MinistryWatch 1000 Database: Top 50 Community Development Ministries

The Salvation Army tops list again, several new groups featured.

The second list of this month from the MinistryWatch 1000 Database features the 50 largest community development ministries by annual revenue. The list was first produced in 2025, and this year’s list features a lot of movement in the list rankings.

Much of the movement among ministries on the list is attributable to additions to the category.

The community development category is “one of the more unusual categories in our database,” explained MinistryWatch President Warren Smith.

The ministries in this category are “concerned with human flourishing at the grass roots level, and they do their work as a response to their commitment to Christ,” he said.

Notable insights from this year’s list:

• Once again, The Salvation Army tops the list by a large margin with revenue exceeding $5.4 billion. Because The Salvation Army does not file a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service, its revenue amount was taken from its profile with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
• The revenue of other ministries who don’t file a Form 990 was also taken from either their ECFA profile or their website as indicated by an asterisk.
• New additions to the list include Endeavors ( 2), Covenant House (No. 6), God’s Pantry Food Bank (No. 8), Anabaptist Financial (No. 10), Awakening Foundation (No. 12), Teen Challenge of Arizona (No. 15), Crossworld (No. 20), TeachBeyond (No. 23), Mission Arlington / Mission Metroplex (No. 28), Mercy Community Healthcare (No. 29), Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb (No. 33), TMS Global (No. 37), Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County (No. 38), YWAM Colorado Springs Strategic Frontiers (No. 42), and Heartland Ministries (No. 47).
• Because of the addition of new ministries to the category, several of last year’s top 5 dropped in ranking. For example, Habitat for Humanity moved from 2 to No. 3, Christian Appalachian Project moved from No. 3 to No. 4, and YMCA of the USA moved from No. 4 to No. 5. International Justice Mission, which was No. 5 last year, was moved to the database’s anti-trafficking category.
• With several new additions to this category and only one year of history to work with, no ministries moved up the list in ranking.
• The Community Development category includes total revenue for the 50 groups listed is about $7.76 billion, about $1.3 billion more than last year’s total.
• The column at the far right shows how much money each ministry received in government grant funds. Endeavors, a ministry in San Antonio that helps with mental health and wellness and in disaster response, received the most government grants at $390 million.
• The list features one 2025 Shining Light Award winner: Filter of Hope, a ministry that provides clean water to those in need. It has a 5-star Financial Efficiency Rating, an A Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 100.

This list of community development groups should not be interpreted as recommendations for giving. Please refer to each ministry’s Donor Confidence Score, Transparency Grade, and Financial Efficiency Rating to learn more about its rankings in the MinistryWatch database.

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