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Gordon Christian Trust at a glance

· Public charity

Gordon Christian Trust

GORDON CHRISTIAN TRUST is organized as a type I supporting organization to gull lake ministries.

$22M
Granted FY2019
99
Grants FY2019
29
States reached
$3.9M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

58% of Gordon Christian Trust’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year Gordon Christian Trust named its own grantees at scale: 94 organizations, $22M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

111
’17
92
’18
94
’19
9
’20
0
’21
0
’22
1
’23
1
’24
1
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$96MReligion$27MInternational$8.1MFood & Nutrition$4.0MEducation$1.4MHuman Services$1.1MArts & Culture$1.1MCivil Rights$922kOther$0
02FY2019 · 99 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k5 grants · $35k
  • $10k–50k41 grants · $1.2M
  • $50k–250k38 grants · $2.8M
  • $250k+15 grants · $18M
$50,000
Median grant
29
States reached
$128M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
InterVarsity Chrisitan Fellowship$3,861,086
Seed Company$3,800,000
Redeemer City to City$1,420,000
Cru$1,378,655
Sat-7 USA$1,285,000
Mercy Ships$1,000,000
World Radio Missionary Fellowship Inc$1,000,000
HOPE International$950,000
IFESUSA$800,000
Gull Lake Ministries$677,000
Development Associates International$400,000
Faith Comes By Hearing$400,000
Youth for ChristUSA$350,000
Strategic Resource Group$312,200
ELIC$300,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–19, $906k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 91% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Servant Partners: $43k → 14%PEACE International: $16k → 12%Heart for Lebanon: $200k → 12%100 Nations Campaign: $80k → 5%Tides Center: $31k → 10%Center for Community Transformation: $40k → 11%India Christian Ministries: $40k → 10%Treetops Collective: $20k → 11%International Christian Concern: $86k → 14%Treetops Collective: $20k → 11%Wedgwood Christian Services: $100k → 11%Bethany Christian Services: $230k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
OH
PA
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$53M · 55 repeat orgs$16M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against +57% for those funded once.

55 repeat relationships: 48 still active in FY2019, 7 since wound down; 49 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

55
133

Total granted

$53M
$11M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+57%

Still filing today

71%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’23’24’25
ReligionInternationalEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • IC
    InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA
    3× · 2017–2019 · $5.0M · revenue +9%
  • SN
    SAT-7 NORTH AMERICA
    3× · 2017–2019 · $3.4M · revenue +63%
  • RC
    Redeemer City To City
    2× · 2018–2019 · $2.4M · revenue +126%

Funded once

  • SI
    SRG Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $973k
  • P
    PIONEERS
    one grant, 2018 · $900k
  • FI
    FMI INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $750k · revenue +103%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Crossing Cultures International Inc

Crossing Cultures International, Inc. exists to glorify God by equipping Christ followers globally with comprehensive training for effective ministry.

Religion
2
Christian Mission for the United Nations Community

Christian Mission for the United Nations Community is a ministry aimed at leading the head of every nation and other top leaders to faith in Jesus Christ and helping them to walk in dependence upon God as they discharge the…

—
3
Global City Missions Initiative Incorporated

Global City Mission Initiative is dedicated to cross-cultural evanglism, disciplemaking, church planting among diverse diaspora populations in strategic cities reaching out evangelistically to start multiply churches, training believers to…

Religion
4
Tyndale Bible Translators

Bible Translation and acts of Christian Services

Religion
5
Timothy Two Project International

Reaching and teaching pastors in the majority world.

Religion
6
Youth for Christ International Ministries

As part of the body of Christ, to see that every young person in every people group in every nation has the opportunity to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and become a part of the local church.

Religion
7
Next Worldwide Inc

With a desire to see the Gospel proclaimed in all nations, we exist to make and multiply disciples of the next generation through the vehicles of church-planting missions and missional leadership training.

—
8
CrossTalk Global

CrossTalk Global is a Christian educational organization that empowers and trains global church leaders to effectively communicate the Scriptures and share the hope of Christ in their communities. These projects are carried out in the USA…

Religion
9
Leadership Resources International

International missions: this organization is an international mission agency focusing on leadership development through teaching of the scriptures

Religion
10
Serving Beyond Borders

Serving and pastoring overseas workers on their own turf and equipping nationals by training and empowering them in their work of advancing the gospel.

Human Services
11
Mission Without Borders International

The organization is dedicated to reaching people for christ through an international network of christians who journey with the poor and marginalized, bringing practical and spiritual support with hope of a better future,(continued on…

International
12
International Commission Inc

Equipping and enabling believers worldwide to conduct church-based evangelism projects to reach unbelievers and make disciples.

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bright Hope International; the most unlike its peers is Spokane Turbine Center Dba Parkwater Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

175 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 175 of the 242 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

