International Messengers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411652782
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Clear Lake, IA, United States
Phone
641-357-6700
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Protestant
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,191,135
Expenses
$6,875,096
Assets
$5,009,642
Liabilities
$165,299

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brent Howland (Member/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Darwin Anderson (Ex-Officio): $113,560 total reported compensation
  • Brent Howland (Member/CEO): $81,790 total reported compensation
  • Ed Kleiman (Member/Staff): $62,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are committed to making disciples of all nations through partnering with local churches to renew, train and mobilize believers in reaching the world for Christ. The concept of International Messengers (IM) actually took place in the mind and heart of Robert Rasmusson in 1980. IM became an independent, nonprofit mission organization in 1989. The offices were moved to Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1992. IM set out to provide effective cross-cultural, short-term missions experiences for college-age students and adults. This pursuit led to a new and innovative ministry concept called Evangelistic English Language Camps (EELC), born in 1985 with a camp in Austria. The camps were expanded to Communist Poland the following year and then began in Hong Kong and other Eastern European countries from 1987 – 1992. In 1990 IM started offering 2-1/2 week opportunities aim.

What it reported doing in 2024

International Messengers normally conducts over 40 evangelistic short-term ministries each year, sends over 300 North Americans on short-term missionary endeavors, supports over 175 full-time missionaries around the world, and conducts nearly 100 events designed to challenge and disciple the North American church--these include preaching in churches, speaking at camps, conducting retreats, prayer services, marriage enrichment ministries, and various types of missions presentations. The goals of these activities are two-fold: 1) to reach more people with the good news about having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and 2) to encourage and equip people to be a part of sharing that good news with others. Much of the work we do is measured in intangibles rather than in statistical data. The numbers above give some idea of the scope of the work.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.2%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.4%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 75.2% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $114K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.