Samaritan Ministries International (SMI)

Samaritan Ministries International (smi) is a religious community made up of member households dedicated to the christian great commission and applying those principles in unique ways to meet the needs of our community, and by example, those of the greater community. Membership is available to any and all professing christians who are in agreement with our statement of faith and commitment to biblical living without barrier due to age, physical condition, or prior ailments. A significant portion of our members are subsisting on very low income, and almost all member households have no health insurance. Total membership households as of june 30, 2023, was 81,002 households, including about 272,000 people. Smi has members residing in all 50 states as well as several countries abroad. A significant portion of the members are employed as church ministers and church staff, in para-church Ministries and other charitable organizations. Smi publishes and distributes a monthly "christian health care newsletter," containing articles on various topics applying a christian world view to all of life, spiritual issues, health care, the religious Ministries of the organization, and the religious Ministries of our members. The newsletter seeks to educate and encourage members and other readers to apply christian teachings to all aspects of life, not just health care issues. Part of that christian mindset is helping the readers to understand that a sharing ministry's emphasis is on how they can give to help others now rather than what they might receive if they have a need in the future. This newsletter is sent to all smi members, nonmembers who subscribe for a nominal fee ($12) and complimentary subscribers. The prayer guide: the physical and spiritual needs of members and non-members, upon request, are published together in a "prayer guide," which is used by our members and the smi staff for theoffering of prayers on the behalf of those in need. This guide also includes testimonies of how god has been working in members' lives. Each month many different versions of the prayer guide are prepared, and each member household receives one of the versions. The guide averages 1,000 prayer requests per month. It is mailed monthly to all the members. Health care sharing - share slip: all members of smi participate in the health care sharing ministry. Participants pledge to send a minimum monthly amount (called a "share") based on household size directly to those households who have medical expense needs that come within smi's guidelines of expenses that we will share as a community. Each month members receive a "share slip" reporting a family with a medical expense need to whom they should send their monthly share, and for whom they should be praying and sending notes of encouragement. This fiscal year our members shared approximately $391,000,000 in accord with the minimum monthly amount pledged to be sent directly to those member households in need due to medical expenses. This sharing assisted our members with 129,879 medical incidents (injuries or illnesses) during the year. Additionally $11,467,908 was shared for medical incidents that exceeded $250,000 in cost. Because these amounts are sent directly, member to member, the amounts are not reflected in smi's revenue or expenses. Members in need receive additional assistance by a variety of means beyond the regular sharing: member extra direct giving: in its monthly mailing smi makes each member aware of expenses that some member had that fall outside our regular sharing guidelines, and encourages extra giving to meet that need. Due to these funds flowing directly member to member Samaritan Ministries is dependent on the members reporting what gifts they received. Based on the reporting received, the amount exceeded $2,500,000. Member extra giving through smi: in addition tomembers giving extra directly to those in need, smi encourages members to also give extra directly to smi for smi to distribute. Smi receives tax deductible gifts retained in smi's restricted funds for helping members with medical expenses that fall outside the areas included in the basic sharing (e,g, routine dental). This fiscal year $3,283,464.74 was distributed to members in need from these restricted funds. There are also months where the member shares available is less than the amount of members' medical expensees, so members also give extra to smi to make up for this short fall caused by pro-rating. Sponsorship: when members have financial problems which make it impossible for them to pay their minimum monthly shares, they are offered to participate in the "sponsorship" program, through which their share amount is reduced below that minimum normally required to an amount they can afford. This fiscal year 287 families participated in this program, receiving $322,430 in assistance that was provided by reducing the amount of shares they were required to send.