Samaritan's Purse

CharityWatch's rating of Samaritan's Purse includes the financial activities of the "interrelated organizations" consolidated in the Samaritan's Purse audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020.

According to the Samaritan's Purse (the Ministry) 2020 consolidated audit (Note 1 re: Principles of Consolidation):

"The [audited] consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Ministry and its interrelated organizations, Samaritan's Purse (Kenya), Samaritan's Purse (Sri Lanka), Ippan Shadan Houjin Samaritan's Purse (Japan), and Samaritan's Purse (Korea). ... All interorganization transactions and account balances are eliminated [in the audit] upon consolidation."

According to the Samaritan's Purse (the Ministry) consolidated audit of December 31, 2020, the Ministry received contributed in-kind services from volunteers in 2020 on which it placed a value of approximately $7,200,000 (Note 1 re: Contributed Services). The Ministry also received contributed in-kind goods in 2020 on which it placed a value of approximately $202,300,000 (Note 1 re: Contributed Goods).

Also according to the Samaritan's Purse 2020 consolidated audit (Note 1 re: Contributed Goods):

"The Ministry receives donations of medical equipment, supplies and other materials for use in its programs. ... These donations include the receipt of individual gift boxes through the Operation Christmas Child project. This project collected approximately 7,400,000 and 8,900,000 gift boxes from individuals for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The estimated value per gift box was $25.17 for 2020 and $24.21 for 2019...

"Gifts-in-kind distributed through the Ministry amounted to approximately $209,200,000 and $240,800,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively."


According to the Ministry's 2020 tax filing, the Ministry placed a value of approximately $193.5 million on donated "Shoebox Gifts," which represents about 96% of the total value of donated goods received by the Ministry in 2020 (IRS Form 990, Schedule M).

[Note: CharityWatch generally excludes the value of in-kind (non-cash) donations of goods and services from its calculations of Program % and Cost to Raise $100. More information on how grades are calculated and the treatment of in-kind donations can be found on the Our Process page.]

According to the Samaritan's Purse (the Ministry) consolidated audit of December 31, 2020 (Note 10, Related-Party Transactions):

"The Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of the Ministry serves as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (the 'Association'). The Association is controlled by an independent Board of Directors, though the two ministries share certain board members. The Ministry and the Association are engaged in related party transactions including a shared services agreement to gain efficiencies over administrative services supporting their individual ministries, receive and forward contributions intended for the other organization, transfer assets that align with the other organization's projects and activities, and staff and financially support joint ministry activities and disaster responses..."

[...]

"The Ministry maintains license agreements with the following unconsolidated organizations: Samaritan's Purse-Australia, The Samaritan's Purse-Canada, Samaritan's Purse International-United Kingdom, and Samaritan's Purse e.V. The agreements outline how the affiliated organizations coordinate program activities and the terms and conditions of their use of the Ministry's registered name and trademarks..."

According to the Samaritan's Purse (SP) 2020 tax filing, SP reports for Business Transactions Involving Interested Persons transactions described as "Comp/benefits" in the amounts shown below, related to 12 individuals who share a family relationship with an SP officer, director, or key employee (IRS Form 990, Schedule L, Parts IV & V):

(1) Edward Graham, Son of Director: $191,957
(2) Marty Cottrell, Son-in-law of Director: $86,774
(3) Jeremy Zerkle, Son-in-law of Key Employee: $83,239
(4) Ann Littlejohn, Daughter of Officer: $59,113
(5) John Payne, Spouse of Director: $51,793
(6) Corey Lynch, Spouse of Director: $49,300
(7) Jane Graham, Spouse of Director: $47,411
(8) Jessica Zerkle, Daughter of Key Employee: $45,510
(9) Tyler Pauls, Son of Director: $42,617
(10) Brittain Prevo, Grandson of Director: $42,082
(11) Andrew Harrelson, Son of Key Employee: $35,585
(12) Kristen Graham, Daughter-in-law of Director: $14,283

According to the Samaritan's Purse (SP) 2020 tax filing, SP reports re: the existence of a family or business relationship among officers, directors, trustees, or key employees that Franklin Graham, Board/Chair/CEO, has a family/business relationship with Roy Graham, Board Member, and also a family relationship with Jane Austin Lynch, Board Member (IRS Form 990, Schedule O re: Part VI, line 2).

Samaritan's Purse reports having 16 voting members on its governing body at the end of 2020, with nine voting members reported as independent (IRS Form 990, Part VI, lines 1a & 1b).

According to the Samaritan's Purse (the Ministry) consolidated audit of December 31, 2020 (Note 3, Property and Equipment):

"The Ministry has entered into agreements for property and asset acquisitions and capital improvements of approximately $14,661,000 as of December 31, 2020."