Worldwide Marriage Encounter

Name

Worldwide Marriage Encounter

Legal name

Worldwide Marriage Encounter Inc.

Website

https://wwme.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1968

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Bernardino

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Application Fees: Couples and priests pay a non-refundable application fee to secure their spot at an experience. Fees vary by area and typically range between $50-$200 per couple or priest.
2. Free-will Donations: Following experiences, participating couples and religious make confidential free-will donations to defray costs and support the organization's mission. Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization funded entirely by these donations and volunteer presenting teams.
3. Legacy Fund Contributions: The Fr. Chuck Gallagher, S.J. Legacy Fund accepts planned gifts including cash, real estate, stocks, life insurance, and charitable gift annuities to support leadership training and endowment.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Worldwide Marriage Encounter delivers a faith-based marriage enrichment program through peer-presented experiences for married couples and priests. Core offerings include a Weekend (Residential) Experience, Weekend (Non-Residential) Experience, Restore Rekindle Renew (3RE) weeknight sessions, and Virtual formats delivered via video conference. Couples pay a non-refundable application fee (typically $50-$200) and are invited to give confidential free-will donations, with the organization pledging not to turn anyone away for inability to pay.

Product overview

Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a Roman Catholic marriage enrichment organization offering peer-to-peer experiences, typically over a weekend, where married couples and priests can reflect privately on their relationships and receive tools for nurturing love. The core product portfolio includes five distinct experience formats: Weekend (Residential) Experience, Weekend (Non-Residential) Experience, Restore, Rekindle, Renew (3RE) Experience, Virtual Weekend Experience, and Virtual 3RE Experience. Supporting offerings include the Daily Dialogue Question resource, specialized programs for Military and First Responder marriages, community events (Longest Married Couple Project, World Marriage Day, World Priest Day), media content (Marriage – Let's Talk! Podcast, The Spice of Marriage Radio Program), and the Fr. Chuck Gallagher, S.J. Legacy Fund endowment for leadership training. Established in 1968, WWME operates in nearly 100 countries with experiences available in English, Spanish, French, and Korean.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Baptist Marriage Encounter: Faith expression of the Marriage Encounter experience licensed to the Baptist denomination.
• Canadian Anglican Marriage Encounter
• Lutheran Marriage Encounter
• Mennonite & Brethren Marriage Encounter
• Seventh Day Adventist Marriage Encounter
• United Methodist Marriage Encounter

Products and services

• Weekend (Residential) Experience
• Weekend (Non-Residential) Experience
• Restore, Rekindle, Renew (3RE) Experience
• Virtual Weekend Experience
• Virtual Restore, Rekindle, Renew (3RE) Experience
• Military Marriages Program
• First Responder Marriages Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 9 out of 10 couples report long-lasting positive effects on their lives
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Baptist Marriage EncountercoreOthersLicensed faith expression under the Interfaith Board, allowing Baptist couples to experience Marriage Encounter within their denomination.
• Canadian Anglican Marriage EncountercoreOthersAnglican Marriage Encounter licensed to present the experience within Canadian Anglican churches.
• Lutheran Marriage EncountercoreOthersLutheran Marriage Encounter licensed through GodLovesMarriage.org to serve Lutheran couples.
• Mennonite & Brethren Marriage EncountercoreOthersLicensed faith expression for Mennonite and Brethren denominations.
• Seventh Day Adventist Marriage EncountercoreOthersSeventh Day Adventist Marriage Encounter licensed to serve Adventist couples and families.
• United Methodist Marriage EncountercoreOthersUnited Methodist Marriage Encounter licensed through encounter.org to serve Methodist congregations.
• Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and LifeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerWWME participated in Vatican-convened meeting in June 2019 on abuse prevention. The organization has responded to the Dicastery's call for safeguarding protocols and training.
• RetrouvailleminorOthersReferral partner for marriages that are deeply troubled, in crisis, or have deep hurts needing significant healing and forgiveness - a sister program to Marriage Encounter for more intensive intervention.
• Catholic Engaged EncounterminorOthersReferral partner for couples planning to marry in the Catholic Church who need marriage preparation rather than enrichment.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• God Loves Marriage (Lutheran Marriage Encounter): Licensed Lutheran expression of the Marriage Encounter program serving Lutheran couples and clergy. Uses the same peer-presented weekend methodology as WWME within a parallel denomination, making it a directly comparable peer in content and delivery model.
• Encounter (United Methodist Marriage Encounter): Licensed faith expression of the Marriage Encounter methodology for United Methodist congregations. Operates the same weekend-format, peer-presented model as WWME, making it the closest direct peer by methodology and target audience within a parallel denomination.
• Retrouvaille: Catholic peer-led marriage program serving couples in crisis or with deep hurts needing intensive healing and forgiveness. WWME formally partners with Retrouvaille as a referral source, making it the closest direct peer for troubled-marriage intervention within the Catholic marriage enrichment ecosystem.
• Catholic Engaged Encounter: Catholic marriage preparation program for engaged couples planning to marry, serving the front-end of the marriage lifecycle that WWME addresses on the enrichment side. WWME formally partners with Catholic Engaged Encounter as a referral source, making it a directly comparable peer in the Catholic marriage ministry category.

Broad incumbents

• The Gottman Institute: Largest secular marriage education and therapy brand, founded by Drs. John and Julie Gottman. Offers research-based marriage workshops, therapist training, and digital products (Gottman Connect) that compete with WWME for the same enrichment-seeking couple market, but as a paid, secular, professionally-staffed incumbent.
• SYMBIS (Save Your Marriage Before It Starts): Faith-informed pre-marital and marriage enrichment assessment and program used by churches and counselors. Competes with WWME in the marriage preparation/enrichment category with a more structured, paid assessment-driven model distributed through church networks and licensed facilitators.
• FamilyLife (Cru ministry): Christian marriage and family ministry within Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), offering the Weekend to Remember getaway, marriage conferences, and online content. Competes with WWME for faith-based couples seeking marriage enrichment, with a larger paid-product footprint and broader evangelical reach.

Others

• Focus on the Family: Large Christian family advocacy and resource organization offering marriage counseling referrals, broadcasts, and content. Adjacent to WWME rather than directly competing, but serves overlapping faith-based couples seeking marriage/family support resources and donor dollars within the same ecosystem.
• National Marriage Project (University of Virginia): Academic research and policy initiative on marriage and family wellbeing, producing the annual 'State of Our Unions' report. Adjacent rather than directly comparable; functions as a research/advocacy peer that informs the broader marriage enrichment ecosystem WWME operates in.
• Prepare/Enrich: Widely-used couple relationship assessment and enrichment program distributed through licensed facilitators, often in church and counseling settings. Adjacent to WWME in that it serves the same enrichment market but as an assessment-driven facilitator tool rather than a peer-led weekend experience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/worldwidemarriageencounter
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCiKR2fvIW4t51_53lisHcSw
• Facebookfacebook.com/worldwidemarriageencounter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/worldwide-marriage-encounter
• Instagraminstagram.com/worldwidemarriageencounter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Worldwide Marriage Encounter