MinistryWatch 1000 Database: Withhold Giving From These Ministries

These ministries have Donor Confidence Scores below 50.

Note: This list is based on the most updated MinistryWatch 1000 database information as of June 29, 2026. For more information and to see if the score of a ministry has changed, please visit the database here. 

In the MinistryWatch 1000 database, 249 ministries earn a Donor Confidence Score (DCS) of 49 or below—a designation we believe warrants withholding donations.

The DCS is a tool for donors that was created by MinistryWatch in 2022. It is an objective evaluation of each ministry based on a series of 14 questions that involve governance, transparency, and accountability.

The majority of the ministries do not file an informational Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service. The failure to file a Form 990 is worth 20 out of 100 DCS points. For more about the DCS, read here.

The list grew by 81 ministries, up from 168 on the list last year. Part of that is attributable to the growth in the MinistryWatch database, which now includes over 1,600 ministries.

While the list is long, we believe it is important to make our readers aware of the many ministries that fall within this category.

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Based on what we were able to locate, the total revenue for these ministries exceeds $20 billion. The largest ministry by revenue is Salvation Army USA with $5.4 billion. The next largest is Samaritan’s Purse, a relief and development group that has annual revenue of about $1.8 billion.

Six of the groups in the top 10 are colleges or universities, including Baylor University, Chapman University, Pepperdine University, Belmont University, High Point University, and Hillsdale College.