I’m up here in the Pacific Northwest for the holidays. Attended a beautiful “sacrament meeting only” Sunday service at the local ward. Some extra instruments, a big choir, some nice arrangements … and I was thinking about one hundred billion dollars. What else could you think about walking into an LDS chapel last week? The closing song was Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. Perhaps you’ve never noticed this, but the cadence fits right in with that amount. “Hal-le-lujah. Hun-dred billion. Hun-dred billion. Hun-dred billion. One hundred billion!”
The Church put out another lengthy non-explanation of the hundred billion at the Newsroom last week, “How the Church of Jesus Christ Uses Tithes and Donations.” A more accurate one-sentence explanation would be: We spend some of it on running the Church, we spend a little bit on charitable projects, and we direct a lot of the donations to building up our hundred-billion-dollar financial portfolio, which used to be your money, but now it’s our money. But I’m not going to parse that Newsroom article. Instead, let’s spend another couple of paragraphs exploring the new reality of belonging to a hundred-billion-dollar church. It is just very hard to unthink this financial revelation (you see what I did there?). Once thunk, it seems to show up everywhere.
The local sports team just re-signed an aging former player to boost its roster for the end-of-season run for the playoffs. He will probably make a million or two for playing a couple of games. That used to sound like a lot of money, but it pales in comparison to a billion or two, much less a hundred billion or two. If you want a comfortable retirement or perhaps an extravagant one, don’t teach your kids to play football. Help them start a church or even a religion. There’s a lot more money in religion. A hundred billion.
Last night, we all went out to see the lights at a local mini-megachurch. It was quite a display, colored lights covering their small but impressive campus. The “pavillion” (a small clubhouse) had free cookies and hot chocolate for visitors. The whole side of the church building was a light show. Inside, there was an eight-person live band playing Jesus music. Not quite my idea of a church service, but hey those people were having a good time. No one was bored and checking out their cell phone in that congregation. All this on a budget of probably a few thousand dollars, with volunteers to direct visitors and run the busy parking lot. And my church, the hundred-billion-dollar church, can’t manage more than a potluck dinner where members bring most of the food. Even Temple Square … just white lights, no colors, no light show. A hundred billion dollars, and we can’t even get trumpets in the chapel. These guys have a live band. And a coffee shop inside their church building. And a kids play center about ten times the size of an LDS nursery. You would get a much longer article at the Newsroom if it were titled, “How the Church of Jesus Christ Doesn’t Use Its Tithing and Donations.” Short version: It doesn’t use it on you.
So tell me: did that hundred billion dollars cross your mind in church last week? Is this going to define the way people, both inside and outside the Church, think about it for the next few years? Have we become The Church of Jesus Christ of One Hundred Billion Dollars?
I am still in shock. And I have no idea how to even comprehend 100 billion dollars. And I’m totally disgusted. And I don’t think I’m going to pay tithing next year (I have been teetering anyway, but this sent me over the edge). And I’m interested to see how the “church” will calm this one down, i.e., public relations nightmare? And I am filled with sadness thinking of those members in third world countries who have tithed by giving up food, shelter, etc., in order to receive the “blessings” of this church. And I must again examine the word “greed”.
A friend and I were chatting about this at the linger longer after sacrament meeting. I don’t attend regularly, but commented that if I did, I would never, ever sign up to clean the chapel again. (I may have dropped an expletive while saying this. We were in the gym so I’m sure its walls have heard worse.)
$100 billion is so large that if the church spent $1,000,000 each day, even if no interest were earned it would take 273 *years* to spend it. Historically, churches created universities, hospitals, soup kitchens, and other institutions which increased knowledge and understanding and served social welfare needs of society—that’s how many of our valuable institutions began. Our church used to build hospitals and schools. We could do that again (although I would want schools built by the church to allow and honor intellectual freedom—Galileo’s discoveries didn’t destroy the Catholic Church and we don’t need to feel threatened by discoveries that threaten established paradigms). When I was a child we brought pennies to primary (held on a weekday after school) to donate to Primary Children’s Hospital. We heard stories at primary about children coming from other counties to receive care paid for with our pennies. Ward families visited widows and widowers with fruit baskets at Christmastime (real visits—not drop off’s). Church activity meant service to the vulnerable among us. Salt Lake City had a transient bishop who local bishops could contact so that welfare needs of homeless individuals could be addressed. We were about service and that was how we worshipped. We saw human need as being a result of bad circumstances, not laziness or other deficits, saw the nobility in the poor and sick, and did what we could to help people in difficult circumstances. I long for that church to return.
