Understanding the Word Ministries
Legal name: Understanding the Word
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 883522515
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- Lafayette, LA, USA
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Religious (unspecified)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $403,133
- Expenses
- $361,335
- Assets
- $87,588
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
1 person listed
People named in this filing
- DAVID HOKE (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Understanding the Word Ministries exists to help people across the world truly understand and apply the Word of God by giving away Life Application Study Bibles—completely free of charge—to anyone willing to learn, grow, and walk with the Lord. Your donation directly supports our mission to help people everywhere encounter, understand, and apply the Word of God. As we pursue the vision of reaching all 8 billion people with a Life Application Study Bible, your support is what makes it possible—one life, one Bible at a time. DONATE. Our Mission is to provide Life Application Study Bibles to individuals in every walk of life—those searching for hope, those hungry for truth, and those simply curious about who God is. Whether someone is exploring faith for the first time or seeking to deepen their walk with Christ, we believe Scripture is where transformation begins and that God’s Word...
What it reported doing in 2025
My name is David Hoke, and I am the president and founder of Understanding the Word Ministries, based in Lafayette, LA. Our ministry began with a single foil-stamped Bible made for one person. I never imagined that one act of obedience would become the ministry God has grown today. Since then, in 2025 alone, He has given us the privilege of giving over 13,000 Bibles to people seeking to understand the Word of God in the United States and around the world. Some of the ministry'sstatisticsfor 2025 include the following Over 6,000 Biblesfor lawmakers across the US and the Dominican Republic. Over 250 Biblesfor Louisiana Adult and Teen Challenge. Over 200 boy Life Application bibles to Little Leagues. Over 1,000 Bibles to Colombia. Over 450 Biblesto Student Athletes at UL Lafayette, LSU, and other universities. Over 2,000 Bibles to Venezuela. Over 300 Biblesto Prison and Rehabilitation Ministries Over 3,500 Bibles to seekers across the US and counting
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 0
- Sustainability: 48
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.4%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 57.6% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 27% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $361K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
- Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.