Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This 15-barreled silo at Welfare Square contains enough wheat to feed a small city for 6 months.

Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) are similar to other non-profit and religious organizations, where the principal source of funding comes from the donations of its members and the principal expense is in constructing and maintaining facilities.

When the LDS Church takes in more donations than it pays out in period expenses, it uses the surplus to build a reserve for capital expenditures and for future years when period expenses may exceed donations. The LDS Church invests its reserve to maintain the principal and generate a reasonable return and directs its investments into income-producing assets that may help it in its mission, such as farmland- and communication-related companies (see below).

The LDS Church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements in the United States since 1959. The LDS church does disclose its financials in the United Kingdom and Canada where it is required to do so by law. In the UK, these financials are audited by the UK office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The LDS Church maintains an internal audit department that provides its certification at each annual general conference that LDS Church contributions are collected and spent in accordance with LDS Church policy. In addition, the LDS Church engages a public accounting firm (currently Deloitte & Touche) to perform annual audits in the United States of its not-for-profit, for-profit, and some educational entities. In a June 2011 cover story, Newsweek magazine stated that the LDS church "resembles a sanctified multinational corporation—the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion."

History

After the U.S. government confiscated the LDS Church's property under the Edmunds–Tucker Act in 1887, the church fell into severe debt. The government had seized most of the LDS Church assets, including tithing money donated by members. As a result, by the time Lorenzo Snow became the LDS church president in 1898, the church was $2.3 million in debt. Snow reemphasized the payment of tithing (giving 10% of one's income to the church) and by 1907 the LDS Church was completely out of debt and since then has not used debt to fund its operations, even for capital projects. An early pioneer venture of the LDS Church was ZCMI which lasted from 1868 to divesting ZCMI Center Mall in 2007.

Current source of funding

Most of the LDS Church revenue comes from tithes and fast offerings (donations made to support new buildings and needs of its members) contributed by the LDS church members. Tithes donations are transferred from local units directly to the LDS Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, where the funds are centrally managed. It is estimated that about ten percent of its funding also comes from income on its investments,^{[citation needed]} mostly direct investments.

Fast offerings are held locally and used in part to stock Bishop's Storehouses, local food banks used to feed the needy. Fast offering funds in excess of the local unit's needs are also sent to the LDS Church headquarters to be distributed to other localities whose offerings fall short of their needs.

Use of funds

The LDS Church uses most of its financial resources to construct and maintain buildings and other facilities. The LDS Church also spends its funds on providing social welfare and relief and supporting missionary, educational, and other LDS Church-sponsored programs. The LDS Church does not pay its local leadership. General authorities and mission presidents, both of whom serve in these capacities full-time, can receive monies from the LDS Church in the form of housing, living allowances, and other benefits while they are on assignment. No funds are provided for services rendered.

• Construction of facilities.

The LDS Church builds additional chapels (structures used for weekly worship and for baptisms) and temples (structures used for eternal marriage and ordinances) as wards and branches of the church are organized. On average, the LDS Church builds a little more than one chapel a day. The LDS Church built about 40 smaller temples between 1998 and 2001. There are 136 operating temples (3 undergoing renovation), 15 under construction, and 15 announced (not yet under construction). (See List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

• Maintenance of facilities

The LDS Church pays to maintain its chapels and temples around the world. These costs include repairs, utilities, grounds maintenance, and specialized custodial work. Members also assist with cleaning local chapels by providing general custodial work. These facilities are cost-centers for the LDS Church, and maintaining them represents a significant use of the LDS Church's income. The materials used in church classes and the budgets to run activities and other things done by the various congregations of the church are also centrally funded. It also funds the printing and distribution of manuals for classes, and funds all congregational activities through centralized budgeting.

• Social welfare and relief.

The LDS Church operates a welfare distribution system, as it encourages members to seek financial assistance from family and the LDS church first before seeking public or state-sponsored welfare. AgReserves Inc., Deseret Cattle and Citrus Ranch, and Farmland Reserve, Inc. are part of its welfare distribution system. Welfare resources are distributed by local bishops but maintained by the Presiding Bishop. See Preparedness. It also sends relief aid to victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and others around the world. The relief effort has been recognized through many organizations and political leaders, including the United States leaders in reaction to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort by the church.

• Other programs.

The LDS Church also spends much of its money collected through tithing on missionary, educational, and other programs which the LDS church considers to be within its mission. Although the families of Mormon missionaries (usually young men ages 19–25 or young women ages 21–25) generally pay US$400 a month for missions, additional general funds of the LDS Church support missionaries unable to pay for their own missions. Additionally, the LDS Church provides a mission office and mission home for each of its 340 missions and pays for television advertising offering free copies of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and church-produced videos and DVDs. The cost of printing or producing these materials is also covered entirely by the church since they are distributed for free. The LDS Church also owns and subsidizes education at its three universities and LDS Business College. Throughout the world, it also supports Scouting programs for young men. In addition, it supports its Seminary and Institute programs with tithing money.

• Volunteer Labor

The LDS Church tempers its cash expenses through the use of volunteer labor. As of 1995, the LDS Church's human resources department estimated that the 96,484 volunteers (not including 50,000 full-time missionaries) serving at the time contributed services with an annual value of $360 million.

Assets

Time magazine estimated in 1996 that the church's 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 incurs virtually no long-term liabilities. After the Time article was published, the LDS Church responded that the financial figures in the article were "grossly exaggerated." Three years later, annual revenues were estimated to be $5 billion, with total assets at $25 to $30 billion. Whatever the actual figure, about two-thirds of it is made up of non-income-producing facilities and the land they sit on, including thousands of meetinghouses and over 130 temples the LDS Church operates worldwide, as well as educational institutions (mainly Brigham Young University).^{[citation needed]} The remaining assets include direct investments in for-profit businesses managed through Deseret Management Corporation. Although the LDS church is a tax-exempt organization, its for-profit entities generate "unrelated business income" that is subject to federal, state, and local income and other taxes.

The church's holdings include:

• AgReserves Inc. - the largest producer of nuts in America (circa. 1997)
• Hawaii Reserves, Inc. - Miscellaneous church holdings in Hawaii. Along with the Polynesian Cultural Center (the leading paid visitor attraction in Hawaii) and Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Hawaii Reserves generated revenue of $260 million for the Hawaii economy in 2005.
• Farmland Reserve Inc. - 228,000 acres (923 km²) in Nebraska,; 51,600 acres in Osage County, Oklahoma; and over 312,000 acres (1,260 km²) in Florida (dba Deseret Cattle and Citrus).
• Bonneville International Corporation - the 14th largest radio chain in the U.S.
• Deseret Morning News - a daily Utah newspaper, second-largest in the state of Utah.
• Beneficial Financial Group - An insurance and financial services company with assets of $3.1 billion.