We shouldn't be scared of accountability

A unique Christian nonprofit tries to keep all of us honest

Warren Cole Smith, president of Ministry Watch.

“What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” —Luke 12:3

Rusty Leonard was a successful financial investment manager. As he and his wife, Carol, became personally wealthy, they began making generous donations to Christian ministries. Because of Rusty’s beliefs about good stewardship, he asked various ministries to provide copies of their financial statements, so that he could analyze them before deciding where to make his donations.

To Rusty’s surprise, he discovered that many of the ministries received that kind of request so seldom that they were not equipped to respond.

The Internet was just emerging at this time, offering a brand-new way to make information readily available. So Rusty decided that he would obtain and post the financial statements of the 500 largest US Christian ministries for everyone to see.

That was the beginning of an unusual nonprofit organization called Ministry Watch, which seeks to encourage all Christians toward exemplary standards of transparency and accountability. Ministry Watch now tracks 1,300 organizations, giving each one a “transparency grade” and “donor confidence score” based on a defined set of criteria. You can find these ratings and a lot more by going to the list and clicking on the name of any organization.

The transparency grade is based on whether a ministry files a Form 990 (which discloses various financial information), posts audited financial statements, and belongs to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. (The ECFA covers only US ministries, but as I explained in last week’s post, it created Global Trust Partners to develop similar accountability structures in other countries.) The donor confidence score is derived from 14 criteria, such as commitment to a statement of faith, board independence, and CEO compensation.

Of course, some people may disagree with aspects of Ministry Watch’s rating system, such as its method of determining “financial efficiency” or its belief that the best governing boards have between 5 and 11 members. But Ministry Watch invites each ministry to provide a response to its rating. For example, Compassion International explained why it is not legally required to file a Form 990 and that its alternative accountability report receives high marks from other rating entities.

The key point here is not whether Ministry Watch has a perfect rating system, but that it makes lots of information easily accessible so that donors can make their own decisions.

Ministry Watch also conducts research and publishes articles on controversies involving Christian ministries. Its investigations page demonstrates, for instance, the numerous and timely stories it produced on Hillsong and Ravi Zacharias.

May we all work together to support responsible standards of integrity and accountability—and to point out those ministries that embarrass the gospel by evading accountability.

Warren Cole Smith, a journalist who replaced Rusty Leonard as Ministry Watch’s president in 2019, shares more details below.

On board size: The ECFA requires that ministries have at least five board members but has no maximum. We believe that having too many board members can be just as big a problem as having too few. Liberty University had more than 40 board members at one point, which contributed to some of their recent scandals. Large board size defuses accountability by making it more difficult for board members who might have concerns to speak up, because they are just one voice among many.

On executive compensation: We rate ministries based on their peer group, and we have 21 separate categories. So we do not rate a college in comparison to a relief organization, because they have different needs and functions. Relief organizations like Compassion, World Vision, and Samaritan’s Purse have very large budgets, and they need competent professionals as their leaders. To hire such people, organizations usually have to pay a lot of money. We don’t say that a $500,000 salary is too much, but we think donors have the right to know the CEO’s salary. [In its rating system, Ministry Watch deems acceptable a CEO salary that is within one standard deviation of the median for its peer group.]

On why ministries resist transparency and accountability: Many ministries had their beginnings in a time when missionaries from the US or the UK would go to a far-off mission field with their belongings packed in a casket. They would kiss their mother goodbye, expecting never to return home alive. There was something legitimately heroic about that. Their sacrifice and commitment were so plain to all that we became accustomed to not scrutinizing their work closely.

Today, that culture still exists with a lot of mission organizations. They wonder why we should question them when they are doing the Lord’s work.

Also, in some countries, there is concern about missionaries’ safety. But that is a misplaced concern with regard to donor accountability. No Form 990 or audited financial statement needs to reveal the identity of people doing ministry, or even their country.

On why Ministry Watch does investigative reporting: When we tell a story of a scandal, fraud, or abuse, it is easy to frame our work as “bad news.” Many people are discouraged when they hear such stories. But I prefer to look at them from the victims’ point of view. The victims feel that they have finally been heard and appreciated. I’ve received many messages from victims saying, “We saw this and tried to warn others, and Ministry Watch was the first to take these concerns seriously.”

Not only are our stories good news for the victims, but they also warn others about the perpetrator. And they provide guidance to other organizations about the policies and procedures they should consider putting in place so that they don’t end up being written about by Ministry Watch some day.

The apostle Paul said, “Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). When we write these stories, not only are we following an explicit command of Scripture, but we are contributing to the restoration of all things and the sanctification of individual Christians.

Your message for global Christian leaders: Set a very high bar of transparency and accountability. Be completely forthcoming with your donors, and honest and accurate whenever reporting on ministry impact. Do not overstate or oversell what you are doing.

Many ministries work in hard places where immediate results, especially in evangelism or discipleship, are often not present. They should be honest about that with their donors. The Bible teaches that some people plant seeds, some water, and some harvest. God is the one responsible for that (1 Corinthians 3:6–8). Global leaders, especially those working in difficult places, should not be ashamed or afraid to tell the truth about their work.

Faithfulness is our responsibility; fruitfulness is God’s responsibility. Our goal is to remain faithful, whether we see immediate fruits or not. That posture will give us confidence in reporting our work to our donors.