Mercy Ships

Legal name: Mercy Ships International

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262414132
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Lindale, TX, USA
Phone
(903) 939-7000
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Relief
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$250,375,032
Expenses
$191,394,677
Assets
$440,418,875
Liabilities
$10,467,088

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

38 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GARY BROWN (CHAIRMAN/ Interim CEO)
  • GERT VAN DE WEERDHOF (CEO END:03/25)

Highest reported compensation

  • DON STEPHENS (FOUNDER): $350,000 total reported compensation
  • NICOLAS ADAME (CFIO): $347,962 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT CORLEY (COO): $312,547 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We bring hope and healing to people in great need by mobilizing resources worldwide through hospital ships that provide lifesaving surgeries and train local healthcare workers. Mercy Ships has focused our attention on providing surgery as well as strengthening the healthcare infrastructure in the nations we serve. Thanks to the faithful support of friends and partners, children and families suffering from painful, disfiguring, and often-preventable diseases have been able to find the healing they so desperately needed. Despite our impact, many more children and families are waiting. We believe that, together with the nations we serve, we have the potential to make a difference in the lives of thousands in the immediate future and for decades to come. With both the _Africa Mercy_ and the _Global Mercy_ serving along the coast of Africa, our capacity has doubled, and.

What it reported doing in 2025

Mercy ships follows the 2,000-year-old model of jesus, bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor. In 2025, mercy ships continued providing medical services at no cost, including, but not limited to: - specialty surgeries performed 5,019 - patients evaluated during field consultation for surgery 7,093 - healthcare professionals trained and mentored 1,061 - total number of participant training hours 305,400 - dental procedures 31,863 - volunteer crew 2,152 - crew nationalities represented 75 - trained in nutritional agriculture 12

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.1%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 78.2%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.7%; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 95.5%; rating input score 95; 29th 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.6%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.3; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 60.1% of revenue deployed · 78.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 22 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $149.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $350K · 38 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $34.8M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 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: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.