Here is the interesting comment, stolen from the famous exmo John Larsen on the Sunstone podcast: even though some people doubt the 100 billion figure, NO ONE is saying it is out of the question. Every one I know thinks that it is plausible that it is true that the church has 100 billion in one investment account, not even including real estate holdings.
It’s the secrecy that boggles my mind. I mean, if people are willing to pay their tithing, that is their choice. If the church wants to save it all for the apocalypse that is also an option, even if I disagree. But the fact that the church feels no obligation to give an accounting of funds to the membership, and that the membership seems okay with it, that is a bit of an outdated mode of operation.
No one to blame but the average (whatever that is) member. Since there has been no feet held to the fire over open financial records, then what did we expect might happen? When we trust authorities because they are authorities, well…
“…end of season run…”
Lol! Are the Seahawks going to let Lynch run this time?
I was thinking about the 100 billion when I was preparing the ward christmas diner last saturday And how we managed to feed 90 people an a budget of under 500 $.
I have also been more and more reluctant to keep paying tithing in the way I have always done so. I am going to pay tithing into my seperate saving account and then calculate in the end of the year what the increase has been. Only from that the tithing will be payed. The rest if he money will be spent on several good causes that feel close to my heart. The news of the 100 billion was the last drop for me to make this change and rethink tithing.
I guess I’ll leave it to the Savior to decide what to do with his money.
Here is what a Methodist scholar of the church wrote:
https://mormonstudies.as.virginia.edu/2019/12/23/mormonism-and-its-money/
Stephen. The author of the Virginia article is Kathleen Flake who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a mission in Japan, according to Wikipedia.
I had already decided not to pay tithing before the news broke. I’m even more disheartened than before. It bothers me that not only so we give so much financially but also so much of our time beyond what seems reasonable with our other family and work commitments. Some say this is what we covenant to do but when you hear the church holds on to so much of our tithing it seems reasonable that a small portion could be used to provide paid jobs for things like temple and chapel cleaning. And why don’t we have community outreach programs like soup kitchens etc?
My apologies, I got my scholars confused. Thanks for catching that.
Here is her vitae:
Weather Kathleen Flake is a member is immaterial. I believe her comments are valid. Most of the negative commentators seem to covet that which is not their money
I see nothing wrong with saving for a rainy day. Think about it if the economy tanked and the church with all its chapels, temples, and maintenance it has to take care of could eat that money up pretty fast .ALL PEOPLE EVER SEE IS MONEY AND HOW THEY THINK IT SHOULD BE SPENT. There is a responsibility to be prepared for the inevitable and if having money to take care of things isn’t smart then I don’t know what is. Far to much is being made of this extra money. The blessing that come from paying tithing far outway the worry of what the church is doing with our money we gave it freely and should forget it and count our blessings. It is not ours to be concerned about.
As I review this article on Christmas Eve I can not help but reflect that this whole matter increases my faith in the Book of Mormon as inspired scripture. When Moroni complained about the latter day Gentiles ( ie us) he was shown our day in vision in vision and said in Mormon 8 v 36 and v 37 that “and your church’s ,yea EVERY ONE , have become polluted, because of the pride of your hearts.For behold you love your money, and your substances ,and your fine apparel , and the adorning of your churches ,more than you love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.” I can only say it is clear to me that Moronis prophecy has been fulfilled yet I just bet you won’t hear this prophecy talked about in General Conference
Being actually older than several Apostles I can state unequivocally that most of the deer-in-the-headlights behavior you see up there is simple geezerhood, the institutional equivalent of walking around all day with your zipper down. They just don’t see it coming, any of it. Add to this the fact that, like me, they are not sophisticated human beings, and you can understand why they’re always running into hard edges sideways. Until the institutional power structure changes, nothing changes.
