Posted on 03/19/2025 3:51:16 PM PDT by Morgana
Samaritan’s Purse has confirmed that $19 million in frozen USAID funds has been released to the ministry.
Payments to the North Carolina-based evangelical aid organization had been stalled since January, when President Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all federal foreign aid.
News of the release follows the Supreme Court’s March 5 ruling that the Trump administration must unfreeze nearly $2 billion for foreign humanitarian work already completed at the government’s behest.
“The funding grants that Samaritan’s Purse has with USAID are reimbursement agreements,” said Samaritan’s Purse President and CEO Franklin Graham in a statement to MinistryWatch. “We pay for the supplies and staff in advance and they reimburse us. We have just received reimbursement for $19 million to provide life-saving aid in Sudan.”
Graham, who endorsed Trump’s election campaign and has expressed support for the president’s crackdown on USAID, previously told Time magazine that only $13 million had been frozen. Mark Barber, Samaritan’s Purse’s media relations director, explained to MinistryWatch that the amount owed went up as the ministry continued its contract work in Sudan, South Sudan, and Congo.
“It has been nearly a month since that last report and Samaritan’s Purse has continued to spend money as part of our funding agreements to provide emergency food and medicine,” Barber said. “We provide live-saving food, nutrition, and medicine through these funding agreements.”
In February, Samaritan’s Purse had told MinistryWatch it expected to be shielded by a federal waiver exempting “existing life-saving humanitarian assistance programs” from the freeze.
However, the waiver produced a backlog of applications from nonprofits requesting exemptions, while layoffs at USAID disrupted the normal process for delivering grants. Samaritan’s Purse did not respond to repeated requests to clarify whether its application was accepted.
But while many charities have criticized Trump’s foreign aid pause for the risk it poses to communities that depend on USAID-funded programs, Graham has defended the process as an important step in reigning in federal waste and fraud.
“There has never really been a review of the policies and the procedures and expenditures. To take a pause and to shake things up and hold people accountable, I think, is very good,” Graham told Time.
However, Graham admitted to being concerned Trump may go too far. “Because the staff at USAID was allowed to misappropriate billions of dollars, I think the pendulum is going to swing to a point where the baby may be thrown out with the bathwater. And that is tragic, but it’s because the culture of USAID got so far off track,” he said.
Throughout the federal shakeup, Graham has continued to associate closely with Trump, meeting him in January at the site of the Hurricane Helene disaster in North Carolina, praying with the President at the opening of the White House Faith Office, and posting “We thank God for President Donald J. Trump” on Facebook on Presidents’ Day.
While the freeze dealt a heavy blow to ministries like World Vision, which received about 44% of its $1.5 billion annual revenue from federal grants, Samaritan’s Purse depended on federal grants for about 4% of its $1.2 billion in annual revenue. Thus, while the dismantling of USAID has brought chaos and confusion elsewhere, the impact on Samaritan’s Purse has arguably been negligible.
👍👍👍
🛐🛐🛐🙏🙏🙏✝️✝️✝️
Years ago I looked at Samaritan’s Purse tax return as I was considering giving them money.
When I saw that Franklyn Graham took out over $650,000 per year in salary, I did not donate to them.
Really? Directly from the charity? Do you have a link to this information?
Why are they relying on taxpayer funds? I thought they were solely dependent on charity as their sole source of funding. I was wrong.
At first I thought the org billing was BS. No way, I thought, could this sized organization roll up $19M in reimbursables before getting paid. But I looked at their financials and they have $800M in cash on hand. Wow. I’m in the wrong business.
I am not a fan of Samaritan’s Purse. Years ago I participated in their Operation Christmas Box. I did so for many years. Then they told us to NOT put anything Christian in the boxes going out on Our Lord’s birthday and representing gifts from CHURCHES all over the world. We not only bought the things inside but paid to mail them. They even said they would remove anything Christian included.
If they want to be a secular charity, fine. But they claim to be a Christian organization/charity and this is just denying Christ. I didn’t like the bait and switch. To this day, I throw their flyers out.
Wow.
I looked at Samaritan’s Purse financials and they have $800M in cash on hand.
“The funding grants that Samaritan’s Purse has with USAID are reimbursement agreements,” said Samaritan’s Purse President and CEO Franklin Graham in a statement to MinistryWatch. “We pay for the supplies and staff in advance and they reimburse us. We have just received reimbursement for $19 million to provide life-saving aid in Sudan.”
Graham, who endorsed Trump’s election campaign and has expressed support for the president’s crackdown on USAID, previously told Time magazine that only $13 million had been frozen. Mark Barber, Samaritan’s Purse’s media relations director, explained to MinistryWatch that the amount owed went up as the ministry continued its contract work in Sudan, South Sudan, and Congo.
While the freeze dealt a heavy blow to ministries like World Vision, which received about 44% of its $1.5 billion annual revenue from federal grants, Samaritan’s Purse depended on federal grants for about 4% of its $1.2 billion in annual revenue. Thus, while the dismantling of USAID has brought chaos and confusion elsewhere, the impact on Samaritan’s Purse has arguably been negligible.
Wow, that is VERY dad, need to pray for them.
Why am I supposed to care about Sudan? Why am I forced to fund them?
Agreed—all of foreign aid never made sense to me.
With our insane national debt it just makes it worse.
> When I saw that Franklin Graham took out over $650,000 per year in salary, I did not donate to them. <
I too check salaries. A colonel’s job is important. If anyone in a charity makes more than what an average colonel makes (roughly $130,000), then I pass on the charity. That doesn’t mean the charity is necessarily bad!
It does mean the charity is not for me. I will look elsewhere.
I think you can get all of this info for all organizations at CharityNavigator.org.
One thing I have noticed. USAID is United States Agency for INTERNATIONAL Development.
Why is this “International” aid organization so deeply involved in American organizations, groups, etc that are operating here.
I have the same issue..money collected at point of a gun to pay which is then granted to an organization can hardly be called charity.
Well. He’s up to $813,000 now.
Wow. That’s just not right.
Samaritan’s Purse was one of the largest charities helping the people of North Carolina when Biden admin abandoned them. They are one of the few charities I will contribute to. They are also the ones who sent up an emergency hospital in NYC during COVID with doctors and nursed caring for infected people when the hospitals were over run.
So did Billy, if that is any consolation.
I didn’t know they took taxpayer money. When you accept tax money, the government owns you.
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