Franklin Graham pulls ministries from accountability group his father co-founded

Joe Marusak, The Charlotte Observer on Oct 10, 2025

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North Carolina evangelist Franklin Graham has pulled his two international ministries from the financial accountability group his father, Billy Graham, co-founded 45 years ago.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability has “inappropriately ventured” beyond its original mission and is “trying to become the moral police of the evangelical world,” according to a letter from Graham to council president Michael Martin.

Graham is president, chairman and CEO of the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Boone-based Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief organization.

The Virginia-based council is an accreditation agency that asks its 2,700 member churches and Christian nonprofits to adhere to standards on issues such as financial transparency and governance.

Graham said he decided against renewing the memberships of his organizations because of the group’s new “leader care” accreditation standard.

“At first glance, who could object to efforts to support and care for ministry leaders?” Graham said, according to a copy of his letter provided to The Charlotte Observer by spokesman Mark Barber this week.

“However, a deeper review of the new standard poses grave concerns about the appropriateness of ECFA addressing matters clearly outside its founding mission,” Graham wrote.

Ministry Watch first reported about the letter.

Ministries meet highest standards, Graham says

Graham’s ministries have no plans to belong to another financial accountability group, according to a statement to The Charlotte Observer.

“Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association meet the highest financial accountability standards and will continue to do so,” according to the statement. “We will continue to report effectively, timely, and transparently to donors as we seek to be good stewards of all God has entrusted to these ministries.”

The ministries undergo yearly audits by independent certified public accounting firms, according to the statement, “and those financial statements are available upon request.”

The financial accountability group’s new leader care standard “seems to be a knee-jerk reaction aimed at preventing the kind of high-profile moral failures the world has witnessed in recent years in our evangelical ranks,” Graham said in his letter.

“However, there is a common denominator in all these cases that the new Leader Care standard does not address and certainly cannot prevent – lying,” Graham wrote.

“... This is ultimately a sin problem, with its root in the human heart, which only God can fix — not ECFA, even with a mountain of standards,” Graham said.

Regarding leader care standards, Graham peppered Martin with questions:

“Should a leader attend church weekly?” he asked. “More? Less?”

“Should a leader abstain from alcohol, or consume it in moderation?”

“Should a Christian leader have meals alone with a person of the opposite sex?” he asked. “What about riding in a car alone together?”

Graham said he’s concerned the group could add more standards beyond its financial accountability role.

“Might ECFA enact a standard addressing an organization’s efforts to protect the environment?” he asked. “Or a standard for enacting so-called DEI policies?”

In a statement, Martin said he was disappointed that BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse leaders withdrew the organizations from the group.

Still, “we honor their legacy,” he said. “Nearly 50 years ago, Rev. Billy Graham’s leadership was one of the primary catalysts for ECFA, and these two organizations have served as invaluable partners in the ministry accountability and integrity movement for many years.

“We wish them well as they continue to pursue their missions,” Martin said.