Just three weeks after the U.S. State Department announced nearly $2 billion in foreign funding to faith-based and community organizations, one of the Christian groups selected to receive the money said it would not take it.
Samaritan’s Purse, a large evangelical Christian humanitarian organization led by Franklin Graham, declined a $300 million federal award for disaster response.
“We were honored to be a part of this proposal. While we deeply appreciate the confidence that the State Department has placed in Samaritan’s Purse, after prayer and discussion, we have withdrawn from being a recipient of these funds,” Graham said in a statement to several outlets on Aug. 28.
He went on to thank God and “the incredible donors” who have supported the organization.
“Throughout my history leading Samaritan’s Purse, we have always relied on God, not government, for funding,” he said.
The decision came after the Trump administration’s Aug. 6 announcement of what the State Department called its largest allocation of global health foreign assistance to faith-based organizations in more than 20 years.
The nearly $2 billion initiative was presented as the centerpiece of the administration’s new approach to foreign aid. At its core is the shift of a larger share of U.S. assistance toward faith-based and community organizations with established networks in countries where the U.S. provides aid.
Under the plan, $1.4 billion would support health services through faith- and community-based hospitals, clinics and community hubs in more than 20 countries. The State Department said the initiative would strengthen more than 2,500 facilities and train, equip and pay more than 30,000 community health workers.
A separate $538 million would fund humanitarian response efforts expected to reach 7 million people. The State Department framed the change as a way to reduce overhead and put more resources into front-line services.
The State Department specifically named Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and Compassion International as partners in the new effort. Samaritan’s Purse was selected to receive $300 million over two years for disaster response and assistance in protracted emergencies.
Graham, who is one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent evangelical allies, has led Samaritan’s Purse since 1979, when he became president at age 27. Under his leadership, the North Carolina-based organization has grown into an international humanitarian operation, responding to wars and natural disasters around the world.
Graham has emphasized a model that pairs physical aid with evangelism: The organization provides food, medical care, emergency shelter and other assistance while explicitly sharing the Christian gospel. The organization’s mission is “to follow the example of Christ by helping those in need and proclaiming the hope of the Gospel.”
Experts who study humanitarian aid told the Deseret News that relying more heavily on faith-based organizations could have advantages, since churches and other religious networks are often deeply embedded in local communities and can operate in places that international organizations can’t always reach. But they also raised concerns that all selected organizations were Christian and asked whether religious affiliation is being given too much weight in the distribution of public funds.
Abby Stoddard, a partner at Humanitarian Outcomes, a consulting group that works with humanitarian organizations, said humanitarian funding should be awarded on the basis of an organization’s ability to deliver aid rather than its religious identity.
“When a government shows preference for an organization based on its professed religion, it signals that it is serving objectives beyond humanitarian ones, which means it is not optimizing for the best outcomes for people in need,” Stoddard told the Deseret News earlier in an email.
Despite turning down the federal money, Graham said he was grateful for the organization’s “working relationship” with the State Department and that Samaritan’s Purse “will continue to be available to partner” with in responding to emergencies.
“I am thankful for the changes President Trump has made to America’s foreign aid program and appreciate the tremendous efforts Secretary of State Marco Rubio has put into this,” Graham said in his statement. “As we have done for decades, we will continue sharing the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — His death, burial, resurrection, and coming return — always responding to crises in Jesus’ Name.”