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Ohio · Nonprofit

TRUTH FOR LIFE

TRUTH FOR LIFE (Ohio) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,000,350 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,316,915). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2023
$24M
Funders on record
97
Grants received
$8.0M
Net assets
$33M
66/97 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 6%
01What it does

What Truth for Life does

Mission

To teach the bible with clarity and relevance so that unbelievers will be converted, believers will be established, and local churches will be strengthened.

As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.

Program

  1. Truth for Life, the bible-teaching ministry of alistair begg, produces and distributes a daily bible-teaching program to listeners in all major radio markets across the u.s. Through approximately 1,900 radio outlets. Listeners in the u.s. And from around the world can access the program for free online at truthforlife.org, mobile device apps, podcast, through facebook, apple itunes, spotify, youtube, and by way of amazon fire and roku tv. Truth for Life is committed to delivering clear, relevant bible-teaching without cost as a barrier and makes alistair's entire teaching archive free online. Each month, over six million messages are downloaded for free by listeners across the globe. (continued on schedule o)followers of the ministry can also share alistair's teaching or access the daily blog through facebook, twitter, and instagram. For listeners who prefer to own Truth for Life's bible teaching messages a usb can be purchased at cost, with no mark up, thanks to the generous and faithful giving of the ministry's donors. Truth for Life is fully dedicated to teaching the bible with clarity and relevance so that unbelievers will be converted, believers will be established, and local…

    $18,275,967 spentof which $4,341,136 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $18,275,967.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($12M) Expenses 100 ($10M) Net assets 100 ($15M)2018 Revenue 103 ($12M) Expenses 113 ($11M) Net assets 105 ($16M)2019 Revenue 122 ($14M) Expenses 125 ($13M) Net assets 116 ($18M)2020 Revenue 152 ($18M) Expenses 139 ($14M) Net assets 141 ($22M)2021 Revenue 176 ($21M) Expenses 152 ($15M) Net assets 176 ($27M)2022 Revenue 167 ($20M) Expenses 162 ($16M) Net assets 194 ($30M)2023 Revenue 203 ($24M) Expenses 209 ($21M) Net assets 216 ($33M)
2017201820192020202120222023
Revenue (203)Expenses (209)Net assets (216)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $23M to $29M (+26%).

$17M
$17M
$19M
$23M
$29M
$31M
$35M
2017201820192020202120222023
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

98% of TRUTH FOR LIFE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (84% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 298 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.7M
’17
$781k
’18
$1.7M
’19
$3.9M
’20
$5.5M
’21
$3.4M
’22
$2.8M
’23
2.0
months of
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

Alistair Begg

President/CEO

Board chair

John Rothenbuhler

Chairman

As listed on its FY2023 Form 990.

2017201820192020202120222023
Listed881111121011
Joined·+0+3+1+1+0+1
No longer listed·001020
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 48 funders, grant income rose $627k → $1.3M.

32 of 97 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 TRUTH FOR LIFE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 97 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

TRUTH FOR LIFE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

73% 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 TRUTH FOR LIFE.

16%
largest funder
43%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 29% · 2019 29% · 2020 25% · 2021 22% · 2022 20% · 2023 20% — 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

47% of TRUTH FOR LIFE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

73% of TRUTH FOR LIFE'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 $2.1M that is directly attributable, 62% of it comes from funders outside Ohio, across 24 states.

WA
MN
IL
MI
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
DE
AZ
AR
NC
SC
OK
AL
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Ohio out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

TRUTH FOR LIFE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 234 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin12% · above the median
Months of reserve2.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)13% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 234 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2023

Organizations like TRUTH FOR LIFE

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 Ohio

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 9%Fundraising 5%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 18 states

AK
NH
WA
ND
MN
WI
MI
NY
PA
CO
WV
VA
TN
SC
DC
HI
MS
GA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRUTH FOR LIFE: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 TRUTH FOR LIFE?
TRUTH FOR LIFE (Ohio) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,000,350 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,316,915). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does TRUTH FOR LIFE have?
IRS filings report 97 organizations giving $8,000,350 in grants to TRUTH FOR LIFE, 66 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of TRUTH FOR LIFE?
NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,316,915 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like TRUTH FOR LIFE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), and the filings of 97 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