Tennessee · Nonprofit
MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY
MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY (Tennessee) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,644,280 to it, the largest being Anabaptist Foundation ($1,688,579). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $9.1M
What Mount Zion Literature Ministry does
Mission
The mission of mzl is to promote the publication, distribution, and sale of christian literature in spanish and english speaking countries in latin america, africa, and other areas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Sale of christian literature - mzl sells christian literature including bibles, devotional books, school cirriculum materials, and other inspirational books through a network of foreign distributors in third world countries. Most literature is sold at or below cost and is subsidized through charitable contributions from the general public. This enables economically disadvantaged people in these countries to afford to purchase this literature. Countries include honduras, paraguay, panama, cuba and venezuela. Books are also sold within the us.
$1,007,187 spent$1,964,453 earned by the program55% of program spendingDuring 2025 mzl sponsored free book distributions in: bolivia, belize, ecuador, cuba, colombia, honduras, mexico, costa rica, panama, venezuela, paraguay, peru, with over 150,000 recipients.
$819,216 spentof which $819,216 as grants45% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,826,403.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.6M to $9.0M (+36%).
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.
113% of MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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
Dennis Martin
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $49k → $279k.
4 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 79% · 2019 68% · 2020 44% · 2021 59% · 2022 59% · 2023 41% — diversifying over time.
“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.
Where its funders are
90% of MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY'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 $276k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,325 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,325 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY
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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 13 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY: 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 MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY?
- MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY (Tennessee) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,644,280 to it, the largest being Anabaptist Foundation ($1,688,579). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $2,644,280 in grants to MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY?
- Anabaptist Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,688,579 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MOUNT ZION LITERATURE MINISTRY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 5 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