Last Updated on November 29, 2017 2:40 pm by Steven

Note: This is part of a series of correspondences between a friend and myself about specific Gospel topics.

Friend –

This continues my email on Tithing.  Here is a link to my first Epistle.

Who can receive tithing?

I’ve read many personal finance books.  Almost all mention that you need to give 10% away to tithing or charity.  In order to understand wealth, you have to give some away.  I don’t believe that it really matters whom you give it to.  Just that you give away 10% of your increase to help others in society.

I do not believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the market cornered on blessings from tithing, meaning that in order to receive the blessings from paying a tithing you do not have to give it to the LDS church.  That being said, I believe that in order to reap the full blessings from tithing, you need to give your tithing to the church or organization you have chosen to become associated with.  I have friends that are not members of the LDS Church that I believe reap the full blessings of tithing by paying their tithes to their own church.  I also know people who are not religious but have chosen to tithe (or contribute) 10% of their income to chosen organizations.  The important piece of tithing is not who receives the tithing, but that we are willing to part with a portion of our wealth.

Go back to the tithing declaration question.  “Are you a full tithe payer?”  The bishop does not ask where we pay our tithing to, just that we are given an opportunity to declare that we did pay our share of tithing.

Accounting (and tithing) are sometimes messy

One of the pieces of software that I sell is an accounting package.  People think that accounting is clear and cut and dry.  You have debits and you have credits and everything fits into their boxes and columns nicely.  Real live accounting is messy and never fits exactly into boxes, and columns don’t line up nicely.  This is analogous to tithing.  There is not a nice square box for tithing to fit into.  Sometimes it is a bit messy when trying to figure it out.

Other Offerings

In addition to tithing, I believe that the Lord has asked us to be generous in other offerings.  This is where the Church’s Fast Offerings, Humanitarian Fund, Education Fund, etc come into play.  Also – we should give to other worthy causes.  Lorell and I give to the BSA and donate blood to the Red Cross, among other organizations   Offerings can be done many different ways.

Where does this money go?

These are my experiences on what tithing and offerings are used for as a member and a church employee.  Specific offerings are always used for their specific purpose.  Some have administrative overhead, which seemed to be low.   Specific offerings:

  • Fast Offerings – All fast offerings are spent locally, Ward then Stake – then if there is surplus it is sent to the worldwide fast offering fund.  There is some overhead that I don’t know if it is paid from tithing or fast offerings funds.  This includes transportation expenses to get food to local Bishop’s storehouses.  Rental (or purchase) of the actual buildings.    Guam did not have a bishops storehouse – so I don’t know where the administrative funds came from.
  • Humanitarian fund – There are a general fund and specific disaster funds (like the 2004 Tsunami and I’m sure there will be a Harvey fund).  All direct administrative expenses are paid from the fund.  For the humanitarian projects I was involved in (two examples: a few clean water on Chuuk, and wheelchair on Pohnpei) from what I remember we estimated the number of hours our church salary was spent on the project and that portion of our salary was charged to the project.  There was a threshold that administrative expenses needed to stay under.  It was very low single digits, but I can’t remember what it was.

