A Note From Our Chief Executive Officer
Friend, our mission is simple, but vast: Denison Ministries exists to create Christ-centered content that equips believers to transform culture.
Nearly fifteen years ago, the ministry launched with one brand: Denison Forum, where we consider the news of the day from a biblical perspective. Then the ministry started First15 to lead people in worship through a daily encounter with God.
Christian Parenting soon followed, with biblical resources for moms and dads to be disciple- makers in their homes.
And most recently, we launched Foundations with Janet Denison to build disciples through in-depth Bible study. Now, expanding Foundations with Janet Denison in 2024 is one of our main goals.
Four brands. One mission.
We trust in the promise of God through the prophet Isaiah:
My word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)
In every brand at Denison Ministries, we believe that changed lives become culture-changing Christians who offer the salt and light our world so desperately needs.
Through your partnership and our collective efforts, Denison Ministries is on track to meet and exceed our 2023 goal of 75 million content experiences i.e., personal engagements with our materials that include email opens, podcast downloads, website article visits, resource purchases, social media responses, and more).
Through your faithful prayers and generous support, you play a vital role in this kingdom work. Each day, you help thousands of Christ followers to become more “salty bright” for the glory of Christ.
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Denison Ministries is Denison Forum, First15, Christian Parenting, and Foundations with Janet Denison.
We exist to create Christ-centered content that equips believers to transform culture.
Four brands. One mission.
We believe transforming culture is not only possible but necessary. The next Great Awakening in America could be right around the corner. By God’s grace, we seek to work to that end, to be a catalyst for deep, biblical change in our culture.
We cannot do this without you.
Every prayer you pray for us and every dollar you entrust to us is an expression of our partnership. It is for Christ alone that we work. We trust that as we work, he works for the saving of many lives (Romans 10:9–10).
Gratefully,
Dr. Jim Denison Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
How We Define Content Experiences
Monthly Facebook Engagement
• A like, comment, or share on a post. Active interaction with the content.
Monthly Email Opens
• Emails that are actually opened, not just delivered.
Monthly Website Pageviews
• Unique pageviews of our websites, minus the homepage.
Monthly Podcast Downloads
• Individual episode downloads using the new industry standard IAB as of January 2023.
Monthly YouTube Views
• Unique video views each month per Youtube’s reporting.
Monthly Instagram Engagement & Reel Views
• A like, comment, or share on a post. Active interaction with the content.
Monthly Twitter Engagements
• The number of engagements on any given tweet, including likes, retweets, and replies.
Monthly Spotify/Apple Music Streams
• The number of times a song was listened to (at least 30 seconds).
Monthly App Sessions
• How many times the app was opened by a user.
Monthly YouVersion Plan Completions
• The number of people that have completed a Youversion reading plan.
Monthly Event Videos Watched
• How many videos were watched within an event or Bible study course.
Monthly Books Distributed
• How many books were shipped through a donation on our websites.
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Content Experiences through August 2023:
31,592,852 emails were opened across all brands of Denison Ministries.
5,110,070 pages viewed across all websites and microsites.
15,487,641 podcast episodes downloaded across the Christian Parenting Podcast Network, and 8 key Denison Ministries brand podcasts.
10,462,663 social engagements across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This includes engagements and video views on Instagram Reels.
64,936,598 total content experiences through August 2023 across all Denison Ministries’ brands.
Projections Through the End of the Year:
Denison Ministries is averaging 7,527,796 content experiences per month across all brands.
If we continue to hit the same averages each month in Q4, we are projected to reach 95 million content experiences in 2023, which is 20 million more content experiences than we expected at the beginning of the year. We have set an internal stretch goal of 100 million content experiences and are excited to see where the Lord continues to take this content.
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As the Daily Article audience continues to grow not only in number (monthly average of 1,769,375 email opens) but also in sound biblical knowledge, so does our podcast audience. The Denison Forum Podcast saw a marked increase in downloads (monthly average of 9,200 downloads) due to the popularity of distinguished guests such as Curtis Chang, Russell Moore, Nancy Pearcey, Preston Sprinkle, Dr. Stephen Meyer, and Alister McGrath.
Utilizing several Denison Forum resources on biblical sexuality (found at: https://www. denisonforum.org/lgbtq/), Mark Turman spoke at the annual meeting for the Baptist General Convention of Texas in McAllen in July. He was well received and his seminar on Biblical Sexuality in the local church was much appreciated.
Our Associate Editor, Mark Legg, published What does the Bible say about transgenderism? and many other important articles (found here: https://www. denisonforum.org/author/mark-legg/) before moving to Scotland to study philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. His expertise will be greatly missed on the Denison Forum team.
Mark Turman hosted at the Council for Life’s Troutt Lecture series in September on transgenderism and utilized Legg’s publication to help equip families with biblical truth on this cultural issue.
114,277,901 emails have been opened, which include The Daily Article and A Pastors View newsletter.
3,612,392 web pages viewed on denisonforum.org.
414,364 social media engagements, which includes Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
1,938,143 podcast episodes downloaded across The Daily Article and Denison Forum Podcast.
20,309,636 total content experiences for all Denison Forum platforms through August 2023.
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“The Denison Forum articles speak truth that we, as Christians, need to hear. Thank you for sharing God’s truth from scripture.”
- Jeanie
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“I appreciate how you can take the daily news and bring us back to the Gospel, the power and heart of God.” - Tim
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First15, through your generous support, continues to help believers connect with the Lord in a deep and meaningful way. In the six years since its inception, over 2 million people have enjoyed reading and listening to First15 each day as they learn more about what it looks like to live out their life in Christ.