The realization that the Church has amassed $100 billion in assets under management with EPA by linking our salvation (in part) to tithing while squeezing lots of free labor out of us is appalling. This, along with the realization that some key elements of the correlated narrative the Church taught me since my Primary days is materially inaccurate, has me figuratively standing on the swim platform of the Good Ship Zion. The Church needs to do some serious institutional repenting before I’ll consider donating another dollar. There are many worthy humanitarian-based non profit organizations that would use our funds in a ways that are more closely aligned with the Savior’s teachings. …with full transparency.
Connie your statement “The blessings that come from paying tithing far outweigh the worry of what the church is doing with our money . . .” sounds a lot like the Prosperity Gospel. Send me your money and you will prosper. And I do care how my contributions are spent.
So nobody’s going to use this as evidence that the church is being led by inspired men? If only Joseph had been able to pull off this kind of money-digging.
It has taken me days to process this news and I’m still processing it. This news will carry weight for years to come. The question of why isn’t the church spending more on humanitarian causes hopefully weigh more on members’ minds. Hopefully more members will demand transparency and reports. It’s time for a massive restructure and rebranding of the church. It’s time for the church to vastly expand its humanitarian outreach.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. And Merry Christmas. Maybe next year we’ll all get a tithing rebate check under the tree.
Susan Brown (and others with similar reactions) said, “And I’m totally disgusted.” I think that’s how many are responding. I think the LDS leadership did not count on the strong negative reaction from a sizeable minority of the membership. The same way they did not anticipate the strong backlash to LDS involvement in Prop 8, for which (coupled with the November Policy) they are still doing damage control.
Math Nerd, yes it is very tough to really get a handle on a sum of this magnitude. We can relate to thousands and even millions, but billions of dollars is just too much. That’s like Dept. of Defense budget numbers. With a hundred billion you can buy an aircraft carrier and not even notice by year’s end.
Talon, I hope he gets the chance. It is this year’s best Christmas present.
p, I get the deer in the headlights thing. As noted above, I don’t think they anticipated the bad reaction many have to a “rainy day fund” of that magnitude. And they had to know their secret would get out sooner or later.
“I think the LDS leadership did not count on the strong negative reaction from a sizeable minority of the membership. The same way they did not anticipate the strong backlash to LDS involvement in Prop 8, for which (coupled with the November Policy) they are still doing damage control.”
This is an issue related to the $100B that hasn’t been adequately discussed. The leadership’s inability to anticipate hot-button issues, and either resolve them or be prepared to discuss the decision-making process. Where is the Church’s PR department? Where are their lawyers, lobbyist, and accountants? The fact that many of the upper leadership are businessmen or professionals perhaps give them too much of a corporate vision and not enough or a member perspective. The Church needs a membership review panel that can examine policies and advise. And I’m not talking about a panel compromised solely of conservative members. And panel needs to be at least half female. Things in the COB aren’t working like a well-oiled machine. In fact, things are broken.
No, the money did not cross my mind during our Christmas program on Sunday. I also think the viewpoint that money donated to the institution belongs to the institution (and they can spend as they see fit) is understandable.
For me, the issue is honesty and the lack of transparency. President Hinckley once responded to an interviewer asking about the financial holdings, “But those assets, you have to know this, are not money-producing. Those assets are money-consuming.” Later he states, “We simply think that the…that [financial] information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world. That’s the only thing.” Transcript here: https://www.mscbc.org/hinckley.htm
The problem is that members *don’t* know the financial details, and the reserve funds the church has built up *are* money producing. Back in 2003, Hinckley said that City Creek would not be paid by tithing, but by the Church’s commercial ventures and earnings from invested reserve accounts. What we didn’t know is that it was tithing funds getting invested in those reserve accounts.
In the Church Newsroom statement on donations, they rely heavily on outside sources to justify the invested funds and earnings therein (even citing excommunicated scholar D. Michael Quinn!). Never a good thing when they have to pull in outside apologists.
I don’t know how much transparency I’m asking for, but knowing GA stipends and knowing (generally) the different buckets the church allocates money seems like a no-brainer. The statement that the newsroom posted should be common knowledge. But I hate how they vaguely wave at “prepares for the future,” as if that’s supposed to make us realize they are talking about $100 billion in a reserve account. I hate how they keep pointing to $2.2 billion in humanitarian aid over three *decades*, expecting it to justify holding on to $100 billion. It’s just another way leaders come off as tone-deaf.
Merry Christmas All!
– There were no protestations of exaggeration from the church about the $100B.
– All annual church functions are covered by $6B – meeting houses, temples, bishop’s storehouses, welfare farms, etc.
– The $32B in accounts previously leaked was not tax-exempt – presumed to be on the for-profit side of things. The LLCs were all created at about the same time and the person creating the entities didn’t check the “keep this private” button. I know of a church employee that looked into email URLs associated with church enterprise software and discovered many similar private LLCs, each with similar amounts in them ($3B to $5B).
– Surplus produce and meat from the welfare farms are sold on the open market (competing with local producers who have even sued for relief from unfair pricing).
– The for-profit entities’ original capital was largely derived from donated funds – therefore all the profits have their origins in member tithes and offerings. It’s disingenuous to wall those off from the discussion of “sacred funds”.
– Yes, Beneficial Life got bailed out. SELLING life insurance is costly so Beneficial Life ceased selling insurance. Managing the Billions in paid-in premium dollars is extremely lucrative though and continues to this day and will long after the last death claim and annuity payment is paid out.
– Deseret Trust manages billions in trust funds placed under management with them by members of the church. In addition to the substantial management fees it earns, the church must have some present or future interest in the funds placed under management in order to use these services.
– The church owns the largest cattle ranch in the country.
– The church is the largest private (non-government) landowner in the state of Florida. Think about that – sorry Walt Disney, you aren’t even close.
– Bonneville Communications is a global media operation.
– Malls, real estate development, land speculation, and other for-profit operations also run very deep into the billions.
I think the church is breathing a sigh of relief that the leak only had credible numbers for one $100B account.
Yes, I thought about it in my daughter’s Christmas sacrament meeting. (she sang a beautiful solo BTW). The reminders to finish up tithing settlement was off-putting to me.
Joseph would be happy that many of the BOM prophecises for the misdeeds of the church in our day have come to pass.
Are we ready to declare “Deep Church” here? According to one story, President Packer, when he was next in line to succeed then-church President Thomas S. Monson, came to [EPA President Roger] Clarke wanting to know how much Ensign Peak had amassed and the details of its structure. Mr. Clarke told Mr. Packer that he could not share such details. I suspect the First Presidency has too much on their plate to manage complex finances. I also suspect Kirton McConkie is part of the Deep Church. In our various conferences, we sustain the top General Authorities by name. But there is also wording about sustaining “all other officers” or something like that. Who are these unnamed authorities, aside from the ones whose photos appear in the Ensign magazine, or who otherwise have their names published in organization charts in the public domain? There are unnamed people inside and outside of the COB who have real power over church matters and money.
I don’t know how to tell if there really is a strong negative reaction to this news. I mean, I see a lot of comments here and BCC and other online communities, but I haven’t seen active members discussing it on Facebook with their real names. I don’t know if I would, though. How does one tell if the negative reaction is only in small isolated groups, or if it is larger scale like the reaction to the PoX?
Rockwell that’s a good point. I have only seen a few Facebook folks posting defenses, and a few ExMo’s posting criticisms, but neither of those people were any surprise to me. I have had multiple conversations with friends and family about it who are groups 2/3 but don’t know that we are representative of the population in general. I mean if we had been, the 2016 election would have gone differently in Utah …
I know several people who were on the cusp and now feel they are likely to stop paying tithing or to start paying 1/10 to a variety of groups in need with the church being one but not the only recipient. But I don’t know that it’s enough to make a dent sufficient enough that the church will feel compelled to increase transparency and increase charitable distributions. It seems that rather than soften to make space for progressive Mormons the first presidency strategy is to dig in, retrench, and try to preach to us about how they’re right. Not a winning strategy but perhaps they aren’t actually interested in keeping diverse views and we will turn into a church for group 1 only.
Apparently the amount in the Ensign Peak Advisor’s holdings is closer to $124 billion according to a group that tracks endowments worldwide. It’s the largest endowment in the world. Source: https://www.swfinstitute.org/fund-rankings/endowment
Rockwell, I don’t believe the negative reaction is widespread among members. It seems that those already bothered by the Church’s finances have their concerns exacerbated by the news. Those who were previously unconcerned appear to be unaffected. But the church is clearly concerned about effects of the news, as evidenced by their increasing apologetics to excuse the savings. (Initially they had a vague statement to dismiss the legitimacy of the lawsuit, but they’ve since come out with videos and newsroom pieces.) So who are they trying to convince? The only thing that makes sense to me (and this is going to sound cynical, though I don’t mean it as such) is that this news could lead some donors to choose other non-profits for large-scale charitable donations. So this could end up hurting sources of funding for the Deseret Trust Company and LDS Charities. But that’s just a guess.
Thanks for sharing M ary Ann. That is a super interesting list to read!
One liner…..
Seems as though the high-minded goals of the expedition have been abandoned for quick profit!
I recently tossed my 1970s seminary book…The Restored Gospel that gave a beautiful paragraph on the mission of the church.. and I am paraphrasing…was to get all people sheltered and fed and basic needs met so they could think beyond those needs and embrace the gospel and its teachings.
Our Christmas sacrament program included a reading from Monson’s Dec 2012 Ensign article, with a line from the poem I Am the Christmas Spirit stating , “I cause the miser’s clutched hand to relax and thus paint a bright spot on his soul”
Yes, I thought of $100,000,000,000 during that Christmas sacrament meeting program.
With just the $1 billion excess tithing collected each year combined with the $7 billion annual return on the $100 billion nest egg, the church could spend over $20 million a day and never run out of money.
On the other hand, consider the church’s constant emphasis that we are living in the last days – in President Nelson’s words from last conference, we are “preparing a people who are ready to welcome the Savior at His Second Coming.”
I can’t imagine $100 billion in stocks, bonds, and T-bills being worth much at Christ’s return. The portfolio is only useful before His return. So if the fund is not making expenditures now and the church doesn’t have any plans for doing so in the near future, the church’s actions – to continue to only grow the fund – do not line up with its rhetoric concerning the last days.
I work for a firm that manages a high nine figure sum for EP, including a hedge fund. So evidently the Lord also invests in mysterious ways.
From what I know and have read I have always assumed the Church had at least 100 bn in financial assets. So no surprise for me there. But still wondering what the plan or purpose is for those assets. Seems to be a lot more than “sufficient for our needs.”
But a spoke with a GA friend at a New Year’s Eve party who said the Church’s large reserves were well known and the temple goers covenant to give everything they have to the church anyway.
I disagree with the first assertion and have never been sure of how to think about the second.
He also said that this wealth is not enriching Church leadership. GAs are all paid the same and it’s not very much. He shared some interesting details with me, which I’ll keep private, that indicate being a GA or mission president is anything but lucrative. In fact “sufficient for our needs” might be too generous a description for their compensation as well.
Anyway, I would reeeaallly like more financial transparency from the Church. Especially in light of GBH’s statement that sacred tithing funds are not used for the Church’s business interests, which I don’ think the Church has confirmed after the Whistleblower’s claims were publicized. But maybe there are also non-sacred tithing funds, which can be used for anything. So then it would all be ok.
Eugene, We’ve often heard GAs are “all paid the same and it’s not very much” and some old leaked data on that has been around. But we don’t hear anything about gifts, expense accounts, and other perks or about expense paid, around-the-world vacations for some GA spouses who do not have GA status or callings that even suggest they have any business purporting to teach or act for the Church. We also don’t hear anything about payments to boards of directors of church-owned business (including GAs who are on such boards because of their callings). Sometimes I wonder if GAs such as your friend simply think the rest of us are stupid.
Re: “the temple goers covenant to give everything they have to the church anyway” — even if this were true (and there are ways to understand what has been done and said in the temple under which it is false), what’s it got to do with if or how the 100 billion in financial assets are “building up the kingdom of God”?