Pioneer Bible Translators
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237433923
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Dallas, TX, United States
- Phone
- (214) 699-4300
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $23,892,519
- Expenses
- $24,106,738
- Assets
- $29,447,278
- Liabilities
- $460,213
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- GREG PRUETT (PRESIDENT, BOARD MEMBER)
- JEFF WILHOIT (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHAEL SCOTT GRAVES (CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER): $132,860 total reported compensation
- JEFF WILHOIT (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $108,300 total reported compensation
- JR BUCKLEW (ADVANCEMENT OFFICER): $102,415 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Pioneer Bible Translators exists to disciple the Bibleless, mobilizing God’s people to provide enduring access to God’s Word. Our Vision. You Helped Anna Understand God’s Word! Anna had a hard time understanding Scripture. You helped provide God’s Word in Moldovan Sign Language. It made all the difference! Read More long arrow alt right icon. Our Vision Transformed Lives Through God’s Word in Every Language.
What it reported doing in 2025
Missionary care our organization values a culture of care among our expatriate and national coworkers. Our care department desires to be a catalyst of encouragement and holistic nurturing that leads to physical, spiritual, social, mental, professional, and emotional well-being. In 2025, we were able to provide hundreds of hours of clinical therapy for our teammates. We also provided hundreds of hours of pastoral care through healing prayer and debriefing services for adults and children. For teammates transitioning between countries, cultures, and languages, we provided personal and group debriefing opportunities to deal with changes and other stressors. In addition to in-person and online activities for cross-cultural kids, we provided several age-appropriate services in the USA and abroad. We also trained parents to better assist their children. The care team mobilized daily prayer, sent thousands of emails and social media exchanges, used teleconferencing, hosted four webinars including one led by a nationally recognized author, and led our us-based and overseas teammates in monthly prayer and fasting events. We trained nearly 50 people in care practices. These are just some of the activities the care department was blessed to facilitate in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 79.1%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Pass
- 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: 97.1%; rating input score 97; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 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: -0.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.2%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 79.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $19.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $133K · 25 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $129K reported
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 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.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.