By donating to First15, your partnership has aided in helping even more people, all around the world, spend transformative time with God through our podcast, daily devotional app and website, worship music, Guided Prayers, and more!
We continue to produce the First15 daily devotional, have launched over 30 Guided Prayers, a new devotional book titled Rhythms, launched our very first children’s devotional, My Time With God, and will launch our first kids Advent devotional, Jesus, Light of the World, later this year!
It is an honor to be a part of helping believers all around the world awaken to the goodness and presence and beauty of God thanks to your generous support of First15.
We are so grateful for your partnership that makes First15 possible!
15,385,271 emails have been opened, including the daily devotional in English and Spanish.
1,867,704 sessions through First15 devotional app.
8,090,826 podcast episodes have been downloaded.
1,093,657 resources have been read online, including the daily devotional and going deeper resources.
35,415,891 total content experiences for all First15 platforms through August 2023.
“I can’t wait to get up in the morning and grab a cup of coffee and start reading First15 devotional. It gets me to thinking more about the day ahead and how I’m not out there all by myself trying to deal with things. If you keep your focus on the Lord, your day goes much better. Thank you First15 team. God bless.” - Garry
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This year has been such an encouragement for Christian Parenting; reaching and resourcing many new parents to embrace being perfectly imperfect.
Every fall, Christian Parenting launches our most popular annual resource: our parent’s prayer journal. This year we re-designed and are re-releasing Marked by Prayer. We are excited for our new Pardon the Mess host, Courtney DeFeo, to breathe new life into this journal as she shares reflections and prayers on the Monday episodes of the podcast. We will also be launching a new product, Noteworthy Prayers. These are customizable tear and share cards that parents can use to encourage their kids with scripture, a prayer, an inspirational message, and a personalized note.
Our podcast network continues to grow and thrive. We added two podcasts, Wire Talk and Parenting Today’s Teens. Additionally, we are launching a new podcast just for parents who have adopted or fostered kids. Called to Love will be hosted by Somer Colbert and will encourage parents in their fostering and adopting journey through interviews with guests and insights from our host.
We are so grateful for your partnership. Your support and encouragement provides the opportunity for us to help parents set aside perfection and grow into the perfectly imperfect parents God made them to be so they feel empowered and equipped to raise their kids to know and love Jesus.
1,704,381 emails have been opened, including all podcast updates and Friday newsletters.
5,455,076 podcast episodes have been downloaded across the podcast network.
279,427 resources have been read online.
8,755,055 total content experiences for all Christian Parenting platforms through August 2023.
We continue to reach a broader audience
As we begin moving through the final quarter of 2023, Foundations with Janet Denison (Foundations) continues to gain traction through Janet’s nightly devotional Wisdom Matters. More and more people are downloading the app to spend a few minutes each day or evening reflecting with Janet on a verse or two from the Bible. Although written in devotional form, Wisdom Matters is a Bible study intended to teach the truth of Scripture so that people from all levels of spiritual maturity can “gain insight and understanding” from God’s word. Our prayer is to attract not only seasoned, spiritually mature believers, but also the spiritually young or new Christians, who may be intimidated by a verse-by-verse Bible study, to get to know God’s word one verse at a time.
Janet also completed a brand new Advent book this summer, titled The Gift of Immanuel. She wrote this book so that readers would be blessed by Immanuel, as they learn the truth about Jesus as revealed in God’s word. This devotional is scheduled to release in November.
Janet and the team of Foundations spent the summer recording lectures and finalizing details of our new in-depth Bible study, The Life of Jesus: Studies on Discipleship in the Book of Matthew. This twenty-four week study is a verse-by-verse study of the book of Matthew and focuses on what it means to be an effective witness and follower of Jesus Christ. The first recorded lecture will be released on September 18.
God continues to bless and prosper his word through the content from Foundations. We are deeply grateful for the privilege of creating trustworthy biblical resources that are accessible to anyone, regardless of their financial means or where they may be in their faith journey.
225,299 emails have been opened, including weekly blog updates and new Bible study releases.
11,544 Wisdom Matters devotionals read through the Foundations app.
124,594 resources have been read online.
456,016 total content experiences for all Foundations platforms through August 2023.
“I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sending me these Bible studies. I did day 1 of the ABCs of a faithful life. This is going to be the right pace and level of understanding I need to be able to study the Bible. I have one of my best friends who has studied the Bible numerous times doing it as well and she LOVED Janet as well.I am grateful for GOD putting you into my life via Jenny.” - Kristin
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Denison Ministries
7/31/2023
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Income Statement (Unaudited)
Donation Revenue Other Revenue Investment Income Total Revenue Salaries & Payroll Taxes Benefits Travel Talent Development Content Growth Cultivation Governance & HR Finance & Operations Technology Expenses Net Income Actual $1,953,383 122,646 85,420 $2,161,448 $2,139,459 507,776 32,182 29,035 102,945 150,672 256,930 72,142 323,173 227,560 $3,841,874 -$1,680,426 Budget $2,047,976 97,423 $2,145,399 $2,165,023 491,885 37,246 26,199 135,385 193,337 321,384 92,958 326,395 267,920 $4,057,732 -$1,912,333 Variance -$94,593 25,223 85,420 $16,049 $25,564 (15,891) 5,064 (2,836) 32,439 42,665 64,454 20,816 3,222 40,360 $215,858 $231,906.89