Some additional mechanics

  • All of the tithing the LDS church gathered in one year was budgeted and spent the next year.  Meaning that if I give $100 tithing to the church today (2017) – that $100 is not spent until 2018.  This is a very conservative business practice and it ensures the Church always has the monies that are needed.
  • The Council for the Deposition of Tithing (Doctrine and Covenants 120) meets late each year (December) to review the expenditures vs. budget for the current year and to approve the budget for the next year.  On Guam, our office budget had to be in a few weeks before so that managing officers could approve before it went to these brethren.  When the budgets were returned to us around the first of the year we sometimes saw notes & comments from the Council on the budget.  So they are heavily involved in the process.
  • All capital expenses (buildings/projects/etc) must be fully funded before they are started.  Before any chapels or temples are build the cash to build and maintain for the first year are sitting in the bank.
  • During the downturn of 2008, mid-year all new projects were put on hold.  They stayed on hold for multiple years until tithing funds increased with the recovery of the economy in the US.
  • A very large majority of tithing comes from the Wasatch Front.  The church could not do what it does without the tithing generated from having a large concentration of saints together.
  • In 2005 – 28% of tithing was budgeted for Church Education System (CES). This was split between Seminaries, Institutes, BYU’s, and some of the church ran High Schools.  From 2005 – 2010 the church got out of the High School business as the government schools in those countries had come up to standard, so the need was no longer there.
  • Every department in the church always wants/needs more tithing.  This is no different than any other business.  There are more projects than resources.
  • Tithing supplements Mission fund where there is a shortage.
  • New or expanded Buildings are approved on one criteria – the number of people attending sacrament meeting.  In 2006 a new Stake Center was built on Majuro, Marshall Islands.  It costs in excess of $1,000,000 to build.  It was greatly needed as the church was renting an old building up to that point.  I asked how long it was going to take for tithing from Majuro to pay back the money for the building.  (My friend at the office worked in finance).  He told me probably never.  Tithing in Majuro at that time will pay for the upkeep of the building.  The church does not look for ROI dollars when new buildings are approved.
  • In 2006, employees of the Church made about 85% of market value.  So the church pays less than what someone could make doing the same thing somewhere else.  But so many people want to work for the church they can do this.  Simple economics and I think good business practices.
  • The business of running the church is a business.  It gets messy.  Because we all make mistakes there are HR issues.  I saw the Church work with many people on re-training to help them succeed.  I’ve also seen departments that are no longer needed and people are laid-off from the Church.  Just like any business – there is going to be hard feelings.
  • First Presidency, Quorum of Twelve, 1st Quorum of Seventy (might include 2nd, but I’m not sure) receive a monthly stipend to pay for personal expenses.  There are a bunch of blogs around that give their opinion on how much.  My best guess is that they receive about 100K per year.  I would imagine that some take it and some don’t.
  • 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th Quorums of Seventy do not receive any type of stipend.  However; they are reimbursed for their travel expenses when they are required to travel for the church.
  • The Brethren are people.  They get frustrated, have bad days, repent, apologize, and move on like the rest of us.  I’ve personally seen it happen.  I know every church employee has also seen it happen.

Are all donations Equal?

One of the questions you asked is: Is all monies and assets that are church controlled to be treated exactly the same as tithing?

I would argue a resounding No!  Here are some examples:

  • A builder is building a new sub-division.  He reserves a spot in the middle of the sub-division for an LDS Church.  He donates the land to the Church for a new Building.  Non-members move in and a new building is not required.  The church has this asset – what does it do with it?  Let it sit there and do nothing?  Sell it?  What does it do with the profits from the sale?
  • Because the church has no real debt – everything the church owns is paid for.  If the church raises more money than it needs in one year – what should it do with the surplus?  I would hope that it is invested in assets that increase in value.  Could this be one of the sources of funds for City Creek?
    • As a side note, the Church did not spend $5B or $3B on the City Creek mall.  If you read the news articles they state that the Chamber of Commerce says the revitalization of downtown Salt Lake could cost a total of (either $3B or $5B depending on the article).  They do not go into everything that the numbers include, just that City Creek is part of it.  Could Trax also be part of those figures?  Maybe.
    • If I had extra money that I wanted to preserve for the future – investing in land with rental income is an excellent choice (ask Mom and Dad – they are enjoying their rental income from their properties).

So I would argue that the managers (and Brethren) of the church funds have an obligation to spend the money to further the work of the Lord on the Earth.  Some people say that Temples are too expensive, or that we have too many of them.

I have never witnessed or heard of anyone needing Fast Offerings that were denied because the money ran out.

I wish the Church would release their annual finances.  More for a personal note because I enjoy reading financials (It’s the nerd in me).  I believe that not releasing them makes them look like they are hiding things.  But that does not mean they really are hiding things.  My guess is that they don’t want to deal with the criticism of how the funds are spent.  I could easily say 28% for BYU is too much – raise tuition for those students or give some to USU!  I don’t agree with the decision, but I understand it.

Now I’ve rambled on way too long.  I have more thoughts – but I’ll save them for later.

-Steven Loosle