Each start of a year, we have a tradition of projecting what we think we might be making in a year and pay our tithing in full for the year beforehand. That takes faith and it has never failed us. We don’t have a professional clergy. We don’t have a seminary in the traditional sense. Our leaders don’t have divinity degrees. They all support themselves with their own careers separate from the Church. They serve typically for three to nine years before somebody else is rotated into leadership. The Seventies that are called to be General Authorities do receive an allowance to sustain them. They do have to leave their employment to dedicate their life to service full time, other than that. All the local leaders are not paid by the Church. They go about living their lives as normal with an added responsivity with their calling.
The tithes they collect go straight into a central account in the Church offices in Salt Lake City, where it is managed professionally as well as according to principles written out by inspiration from God. All tithing money is only spent for building and sustaining His kingdom on earth, as illustrated in the examples below. You will see that God has given the Church an extensive — and expensive — mandate.
You can go to Salt Lake City and see the offices. You can also go to museums, libraries, and visitors’ centers, all welcoming the public for free.
There is no admission fee or donation box.
Most of the Church’s funds go toward building meetinghouses in more than 100 countries, at the rate of one per week. All projects are paid in full before groundbreaking, so you won’t ever see any sign at a construction site painted look like a big thermometer.
You’re welcome to drop in anytime you see one and visit our meetings and inspect the grounds and buildings, which are built to exceed the commercial standard. One thing you will never see inside is a collection plate.
You’re probably familiar with some of our 70,000 young missionaries. Although they are largely supported by their families and whatever money they could save from jobs during high school, many, are supported by tithing money and the Church pays for all airfare. There are also missionary training centers to be taken care for before they even go on a mission. This adds up to a lot of airline tickets. There is also the expense or running over 400 mission offices and motor pools worldwide.
The Church’s senior leaders also rack up quite a few frequent flyer miles. These 12 here have a calling to testify of Christ to the whole world, and by the looks of their schedules, they are serious about it.
Beyond travel expenses, it’s important to consider that the 12 apostles work six days a week for the rest of their lives. They work right until the ends of their lives and never retire. So, this is about a small group of leaders leading a 17 million-member growing global organization. Among these hundred-or-so, there is a council of 18 who are responsible for the management of several billion- dollar worth of annual donations. The money the General Authorities receive is not paid out of tithes. Given their general level of success as professionals prior to assuming these leadership responsibilities, I’m sure most of them took a serious pay cut to serve. These inspired leaders are also jetting around the world almost as much, teaching, providing guidance, and sharing the gospel.
There is a headquarters staff that includes clerical, IT, financial management, media, engineering, custodial, grounds keeping, travel, security, and cafeteria personnel. They are paid market-rate salaries out of Church funds. Their salaries and benefits do come from tithes. In addition there are 14 international offices around the world. My husband is the Director of one of those offices in the South America South Area. He oversees anything that happens in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay and he works his little tail off. I can attest to that!
The single most expensive item the Church owns is my alma mater Brigham Young University, with its flagship campus in Provo, Utah, and others in Idaho and Hawaii, as well as the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and a superbly-directed London Centre. In addition to Ensign College and Pathway. If you’re not one of the 28,000 students at BYU or any other Church sponsored Colleges, you can still take the same religion classes weekdays at one of the LDS Institutes of Religion next to college campuses all over. Free of charge.
With the Church subsidizing BYU by 70%, it is an excellent value in education, a private school with tuition comparable to a state school’s. In addition to over 100 major fields of study, every student must take four semesters of religion classes to graduate. There is no theology major. (Where would they find jobs?)
The Church is working to maximize digital resources, posting its whole curriculum and news releases on the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints web site, providing uplifting programming on their channel and other outreach outlets including live chat with our wonderful missionaries (This is so much more effective than knocking on doors.)
Nevertheless, printing costs still exist. Like many other organizations, we are sharing the The Holy Bible. We also want to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. This is what I saw last month when I opened the nightstand at a hotel in Montevideo.
The biggest expense for tithing is the temples. These are special buildings, distinct from the ordinary meetinghouses in form and purpose. They are not open to the public, but are reserved as sacred, quiet spaces for spiritual instruction, rituals, and covenant making. If you ever been to Washington, DC. You probably have seen it from the freeway. You’re welcome to visit the grounds and the adjacent visitors’ center, which hosts free lectures and concerts.
There are close to 200 of these temples, with several more under construction in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and many parts of the world. Those I mentioned are places where I have lived and more are in planning stages. They are paid for before ground is broken.
If you get a chance to go on one of the public tours (free, of course) before a new temple is dedicated, you will see where a lot of this money goes. The temples are so fancy because building them is an act of high worship. Solomon spared no expense. The modern temples are no less sacred.
The Church also sponsors the world’s most extensive archive of genealogical records in the world, Free Family History and Genealogy Records called FamilySearch. The searchable database is growing at more than a million names per week. I know many people and friends (not members of the Church) using this local Family History Library to map out our pedigree, who knows, maybe you’ll find out that your great-grandmother was Pocahontas. You probably have a local Family History Center you can visit to find your ancestors. (of course it’s free.)
One place you can’t visit is the Granite Mountain Records Vault, where these records are permanently safeguarded from humidity, civil disturbances, natural disasters, and even nuclear war. Since it is privately owned, we don’t have to depend on the government or invite anybody in. All this microfilm is being digitized for free public use on the Internet.
One of the purposes of the Church is to help the poor.
There are warehouses and storehouses of food and emergency supplies around the world. The government is not involved in any of it. This funding comes from the donations we make as Church members when we skip two meals a month and contribute the cost of the meals to a local fund to feed the hungry within our local congregation. The money left over from that goes to the fund. This larger program to feed our own as well as disaster victims of any faith.
As mentioned before, there are over 100 storehouses that help the needy. They often share space with LDS Employment Resource Services & Work Agency and with LDS Family Services. Although primarily to benefit Church members in distress, the Church also operates Humanitarian Service to help with disaster relief. With the on -going pandemic the amount spent with aid that reached over 180 nations was impressive.
So, when we pay tithes and other offerings, we are supporting the Lord’s work, not a professional clergy.
We live by this biblical law of the tithe, whereby members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the privilege to contribute 10% of their income voluntarily. For this reason, we don’t have rummage sales, bingo, pledges, or any other kind of fundraiser.
There has not been a major financial scandal since the nationwide wave of bank failures in 1837. The Church does own some profit-making businesses and real estate. These pay taxes the same as any other commercial enterprise. The Church has not incurred any debt for over 100 years, and will never borrow again. A small portion of the tithes received go into a rainy -day fund for the Church’s operations in case there is an economic downturn.
So on a Sunday look for where we congregate and come on by and meet us sometime. Meetinghouse Locator | LDS Maps You’ll probably hear sermons or lessons about things like faith and repentance, service, forgiveness, family life, being a good neighbor, studying the scriptures, overcoming personal challenges, and living a clean in a dirty world. There will also be a few opportunities to get out and serve your neighbors. But one thing you will never hear is an appeal for cash. Those buildings are paid and maintained with tithing.
Ask any Church member about this. These are sacred funds that are donated by the faithful, many of whom live in very meager circumstances. Church leaders handle this money as if it were the widow’s mite in Mark 12:41–44. It is amazing to watch what happens with all this, and even more amazing to be part of it.
I hope this is helpful.
Con amor,
Vero
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