Hope Builders Ministries
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 542057961
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Greenwood, VA, USA
- Phone
- (931) 401-7310
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Development
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,134,170
- Expenses
- $1,197,198
- Assets
- $424,392
- Liabilities
- $22,741
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAWRENCE GUNNELLS (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- ALIDA GOUS (DIRECTOR): $47,400 total reported compensation
- JOHAN GOUS (FORMER PRESI): $25,833 total reported compensation
- LAWRENCE GUNNELLS (CEO): $21,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Advancing the Gospel through the Great Commission. Hope Builders Ministries (HBM) developed from The Calling (2 Timothy 2:2) received by four men, one of whom was Johan Gous, working with Open Doors in Southern Africa in 1984. This began the "Timothy Project" to address the acute shortage of trained pastors in Mozambique. The "Timothy Training Institute" was established in 1990. In 2002 Johan began work with Hope Builders. Since 2010 Johan serves as the President of Hope Builders Ministries with headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since its inception, Hope Builders, in partnership with the Indigenous Church in Africa has established 11,000 village churches with trained pastors in eight African countries since 2001. HBM has enrolled pa.
What it reported doing in 2025
Raising funds to help meet the ministry objectives and physical needs of believers in developing countries, in places of poverty and in areas where the gospel of christ is not widely known. Ministries were served in 11 countries.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 57% for direct work, and 43% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.3%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $32.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Pass
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 98.2%; rating input score 98; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.6%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 93.3% of revenue deployed · 88.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $47K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.