unfoldingWord
The Church In Every People Group, The Bible In Every Language.
Mission
unfoldingWord is a Bible Translation organization that equips and empowers the global church for excellence in Bible Translation and Theological Formation, collaborating with other equippers of the church to make disciples of every people group.
Ruling year
2004
President/CEO
David N Reeves
Main address
10524 Moss Park Rd Ste 204-402
Orlando, FL 32832-5898 USA
Formerly known as
Distant Shores Media
EIN
14-1888977
NTEE code
Management & Technical Assistance (X02)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018.
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
a. Exponential growth of the global Church has created an insatiable hunger for God’s Word. b. The Bible is a “locked” book- inaccessible to hundreds of millions of Christians, in thousands of people groups all over the world, who are theologically malnourished and in a severe spiritual famine. c. The traditional translation model has unintentionally placed western, well-educated linguists in the center of the translation process, which means that the vast majority of Bible translations have been translated by a relatively small group of people. d. This misplaced agency has led to several systemic challenges: -Speed -Cost -Quality -Access -Spiritual Formation
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Gateway Languages Strategy
The Gateway Languages Strategy is a missiological model that leverages 21st century opportunities to provide all content, training, and tools needed for effective translation of biblical content in the smallest number of Languages of Wider Communication that covers 100% of the languages spoken collectively by the global Church through patterns of multilingualism
translationCore
translationCore is an open source tool designed to equip and empower local church translators to unlock God’s Word for local people in local languages, in even the most remote, unengaged areas of the world. It provides checklists for church-centric translators to improve the accuracy of their own Bible translations. It enables the comparison of their translations against the original languages and multiple other sources. The leaders of church networks are interested in accelerating Bible translation, but they also recognize they need a means of determining and refining the accuracy of their translations so they can end spiritual famine in their peoples.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsOpen-licensed resources published in our catalog
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This includes Biblical resources with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license and similar open licenses.
Published Open Bible Stories translations
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Gateway Languages Strategy
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Translations of our Open Bible Stories resource for evangelism, discipleship, and translation training.
Completed Book Package Resources for Translators
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Gateway Languages Strategy
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
A set of resources for each book of the Bible to be made available in each gateway language. They provide translation and exegetical aids to minority language translators.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
a. To address these challenges and exponentially scale the translation process, we need to put the Church in the center of the translation process by giving them agency and tools to translate the Bible and other important resources into their own languages.
b. Our goal at unfoldingWord is simple: to unlock Bible translation by developing tools, training and content so local church networks can quickly, accurately, and inexpensively translate Biblical resources into their own languages.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
a. Using Church-Centric Bible Translation (CCBT)-Equipping church leaders so that they are able to translate more effectively
b. Employing the Gateway Languages Strategy-Leaders of the global Church often don't understand translation resources in English. However, they generally know another major language, a gateway language, that bridges the gap between English and their heart language. Develop translation resources in all of the gateway languages, so churches have the essentials to translate the Scriptures into their own heart languages.
c. Innovative, Open-Source Technology-Developing open-source software tools that equip and empower local church translators to unlock God’s Word for local people in local languages
d. Breaking Down Copyright Barriers-Facilitating collaborative initiatives with multiple Bible ministries to provide unrestricted, open-source biblical content, technology tools, and training resources to equip the global Church for Bible translation and discipleship
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
a. Leadership and facilitation of the worldwide CCBT forum of like-minded translation agencies, church networks and technology providers.
b. Direction of pilot projects in collaboration with church networks and translation consultants.
c. Catalyst and training for church networks.
d. Technical software development team.
e. Liaison with major translation funding organizations.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
a. CCBT forum is established with regular interaction and meetings and extensive action list.
b. Major pilot project on 12 gateway languages in India is in progress and will be complete Q3/2018. Initial results are very favorable.
c. Church networks using CCBT processes are successfully engaged in several areas of the world.
d. Church networks are reaching out to unfoldingWord to engage translation projects using CCBT and GL.
e. Initial results show quality is maintained as speed increases and cost decreases.
f. Some movement of traditional BT agencies toward the CCBT paradigm.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.)
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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unfoldingWord
Board of directorsas of 03/14/2023
Michael Vos
BILD International
Term: 2017 -
Dr Max Anders
The 7 Marks Resource Group
Term: 2017 -
Aaron Erickson
Alan Anderstrom
Joel Hunter
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Not applicable -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/26/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
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