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Sagamore Institute Study Attempts To Quantify the Cost of Bible Translation

Por Warren Cole Smith
Bible translation Illuminations sagamore
IllumiNations, una coalición de ministerios de traducción de la Biblia, promociona su progreso en una exhibición de noviembre de 2017 en el Museo de la Biblia en Washington, DC (Foto: Josh Shepherd)

Bible translation organizations in the United States receive more than $500 million in donations per year. So how many Bibles actually get translated? And how much does a Bible translation cost?

Remarkably, the answer to that question is — nobody really knows.

That’s why the Sagamore Institute, an Indiana-based think tank, recently did a study to analyze the cost and use of funds in Bible translation. The study was funded by the Chattanooga-based Maclellan Foundation on behalf of the illumiNations Resource Partners. These are organizations and individuals who fund Bible translation efforts.

The findings include the following:

  • The average project cost of a “text translation” is $59,302 per year.

  • The average project cost of a complete written Bible is $937,446.

  • The “annual expenditure aggregate project cost” is $105 million.

  • On average, it takes 15.8 years to complete a Bible translation.

According to a statement, “the study distinguished between project costs (project development, accountability, translation tools, and translators) and support costs (local capacity, maintenance of translation tools, research and development, and alliance infrastructure) because support costs are typically underwritten by specific funding partners, rather than outside donors, and include recurring expenses.”

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The numbers released by the Sagamore Institute highlight the fact that the vast majority of dollars contributed to Bible translation organizations do not, in fact, go to Bible translation.

For example, the organizations that make up illumiNations took in more than $521 million last year (see chart), and these organizations produce less than 20 complete Bible translations in a year. If it really costs less than $1 million to produce the Bible, as the Sagamore Institute says, that means support and other costs could have topped $500 million.

ministrywatch bible translation

The Sagamore study also highlights another reality of the Bible translation industry: the practice of money transfers (grants) between Bible translation partners. These transfers mean that simply adding up the revenue of various Bible translation organizations will likely result in double-counting of revenue. That’s one reason the Sagamore study says the amount of money spent on Bible translation is not in the neighborhood of $500 million per year but about $378 million in the 12-month period reviewed. The study excludes “SIL costs outside of those in partnership with Wycliffe USA; grants unrelated to American Bible Society in the United Bible Societies’ International Support Programme, and differences in the treatment of GAAP reconciliation items.”

However, even accepting the Sagamore Institute’s lower number of $378 million, that means more than two-thirds of the money donated annually to Bible translation organizations goes to activities other than Bible translation. The Sagamore study identifies $97 million in “translation support costs” and $109 million in “related Bible ministry costs.” Sagamore also identified $67 million in “activities conducted by translation partners that are unrelated to Bible translation or ministry.”

All of this means that the “fully loaded” cost of a Bible translation is certainly in the millions of dollars, and likely in the tens of millions.

Calvin Edwards has been studying the Bible translation industry for years. He also had questions about “support costs” and why they were not included in the calculations for the cost of a Bible translation. 

“What are these?” he asked. “Do they relate directly to Bible translation? If support costs were included, what is the ‘full cost’ of a Bible translation?”

Edwards added, “The reported findings are interesting but not new, and much more information is required. Donors most want to know two things: how is the $500-plus million raised by Bible translators annually used, and how many Bibles are translated for the translation portion of the total? These are simple questions that have answers.”

According to Rob Panos of The Sagamore Institute, the study was based on information self-reported by the Bible translation organizations themselves. He said the numbers were “validated in aggregate through a review of audited financial statements.” He added, “It’s important to understand that this was not a rigorous audit of spending. It is a high-level view of the cost and use of funds in translation.”

Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en Vigilancia del Ministerio.

warren cole smith

Warren Cole Smith es presidente de MinistryWatch.com, un grupo de vigilancia de donantes. Antes de eso, Smith fue Vicepresidente de Avance de la Misión del Centro Colson para la Cosmovisión Cristiana.  

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2 Respuestas

  1. Thanks for sharing this. Interesting, but without benchmarks for costs of similar work, it’s hard to evaluate the numbers. For example, I don’t know how much a major textbook or English Bible costs to produce. I don’t know how much other ministries cost, such as running an orphanage or seminary. My take away would be that an incredible amount of work is being done for very little. As for the comment that most of the funds are directly of translation work, I’m glad that it the case. It’s important to support such activities as literary, Scripture use, engagement, etc.

  2. This seems like a great place for conmen to hang out and fleece people when 5% of what they raise actually goes to what it is being raised for. This is typical in charity scams. Donor beware the idealism that just because there is a need somewhere that people of integrity will rise to the occasion. The numbers involved here more than hint at a whole lot of outright fraud in this industry.

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Hola. Vemos que este es el tercer artículo de este mes que ha encontrado que vale la pena leer. ¡Estupendo! ¿Consideraría hacer una donación deducible de impuestos para ayudar a nuestros periodistas a continuar informando la verdad y restaurar la iglesia?

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