Samaritan's Purse was founded in 1970 by Baptist pastor Robert (Bob) Pierce, the founder of World Vision International, in Boone, North Carolina.

[2]: 139 [3]: 2015 Franklin Graham met Pierce in 1973, and they made several trips together to visit relief projects and missionary partners in Asia and elsewhere.

[5] It operates worldwide as Samaritan's Purse, Ippan Shadan Houjin in Japan and as the Emmanuel Group, a wholly owned aircraft title holding corporation formed in 2004.

[21] The Samaritan's Purse launched a large civilian airlift operation to relieve those affected by Hurricanes Helene (late September 2024) and Milton (early October 2024).

Samaritan's Purse and SIM USA both have been actively engaged in treating the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Liberia.

Dr. Kent Brantly, a Texas-based doctor working for the organization, was the first U.S. citizen to contract the Ebola virus in Liberia while treating the disease.

Since the full-scale invasion, the organization, through local partners, has been delivering food, water, warm clothing, and medical assistance.

[39] According to Ukraine's Ministry of Health, more than 33,700 outpatient consultations were provided and over 260 surgeries were performed in the field hospitals set up with Samaritan's Purse support.

[45][46] The organization provided hygiene kits, hot meals, food boxes, and vouchers for internally displaced people in Israel.

Also, rescue teams were provided with medical equipment, including defibrillators and 1,000 trauma kits for rapid emergency care.

[47][48] During his visit, Franklin Graham suggested that Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services system, equivalent to the Red Cross first responders, needed a small fleet of armored ambulances.

[53] In 2020, Samaritan's Purse declined federal funding from the Trump administration originally withheld from the World Health Organization.

[56][57] A $1.5 million taxiway was built by the State of North Carolina 2019 to serve the organization's second hangar at that airport under construction at the time.

[66] The organization has been criticized for requiring volunteers to sign a controversial Statement of Faith which disavows homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

[67][68] In March 2001, The New York Times reported that Samaritan's Purse had "blurred the line between church and state" in the way it had distributed publicly funded aid to victims of the January 2001 and February 2001 El Salvador earthquakes.

[69] In a statement, USAID said Samaritan's Purse had not violated federal guidelines, but emphasized the need for the organization to "maintain adequate and sufficient separation" between prayer sessions and publicly funded activities.

[73] Samaritan's Purse responded to accusations of being anti-Islamic by highlighting their long history of non-denominational co-operation and charity work in Baghdad without attempting to preach or proselytize.

"[80] In 2003, the British supermarket chain Co-op and South Wales Fire Service both suspended their support for the project after numerous complaints about its religious connections.

This was called into question after his 2008 compensation from both organizations totaled $1.2 million (most of this was the result of a new IRS rule that required him to re-report deferred retirement contributions that had already been reported over the previous three years).

[84] However, Graham was again criticized in 2015 when it was revealed he had again taken up his salary from BGEA, and that his annual compensation was significantly higher than that of the CEO's of similar but much larger non-profit organisations.

[90] In October 2014, Samaritan's Purse threatened legal action in the UK against the posters of online comments on the discussion forum Mumsnet.

[101] Before the field hospital opened, journalists, politicians and LGBTQ activists raised concerns that it was only recruiting Christian medical staff and that it would provide inadequate and discriminatory care.

[102][111][112][108] Franklin Graham later responded to Hoylman's request for public reassurance by stating: "We do not make distinctions about an individual's religion, race, sexual orientation, or economic status.

"[92][106][113] New York City's Commission on Human Rights closed an investigation into the hospital after finding no evidence it had discriminated against patients.