Monthly List: MinistryWatch Assigns Transparency Grades For More Than 400 Christian Ministries

MinistryWatch stands for transparency and accountability.  That’s why we think it is important for Christian ministries to be as transparent as possible with donors and with the public.

So MinistryWatch will grade every ministry in its database based on transparency.  Today, we release a list of the ministries who have received an “A” grade — approximately 200 ministries.  We will be publishing lists for those receiving lower grades in the days ahead.

Our transparency grade evaluates the ease with which donors can see into the finances of a ministry.  We use three indicators:

1. The completion and public availability of a Form 990. The Form 990 highlights revenue, expenses, fundraising costs, and executive salaries.  Form 990s have a great deal of information of interest to donors, though they are not a “gold standard” because this information is self-reported.
2. The completion of an audited financial statement. Audited financial statements do not list executive salaries, but they have the advantage of being created by an independent accounting firm, thus giving donors and the public greater assurance that the numbers reported by management are accurate.  (Ministries with annual revenue of less than $1-million may have reviewed financial statements.)
3. Membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Members of the ECFA publicly commit to live up to the “Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship.”  (Ministries with annual revenue less than $1-million are exempt from this requirement.)

The grading system is simple.

• If a ministry complies with all three of the standards above, that ministry will receive a Transparency Grade of “A.”
• If a ministry meets two of the three standards, that ministry will receive a “C.”
• If a ministry meets only one of these standards, it will receive a “D.”
• If it fails to meet any of the three standards, that ministry will receive a Transparency Grade of “F.”

Though we have only the 200-or-so “A” ministries here, you can search our database and see the grade of your favorite ministry by clicking here.

If you would like to report an error or a change in ministry status, please email:  [email protected]