Colorado · Nonprofit
The Word for the World USA
The Word for the World USA (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,204,133 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($18,157,442). 6 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 FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $5.4M
What The Word for the World USA does
Mission
The mission of the Word for the World is to enable persons, ministries and organizations from language communities that do not have the Bible in their own language yet to take responsibility for Bible translation and related activities and to ensure its availability. (cont. Sch. O)The Word for the World trains nationals in the required skills and provides them with the support they need to accurately translate God's Word into their primary language. The Organization partners with others to print and distribute the newly translated Scripture, and promote literacy and Scripture engagement where needed. The Word for the World has more than 40 years of experience in Bible translation, and its unique, mobile training program results in Bibles that are among the most accurate, readily accepted, cost effective and timely Bible translations in the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Recruiting, training and assisting bible translators working in languages into which the bibles has never been translated. Training nationals to translate the bible for their own people. Providing the organizational infrastructure to channel finances for bible translation projects. Providing technical support through bible translation consultants to ensure quality translations of the bible. Initiating and managing literacy programs to teach people to read and write. TWFTW USA is part of an alliance of organizations linked in mission and purpose, working in more than 35 countries with a worldwide income of over $18 million.
$11,011,075 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $11,011,075.
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 $4.1M to $6.4M (+56%).
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: 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of The Word for the World USA’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.
Chief executive
Christiaan de Wet
CEO
Board chair
Randy Welsch
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $693k → $2.3M.
6 of 13 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 The Word for the World USA’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
The Word for the World USA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 The Word for the World USA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 100% · 2019 76% · 2020 75% · 2021 74% · 2022 82% · 2023 48% — 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.
How long its funders stay
44% of The Word for the World USA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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 The Word for the World USA'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 $3.2M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
The Word for the World USA holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 119 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like The Word for the World USA
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Word for the World USA: 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 The Word for the World USA?
- The Word for the World USA (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,204,133 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($18,157,442). 6 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 The Word for the World USA have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $24,204,133 in grants to The Word for the World USA, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Word for the World USA?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $18,157,442 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Word for the World USA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Word for the World USA →
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 13 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing