Missouri · Nonprofit
LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC
LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC (Missouri) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,445,345 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,304,492). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $9.4M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Lutheran Bible Translators Inc does
Mission
The mission of lutheran bible translators is to make god's word accessible to those who do not yet have it in the language of their hearts.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Fields services - to provide support for overseas and in country missionaries.
$4,658,559 spentof which $1,655,360 as grants84% of program spendingProgram ministries - to translate the bible into local languages, to provide literacy materials and training to help people to read, and to provide assistance for the other nationals doing the same in their home country.
$866,838 spent16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,525,397.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $10M to $13M (+30%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 3% · 2021 4% · 2023 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Marlis Norton
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $514k → $3.4M.
12 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 40% · 2019 71% · 2020 52% · 2021 41% · 2022 40% · 2023 88% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
87% of LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.2M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Missouri, across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC is better cushioned than half of the 2,399 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,399 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 17 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC?
- LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC (Missouri) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,445,345 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,304,492). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $9,445,345 in grants to LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,304,492 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 37 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing