American Bible Society HQ

As American Bible Society has done for the last 197 years, we are committed to delivering best-in-class Scripture programs and projects that help people discover the love of Christ through the life-changing message of the Bible. We do that in three ways: 1) Where people lack access, we PROVIDE God’s Word through translation and distribution; 2) Where people are broken by trauma, we RESTORE lives through the hope found in Scripture; 3) Where people are adrift from the Gospel, we EQUIP them with innovative resources that help bring God’s Word to life. Domestically, we continue to focus on four key audiences: Church leaders, youth, multi-language populations, and our armed services. We focus on offering valuable Scripture tools that are created to help turn the tide on waning Scripture engagement in the US. Our “Scripture Suite” includes resources that focus on the primary entryways to Scripture engagement: 1) Pain – God’s hope and healing in the midst of life’s greatest tragedies; 2) Purpose – God’s assurance that life has meaning; 3) Passion – God’s invitation to deep relationship; 4) Presence – experiencing God in everyday circumstances. Internationally, we work with 146 other national Bible Societies and ministry partners to help address the issues of Bible Poverty for people in China, the Middle East, Africa and around the globe. ABS has five geographic points of focus: China, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. As a founding member of the United Bible Societies and its network of 145 national Bible Societies, American Bible Society has been carrying out effective global impact with the Bible for decades. ABS also has three translation focal points: new translations, updated translations and training translation scholars. This includes the innovative, digital effort entitled Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN). Once completed, ETEN will make freely available the world's largest digital Bible translation library with ready access for 5 billion people in their choice of hundreds of languages. This exciting project, underway now, is an alliance where American Bible Society partners with the best Bible ministries on the planet - United Bible Societies, Wycliffe/The Seed Company, Biblica-- as well as major donors who have passion for this unprecedented translation and supply acceleration.

ABS has a blue chip heritage of excellence in catalyzing Bible-based life change for more than 197 years. As part of this, ABS plays a unique role in convening the inter-confessional Christian community. ABS demonstrates its capacity to convene the church by regularly hosting leaders from each of the major Christian traditions. American Bible Society's biblical integrity and delivery across the whole of the Christian church is undergirded by our Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship. This team of scholars, Bible translators and content experts provides needed review and due diligence and an excellence recognized by both church and academia alike. Every ABS programmatic endeavor is structured within an overarching operational plan and overseen by Board governance. One hundred percent of our board members, aside from volunteering their time, contribute financially to the mission of ABS. The Board is well engaged in the review of ABS performance management. The CEO's performance and compensation is reviewed annually by the Board. The Board of Trustees has also established a policy on effectiveness assessment to help ensure that the organization has defined, measurable goals and objectives to evaluate the success and impact of all our programs. Additionally, there is an active Audit Committee of the Board that provides oversight to insure ethical integrity.

As part of our standard internal process, all our operational plans are continually monitored and updated by Global Scripture Ministries leadership with review by the Finance team and Executive Leadership. Central to identifying and qualifying best-in-class ministry programs for ABS is the work of our internal research group, Global Scripture Impact (GSI). GSI provides qualitative and quantitative evaluations (Impact Reports) for the most promising proposed projects and, if implemented, evaluations (Impact Assessments) are prepared at the completion of each project. The result is greater learning and confidence that each project will accomplish the needed and hoped-for results and better overall stewardship. The organization regularly assesses its ministry fit relative to offerings of other not-for-profits, the needs of donors and the landscape of program beneficiaries. Most recently, ABS employed the Barna Research Group to better understand brand awareness perceptions and favorability. This has included a strong focus on delivering more mission aligned results for every dollar raised. As a result of our mission-aligned focus and stewardship, ABS received accreditation from the Better Business Bureau and most recently, from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.