11
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
81
Early backer (in before they grew)
163/175
Grantees still filing
133/175
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC: $73,237,997 · PhilanthropyNATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC+5 more: $383,250 · PhilanthropyIGFT Corporation: $22,527,900 · ReligionIGFT CorporationInterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA: $4,972,172 · ReligionInterVarsity Christian Fellowshi…SAT-7 NORTH AMERICA: $3,380,000 · ReligionSAT-7 NORTH AMERICARedeemer City To City: $2,420,000 · ReligionRedeemer City To CityINTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF EVANGELICAL STUDENTS USA INC: $1,600,000 · Religion+45 more: $6,087,851 · Religion+45 moreSEED COMPANY INC: $3,875,000 · OtherSEED COMPANY I…WORLD RADIO MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP INC: $2,168,092 · OtherWORLD RADIO MI…CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST INC: $1,470,928 · OtherCAMPUS CRUSADE…SRG Inc: $972,500 · OtherSRG IncPIONEERS: $900,000 · OtherRESTAVEK FREEDOM FOUNDATION: $788,092 · OtherFMI INC: $750,000 · OtherJUS COGENS: $666,667 · Other+74 more: $6,003,460 · Other+74 moreHOPE INTERNATIONAL: $1,800,000 · InternationalMercy Ships International: $1,000,000 · InternationalCURE INTERNATIONAL INC: $490,000 · InternationalENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA: $300,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES: $288,900 · InternationalJUDEA HARVEST INCORPORATED: $250,000 · International+28 more: $1,796,398 · InternationalTHORNSTON EDUCATIONAL FUND: $350,000 · EducationFriends of Forman Christian College Inc: $250,000 · EducationNATIONAL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: $185,000 · EducationWheaton College: $100,000 · EducationCornerstone University: $75,000 · EducationCITY SEMINARY OF NEW YORK: $75,000 · EducationAXIS: $74,350 · EducationCALVIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $70,000 · EducationKUPENDA FOR THE CHILDREN: $70,000 · Education+3 more: $101,716 · EducationHeart for Lebanon Foundation: $240,000 · Human ServicesBETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $230,000 · Human ServicesWEDGWOOD CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $100,000 · Human ServicesHope for Justice Inc: $85,500 · Human ServicesACCORD INC: $80,000 · Human ServicesSERVENOW: $42,900 · Human ServicesTreetops Collective: $40,000 · Human ServicesGRAND RAPIDS NEHEMIAH PROJECT: $40,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $31,440 · Human Services+1 more: $28,732 · Human ServicesYOUTH FOR CHRISTUSA INC: $350,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG LIFE: $177,000 · Youth DevelopmentFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $75,000 · Youth DevelopmentNEW CITY KIDS INC: $40,000 · Youth DevelopmentKIDS AROUND THE WORLD INC: $40,000 · Youth DevelopmentDYNAMIC YOUTH MINISTRIES: $35,000 · Youth Development
Philanthropy$73,621,247Religion$40,987,923Other$17,594,739International$5,925,298Education$1,351,066Human Services$918,572Youth Development$717,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC: $73,237,997 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetInterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA: $4,972,172 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetSAT-7 NORTH AMERICA: $3,380,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetRedeemer City To City: $2,420,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetHOPE INTERNATIONAL: $1,800,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF EVANGELICAL STUDENTS USA INC: $1,600,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetGULL LAKE MINISTRIES: $1,327,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetMercy Ships International: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetRESTAVEK FREEDOM FOUNDATION: $788,092 over 2y, 28% of budgetSTRATEGIC RESOURCE GROUP INC: $663,200 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetCURE INTERNATIONAL INC: $490,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetHOSANNA: $400,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetYOUTH FOR CHRISTUSA INC: $350,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHORNSTON EDUCATIONAL FUND: $350,000 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA: $300,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetONE WAY MINISTRIES: $290,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES: $288,900 over 1y, 32% of budgetJUDEA HARVEST INCORPORATED: $250,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetHeart for Lebanon Foundation: $240,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetRAISE UP GLOBAL MINISTRIES: $194,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetNATIONAL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: $185,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetREAL CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION INC: $183,250 over 2y, 27% of budgetWOMEN AT RISK INTERNATIONAL INC: $178,350 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $177,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN RESPONSE USA: $170,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetCROSS ROAD CORRECTIONAL MINISTRIES: $150,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetCAMP BEECHPOINT INC: $150,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCRESCENT PROJECT INC: $150,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetWIND RIVER MINISTRIES INC: $150,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetA FAMILY FOR EVERY ORPHAN: $135,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetSAFE HAVEN MINISTRIES INC: $125,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetSPOKANE TURBINE CENTER DBA PARKWATER FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 1y, 61% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE BIBLE: $118,900 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetA3: $118,241 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSoar Detroit: $114,800 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetKeys for Kids Ministries Inc: $113,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetTHE MAILBOX CLUB INC: $110,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetCUSH EMPOWERMENT GROUP: $105,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetMISSION EURASIA: $101,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetSteward Leader Ministries: $100,000 over 1y, 69% of budgetCHINA OUTREACH MINISTRIESINC: $100,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetWheaton College: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEDIA ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL INC: $100,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetWEDGWOOD CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAKOLA PROJECT INC: $100,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetHope for Justice Inc: $85,500 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetPraxis Inc: $80,700 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetCall of Hope: $80,695 over 1y, 18% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

International Generos…Tyndale House Ministr…G II CharitiesThe Maclellan Foundat…Christian Community F…Barnabas FoundationFirst Fruit IncSummit FoundationChristian Community F…Servant FoundationHenry P & Susan C Cro…The Signatry Charitab…
International Generosity Foundation TrustFL86.6× affinity44 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: International Generosity Foundation Trust · Tyndale House Ministries · G II Charities · The Maclellan Foundation Inc · Christian Community Foundation Inc · Barnabas Foundation · First Fruit Inc · Summit Foundation · Christian Community Foundation of Memphis · Servant Foundation · Henry P & Susan C Crowell Trust · The Signatry Charitable Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Gordon Christian Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gordon Christian Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 67%
  • World Relief Corp of National Association of Evangelicals: 67% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Gordon Christian Trust?

Find your warmest path to Gordon Christian Trust through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 242 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Gordon Christian’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home