The Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is similar to other non-profit and religious organizations, in that their funding comes from members' donations and the main cost is in building and maintaining facilities.
When the LDS Church receives more donations than the payment in period costs, it uses surpluses to build reserves for capital expenditures and for years to come when spending periods can exceed donations. The Church invests its reserves to defend its principals and generate reasonable returns and direct its investments into revenue-generating assets that can assist in its mission, such as those associated with agriculture and communications and City Creek Center (see below).
The LDS Church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements in the United States since 1959. The Church does reveal its finances in the UK and Canada where it is required to do so by law. In the UK, this finance is audited by the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.
The LDS Church maintains an internal audit department that certifies at each annual general conference that donations are collected and spent in accordance with established church policies. In addition, the church involves the public accounting firm (currently Deloitte & Touche) to conduct annual audits in the United States, non-profit, nonprofit, and educational institutions.
Video Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
History
In the 1880s and 90s, the LDS Church fell into severe financial hardship due to several factors exacerbated by the national economic depression that began with Panic of 1893.
Under the terms of Edmunds-Tucker's anti-polygamy Act of 1887 enforced in the 1890 Court, the End Corporations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. The United States, the US government has seized property of the LDS Church, including tithing money donated by members (real estate such as churches and temples never seized, although Edmund-Tucker's actions are allowed for such seizures). In addition, the LDS Church has borrowed extensively to finance various infrastructure developments such as gristmills and after the financial crisis of 1893 the LDS Church was unable to make timely payments on their loans, Wilford Woodruff, President of the Church from 1889 to 1898, personally expressed doubts. that the church will pay its debts. Eventually the LDS Church gained support from investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & amp; Co. to issue bonds backed by Utah residents.
By the time Lorenzo Snow became president of the church in 1898, the church owed $ 2.3 million. Snow reinforced the payment of tithing (giving 10% of one's income to the church) and in 1907 the church completely ran out of debt and has since not used debt to finance its operations, even for capital projects. An early pioneering effort of the LDS Church was ZCMI which lasted from 1868 to release the ZCMI Mall Center in 2007.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the church greatly increased spending on buildings under the leadership of Henry Moyle. Moyle's reason is that by building larger churches the church will attract more converts. The accelerated development program caused a $ 32 million deficit in 1962. It was Moyle who convinced David O. McKay to stop issuing annual financial statements to hide spending levels. Finally, McKay releases Moyle from his administrative responsibilities and his expenses are covered.
Moyle is also responsible for getting what is now one of the most valuable properties in the church: Deseret Cattle and Orange Farming. Another very profitable asset is the Polynesian Culture Center which became one of Hawaii's most popular tourist attractions under the leadership of Howard W. Hunter during the 1960s and 1970s.
Maps Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Current funding source
Most of the income of the LDS Church comes in the form of tithes and fast offerings donated by church members. Tithe contributions are used to support church operations, including the construction and maintenance of buildings and other facilities, and are transferred from local units directly to the church headquarters in Salt Lake City, where funds are managed centrally. It is estimated that about ten percent of the funding also comes from investment income, mostly direct investment.
Quick bidding donations are used to help church members and non-members in need. As part of the church welfare program, the funds can be used to store local Bishop's warehouses or food warehouses to help care for those in need.
Fund use
The LDS Church uses most of its financial resources to build and maintain buildings and other facilities. The Church also spends money to provide social welfare and assistance and support other church-sponsored missionary, educational and other programs. and the mission president, who serves full-time in this capacity, can receive compensation from the church in the form of housing, living allowances, and other benefits while they are on duty. No funds are provided for the services provided.
Construction of facility
The LDS church built additional chapels (structures used for weekly worship and for baptism) and temples (structures used for marriage and eternal ordinances) as the environment and branches of the church are organized. The church built about 40 small temples between 1998 and 2001. There were 15 temples in operation (which included 10 previously dedicated, but closed for renovation), 11 under construction, and 19 announced (not yet under construction). (See List of the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
Facility care
The LDS Church pays to keep its chapels and temples all over the world. These costs include repairs, utilities, basic maintenance, and special custodial work. Members also help clean up the local chapel by providing general custodial work. These facilities are a cost center for the church, and maintain them as a significant representation of church funds. The materials used in the church class and the budget for carrying on activities and other things done by various church congregations are also funded centrally. It also funded the printing and distribution of class guides, and funded all congregational activities through central budgeting.
Social welfare and support
The LDS Church operates a welfare distribution system, as it encourages members to seek financial assistance from families and churches first before seeking public or state-sponsored welfare. AgReserves Inc., Deseret Cattle and Citrus Ranch, and Farmland Reserve, Inc. is part of its welfare distribution system. Welfare resources are channeled by local bishops but managed by the Presiding Bishopric. View Standby . It also sends aid to victims of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters around the world. Relief efforts have been recognized through many organizations and political leaders, including US leaders in reaction to Hurricane Katrina's relief efforts by the church.
Education
The LDS Church uses donations to support all, or in part, from the Church Educational System (CES). As part of CES, the church owns, operates, and subsidizes education at Brigham Young University, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, and LDS Business College. These four higher education institutions provide religious education, both for church members as well as those of other faiths, in addition to university and college level programs.
CES also includes seminary programs for middle students (typically, ages 14-18), and religious institutes for post-secondary and adult students. In 2011, approximately 730,000 people were enrolled in seminary and institute programs in 147 countries. The CES course is separate from the religious instruction given through the church congregation.
The church also operates several primary and secondary schools in the Pacific Islands and Mexico.
Other programs
The LDS Church also spends the tithing funds collected for missionary, juvenile, and other programs that the church considers to be part of its mission. Although the families of LDS missionaries (usually young men aged 18-25 or young women over the age of 19 years) generally pay US $ 400 a month for missions, additional public funds from missionaries supporting the church can not afford their own mission. Members of the Church can contribute to assist in supporting these missionaries. In addition, the church provides mission offices and mission homes for each of its 405 missions and pays for television ads that offer free copies of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the church-produced videos and DVDs. The cost of printing or production of these materials is borne by the church and the materials are distributed for free. Around the world, he also supports the Boy Scout program for young men and youth organizations for young women. The Church also runs a large family history organization that collects genealogical records from many archives around the world and allows online family tree collaboration. It also creates and publishes curriculum and audio/video (church movies, etc.), and has a "church history setting" to collect and store church records.
Voluntary workforce
The LDS Church urges cash costs through the use of volunteer labor. In 1995, the church's human resources department estimated that 96,484 volunteers serving at the time contributed services with an annual value of $ 360 million. This data does not include those who serve as full-time church missionaries.
Assets
The Time Magazine estimated in 1996 that church assets exceeded $ 30 billion. This figure represents only one side of the balance sheet and does not include current liabilities for maintenance, although the LDS Church has no long-term liability. After the Time article was published, the church replied that the financial figures in the article were "exaggerated." Three years later, annual revenues are estimated at $ 5 billion, with total assets of $ 25 to $ 30 billion. Whatever the true number, some estimate that about two-thirds of it consists of non-income generating facilities and the land they occupy, including temples and thousands of church-building buildings operating around the world, as well as educational institutions, such as Brigham Young University. The remaining assets include direct investments in nonprofit businesses that are mostly managed through Deseret Management Corporation. Although the church is a tax-exempt organization, nonprofit entities generate "unrelated business income" subject to federal, state, and local income and other taxes.
Officially the church declares that its commercial business earns a relatively small amount of money and is "primarily the result of a company that began when the Church was isolated in the West.Commercial business owned by the Church helps serve the needs of the Church in completing its mission."
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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