Where Does $100 to Samaritan’s Purse Go (2023)?

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.  But in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 the percentage was lower at 28%, 27%, 28%, and 32%, respectively because Samaritan’s Purse focused on building up net assets and to do this they spent significantly less than they collected:

• Samaritan’s Purse spent $72 out of every $100 raised in 2020;
• Samaritan’s Purse spent $67 out of every $100 raised in 2021;
• Samaritan’s Purse spent $75 out of every $100 raised in 2022: and
• Samaritan’s Purse spent $86 out of every $100 raised in 2023 ($76 out of every $100 if non-cash contributions and non-cash grants were not considered).

What the above means, is that from 2020-2023 an average of $25 out of every $100 received was put into savings annually.

In actual dollars, Samaritan’s Purse added $225 million to savings in 2020, $300 million in 2021, $330 million in 2022, and $200 million in 2023 for a total of more than $1 billion from 2020-2023.  At year end 2023, Samaritan’s Purse had $1.7 billion in net assets.

In 2023, Samaritan’s Purse reported total revenue of $1.2 billion (compared to $1.3 billion in 2022, $1 billion in 2021, $894 million in 2020, $734 million in 2019, and $700 million in 2018) most of which came from cash contributions ($768 million), non-cash contributions ($328 million) and government grants ($54 million). Non-cash contributions were primarily shoe box items.

Expenses totaled $1.037 billion (including $29 million in depreciation) – 86% of revenue – and can be categorized as follows:

• $382 million (32% of total revenue):  Grants (primarily shoebox gifts)
• $232 million (19% of total revenue):  Compensation
• $ 96 million (8% of total revenue):  Project Materials
• $ 65 million (6% of total revenue):  Office-Related Expenses
• $ 71 million (6% of total revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 37 million (3% of total revenue):  Transport Relief Materials
• $ 38 million (3% of total revenue):  Construction Program Materials
• $ 29 million (2% of total revenue):  Fees for Outside Services
• $ 25 million (2% of total revenue):  Advertising and Promotion
• $ 22 million (2% of total revenue):  Bible Materials
• $ 39 million (3% of total revenue):  Other Expenses

As illustrated above the two largest expenses are grants (primarily shoebox gifts) and compensation ($232 million) for the 5,144 employees who received an average compensation of $45,000. The most highly compensated employee was William Franklin Graham, the Chairman, President and CEO who received $882,156.

It is important to point out that a significant portion of revenue ($328 million) were non-cash contributions – of which the largest non-cash contributions were shoe box items ($276 million).  Accordingly, the largest expense was non-cash  grants ($341 million of the $382 million in grants) – again, primarily shoe boxes filled with the donated items.  So, 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 and depreciation. In other words,

• Revenue would be adjusted by $328 million from $1.2 billion to $873 million to reflect the exclusion of non-cash revenue (that was collected for distribution); and
• Expenses would be adjusted by $370 million ($341 million in non cash grants and $29 million in depreciation) from $1.037 billion to $667 million.
• In summary, Samaritan’s Purse received $873 million in cash revenue and reported $667 million in expenses paid with that revenue, leaving about $200 million to go into savings at year-end.

One of the reasons to do this is because non-cash revenue and non-cash expenses are relatively close in size which means the organization is collecting items (that are recognized as revenue) to distribute (as non-cash grants).

Samaritan’s Purse received about $328 million in non-cash contributions for shoe box gifts, food, and medicine (not including publicly traded marketable securities), while the organization made non-cash grants of $341 million. 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 assumptions, cash expenses of $667 million would be classified as follows (based on cash revenue and the exclusion of illiquid non-cash contributions):

• $ 41 million (5% of cash revenue):  Cash Grants
• $232 million (27% of cash revenue):  Compensation
• $ 71  million (8% of cash revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 96 million (11% of cash revenue):  Project Materials
• $ 65 million (7% of cash revenue):  Office-Related Expenses
• $ 38 million (4% of cash revenue):  Construction Program Materials
• $ 37 million (4% of cash revenue):  Transport Relief Materials
• $ 29 million (3% of cash revenue):  Fees for Outside Services
• $ 25 million (3% of cash revenue):  Advertising and Promotion
• $ 22 million (3% of cash revenue):  Bible Materials
• $ 11 million (1% of cash revenue):  Other Expenses

Of the $873 million in cash revenue collected, $667 million (76%) was spent on organization expenses with the largest expense reported to be compensation ($232 million).  More than $200 million or 24% of cash revenue was not spent and added to savings.

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

 $100:  Revenue

-$  5:  Cash Grants

-$ 11:  Project Materials

-$  4:  Construction Program Materials

-$  4:  Transport Relief Materials

-$  3:  Bible Materials

-$ 27: Subtotal:  Grants and Materials

 $ 73:  Revenue Remaining

-$ 27:  Compensation

-$  8:  Travel and Conferences

-$  7:  Office-Related Expenses

-$  3:  Fees for Outside Services

-$  3:  Advertising and Promotion

-$  1:  Other Expenses

-$ 49: Subtotal: Organization Expenses

 $  24:  Unspent Revenue:  To General Assets 

As illustrated above, Samaritan’s Purse spent $76 out of every $100 received with $27 spent on grants and materials. $49 out of every $100 was spent on organization expenses leaving $24 unspent and allocated to the general fund.

It is also important to note that travel costs ($66 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 2023 is the amount of money that was left unspent.  More than $200 million was not spent in 2023 (along with $330 million in 2022 $300 million in 2021, and $225 million in 2020). 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 and to $1.7 billion in 2023.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2023), click here.