Michigan · Nonprofit
UNKNOWN NATIONS
UNKNOWN NATIONS (Michigan) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,867,613 to it, the largest being BIBLES FOR MISSIONS THRIFT CENTERS ($1,622,099). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.3M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Unknown Nations does
Mission
Unknown Nations is christian nonprofit organization that delivers the word of god to people who live in areas of the world that are less than 2% christian. This is accomplished through our network of indigenous leaders using solar powered audio bibles (the treasure) in the heart language of the people receiving them, along with discipleship training and humanitarian aid.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Distribution of the treasure in the area from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator (the 10/40 window) where there is the highest concentration of unreached people. The treasure is supplied with teaching and listening groups established with the ultimate goal of planting a local church
$2,369,348 spentof which $1,792,073 as grants$470,169 earned by the program54% of program spendingDiscipleship training. Discipleship centers and outposts have been established to train the most promising local leaders to teach, establish listening groups and start an indigenous church planting movement. This discipleship training can range from a 1 or 2 day training session to a multi-year program for youth.
$1,253,012 spentof which $975,264 as grants28% of program spendingHumanitarian aid. Very often the unreached areas are comprised of people living at a subsistence level. When a natural disaster occurs (fire, flood, drought, etc.), or displacement due to government or group persecution, it provides an opportunity to be the hands and feet of jesus through provision of humanitarian aid. While there we are able to demonstrate and teach about the love of christ.
$502,536 spentof which $399,886 as grants11% of program spendingDomestic education - teaching about the great commission and the need for jesus in many parts of the world.
$284,538 spentof which $275,710 as grants$304,459 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,409,434.
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 $4.2M to $5.5M (+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.
88% of UNKNOWN NATIONS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% 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.
Chief executive
Greg Kelley
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $93k → $878k.
11 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 UNKNOWN NATIONS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
UNKNOWN NATIONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 71%; 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 UNKNOWN NATIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 34% · 2019 75% · 2020 62% · 2021 49% · 2022 53% · 2023 35% — 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
50% of UNKNOWN NATIONS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
53% of UNKNOWN NATIONS'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 $2.3M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M 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
UNKNOWN NATIONS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 798 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 798 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UNKNOWN NATIONS
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 20 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNKNOWN NATIONS: 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 UNKNOWN NATIONS?
- UNKNOWN NATIONS (Michigan) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,867,613 to it, the largest being BIBLES FOR MISSIONS THRIFT CENTERS ($1,622,099). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNKNOWN NATIONS have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $4,867,613 in grants to UNKNOWN NATIONS, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNKNOWN NATIONS?
- BIBLES FOR MISSIONS THRIFT CENTERS is the largest funder on record, with $1,622,099 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNKNOWN NATIONS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 40 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