2022 came primarily from contributions:  cash ($933 million), non-cash ($312 million), and gov’t grants ($48 million).

In 2022, expenses totaled $981 million (including $28 million in depreciation) – 75% of revenue – and can be categorized as follows:

• $375 million (28% of total revenue):  Grants (primarily to foreign entities)
• $208 million (16% of total revenue):  Compensation
• $110 million (8% of total revenue):  Project Materials
• $ 62 million (5% of total revenue):  Office-Related Expenses
• $ 60 million (5% of total revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 37 million (3% of total revenue):  Transport Relief Materials
• $ 21 million (2% of total revenue):  Construction Program Materials
• $ 25 million (2% of total revenue):  Fees for Outside Services
• $ 26 million (2% of total revenue):  Advertising and Promotion
• $ 17 million (1% of total revenue):  Bible Materials
• $ 40 million (3% of total revenue):  Other Expenses

As illustrated above the two largest expenses are grants (primarily shoebox gifts) and compensation for the 4,789 employees who received an average compensation of $43,000. The most highly compensated employee was William Franklin Graham, the Chairman, President and CEO who received $832,738.

It is important to point out that a significant portion of revenue ($312 million) were non-cash contributions – of which the largest non-cash contributions were shoe box items ($247 million).  Accordingly, the largest expense was grants ($375 million) – primarily shoe boxes filled with the donated items.  However, a complete Schedule F is not available for the 2022 return so the specific non cash grants cannot be determined.

Ideally, if you’re trying to determine how a $100 cash contribution was spent, you may want to exclude most of the non-cash contributions (note:  publicly traded stocks converted to cash should be included since these were readily converted to cash) and non-cash grants because non-cash revenue and non-cash expenses have historically been relatively close in size which means the organization is collecting items (that are recognized as revenue) to distribute (as non-cash grants).  So, if you donated shoe box items, food, or medicine, those items were distributed via grants. But, what this also indicates is that cash contributions made to Samaritan’s Purse were primarily spent on expenses outside of grants – compensation, office-related expenses, fees, project materials, advertising, etc) or added to savings.

Using the above information, every $100 in cash revenue was spent as follows:

 $100:  Revenue

-$ 28:  Grants

-$  8:  Project Materials

-$  2:  Construction Program Materials

-$  3:  Transport Relief Materials

-$  1:  Bible Materials

-$ 42: Subtotal:  Grants and Materials

 $ 58:  Revenue Remaining

-$ 16:  Compensation

-$  5:  Travel and Conferences

-$  5:  Office-Related Expenses

-$  2:  Fees for Outside Services

-$  2:  Advertising and Promotion

-$  3:  Other Expenses

-$ 33: Subtotal: Organization Expenses

 $  25:  Unspent Revenue:  To General Assets 

As illustrated above, Samaritan’s Purse spent $75 out of every $100 received with $42 spent on grants (primarily shoebox gifts) and materials. $33 out of every $100 was spent on organization expenses leaving $25 unspent and allocated to the general fund.  In reality, a larger portion of cash contributions were more than likely added to savings (but this cannot be verified without a complete Schedule F of the Form 990).

It is also important to note that transportation costs ($60 million) are what they are because the “ministry” owns an estimated 24 aircraft (including 2 helicopters) and uses these vehicles to deliver the shoeboxes and people to conduct their missionary work.  It is unclear if transportation costs would be lower if Samaritan’s Purse did not own their own vehicles and instead used outside charter services.

What is particularly interesting in 2022 is the amount of money that was left unspent.  More than $300 million was not spent in 2022.  This appears to be because the organization decided to strengthen their balance sheet by adding these funds to the general assets causing net assets to increase from $702 million in 2019 to $924 million in 2020 to $1.2 billion in net assets in 2021 to $1.5 billion in 2022.  In other words, if you made a $100 cash contribution in the past 3 years, about $30 of that $100 was added to savings.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2022), click here.