Type to search

Business Culture Investigations

TBN In Midst of Massive Restructuring

Despite having nearly $1-billion in assets, TBN received $3-million in PPP funds

According to an investigation by the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, Matthew Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has launched a massive restructuring of the world’s largest religious TV network.

Despite the similarity in their names, the Trinity Foundation is not related to the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Financial disclosure documents published last week on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website report that Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana (TCCSA), long the parent organization of TBN, and other affiliated organizations transferred $860,132,250 in assets to Trinity Broadcasting of Texas in 2019.  That transfer of assets is recorded as revenue in the new Texas-based organization.

The Texas-based non-profit also reported $30 million in donations, $24 million in revenue from selling airtime, and $17 million of investment income. Total revenue for the year was $933,330,134.

In 2020, Trinity Broadcasting of Texas received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan of $3,308,005.  Congress authorized the Small Business Administration to create the program to help small businesses retain employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Access to MinistryWatch content is free.  However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts.  To make a donation, click here.

While applying for the PPP loan, applicants were required to certify the following statement: “Current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.”

Was this loan necessary to guarantee ongoing operations? Trinity Broadcasting of Texas began 2020 with $878 million worth of net assets. Should a non-profit this large qualify for a loan for small businesses?

Trinity Broadcasting of Texas was able to qualify for the loan because it had less than 500 employees.

While comparing the Form 990 of each TBN affiliate organization from 2018 to 2019, Dallas-based religious media watchdog organization Trinity Foundation discovered nine TBN affiliates began reporting zero employees.

For example, Trinity Broadcasting of New York reported 35 employees in 2018 and zero in 2019. Were all the employees really eliminated or were some of them converted into independent contractors? In 2019, Trinity Broadcasting of New York also reported $1,001,300 in “Salaries, other compensation and employee benefits.” More than $900,000 was spent on occupancy and office expenses at TBN’s New York office.

In 2019, Trinity Broadcasting of Texas reported 89 independent contractors compensated more than $100,000.

Donations Continue to Drop

Ten years ago, TCCSA received $74.7 million in donations. At the time, TBN broadcast a financially lucrative Praise-a-Thon, collecting millions of dollars.

After TBN ended the fundraising broadcasts, donations declined. By 2019, donations had dropped to the point where TCCSA received $1.9 million from donors and Trinity Broadcasting of Texas received $30.4 million.

However, the TV network was not hurting financially.

In 2017, the network sold seven TV stations’ broadcast frequencies to the FCC for $634.3 million. The FCC then re-licensed the broadcast frequencies to cellular phone companies.

By returning broadcasting licenses back to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), TBN was flush with new cash that it promptly invested.

According to the Christian Sentinel, “The FCC spent $1,223,872,598 acquiring the broadcast frequencies from religious stations.”

In 2017, Trinity Broadcasting of Florida acquired a Bombardier Global Express jet which spends little time in Florida. This is at least the seventh in a long series of private jets the religious broadcaster has owned since the 1980’s. Most of its travel is between California, Colorado, and Texas. In May 2021, the jet, identified by tail number N3PC, spent about 25 days in Italy before flying to Israel.

The total travel expense for all TBN organizations in 2019 was $10,253,182.

A version of this article appeared at the Trinity Foundation site.  It is reprinted here with permission.

Tags:
Barry Bowen

Barry Bowen writes for Trinity Foundation.

    1