Texas · Nonprofit
PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS
PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS (Texas) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,891,946 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($6,001,011). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $29M
What Pioneer Bible Translators does
Mission
Pioneer Bible Translators exists as a team to disciple bible-less peoples, mobilizing god's people everywhere both to provide enduring access to god's word translated into their languages and to maximize its impact to grow the church.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Bible translation, literacy, and related mobilization and discipleship activities - pioneer bible consists of 701 teammates cooperating with 350 local colleagues worldwide ministering to 510 million people in 116 different language groups in 41 countries. During 2025, we increased the number of language groups engaged from 106 to 116 with a historical portfolio of 146 language programs (including active and inactive programs). Teams translated 39,265 verses of scripture which are ready for first publication and continued building a capacity for sign language translation worldwide. Finally, we note that in the 49-year history of pioneer bible, our teams have drafted 1,094,009 verses of the bible, the equivalent number of verses as 137 new testaments. Our teams now have published a total of 5 complete bibles and 25 new testaments.
$18,188,227 spentof which $1,750,851 as grants$122,125 earned by the program95% of program spendingMobilization - the organization welcomed 58 new teammates. Mobilizers attended 30+ events, during which they facilitated 50 speaking engagements. Through these events, around 2,500+ people became familiar with the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators. Around 100 of these are serious inquirers.training - training new and current missionaries is an integral part of pioneer bible's mission. In 2025, personal and professional coaching was provided to at least 133 individuals preparing for cross-cultural work. A program practicum and planning course was offered in the fall, and weekly chapel services were conducted throughout the year. Various workshops and seminars were also provided, including team orientation and spiritual formation. Ongoing training activities continued daily with new representatives and associates. In 2025, 20 missionaries completed training and began their first assignment.
$589,688 spent3% of program spendingMissionary care our organization values a culture of care among our expatriate and national coworkers. Our care department desires to be a catalyst of encouragement and holistic nurturing that leads to physical, spiritual, social, mental, professional, and emotional well-being. In 2025, we were able to provide hundreds of hours of clinical therapy for our teammates. We also provided hundreds of hours of pastoral care through healing prayer and debriefing services for adults and children. For teammates transitioning between countries, cultures, and languages, we provided personal and group debriefing opportunities to deal with changes and other stressors. In addition to in-person and online activities for cross-cultural kids, we provided several age-appropriate services in the usa and abroad. We also trained parents to better assist their children. The care team mobilized daily prayer, sent thousands of emails and social media exchanges, used teleconferencing, hosted four webinars including one led by a nationally recognized author, and led our us-based and overseas teammates in monthly prayer and fasting events. We trained nearly 50 people in care practices. These are just some of…
$301,083 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,078,998.
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 2021 to 2022, from $23M to $26M (+15%).
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 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Mike Chambers
Chair, board member
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 36 funders, grant income rose $924k → $3.5M.
27 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
91% 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 PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 48% · 2019 40% · 2020 48% · 2021 43% · 2022 47% · 2023 82% — 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 PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
84% of PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS'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 $2.4M that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from funders outside Texas, across 24 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS is better cushioned than half of the 127 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 127 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Search Alliance LLC · disregarded
- Global Milestones Staffing and Logistics LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS: 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 PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS?
- PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS (Texas) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,891,946 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($6,001,011). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $14,891,946 in grants to PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS, 47 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,001,011 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATORS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 75 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