Lutheran Bible Translators
Legal name: Lutheran Bible Translators Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 952630437
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Concordia, MO, USA
- Phone
- (660)-225-0810
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,966,014
- Expenses
- $7,932,801
- Assets
- $20,255,364
- Liabilities
- $533,308
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- RICHARD RUDOWSKE (EXECUTIVE DI): $192,551 total reported compensation
- SETH HINZ (MARKETING DI): $149,547 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Lutheran Bible Translators makes God’s Word accessible to those who do not yet have it in the language they understand best. Lutheran Bible Translators partners with local leaders to create translation programs for the many communities who do not have access to God’s Word in their native language. Your prayers and financial gifts enable us to provide the resources, tools, and the support local leaders need to make the Word of God more accessible than ever. Give Today Mission & Vision. Impact Areas Effective and accurate Bible translation takes more than a deep understanding of language—it requires the right resources, community involvement, and awareness of cultural context. We focus on three key areas to provide local leaders with what they need to support a successful translation program.
What it reported doing in 2025
Program ministries - to translate the bible into local languages, to provide literacy materials and training to help people to read, and to provide assistance for the other nationals doing the same in their home country.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 67
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.1%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 69.7%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 48th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 20.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.55; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 67.1% of revenue deployed · 69.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $193K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.