Nothing would make me happier than to see the tscc implode and fall on hard times because of loss of tithing and income streams. I think money "IS" their Achilles heel but they are far from it from what I saw today.
I was in provo and drove up 900 east and you cannot believe the amount of big-big construction projects they have going on at YBU and MTC... as Donald Trump would say "it's HUUUUGE"
I don't get it -

someone fill me in.
These are mega projects. Is it all for show?

Your post made me curious, so I did some digging...

BYU has an annual faculty salary of $114k. Full professors make an average of $142k, instructors $62k.

In 2015, BYU had 33,336 total students. Ignoring that some of them are part-time, and some non-members, tuition is typically $5k per year per student...they bring in $166,680,000 (166 million) in tuition per year.
Total faculty is 1,211; at $114k per year, that comes to $138,054,000 (138 million) in faculty pay -- about 83% of tuition, then, goes to pay faculty. Leaving about $28 million *just from tuition income* to spend on buildings, non-faculty employees, etc.

Of course, they get a ton more money from federal programs, alumni donations, sports revenue, etc. etc. etc. I don't think BYU itself is hurting for money.

Two things of note I found while researching this:

1. BYU's composite SAT/ACT scores (1150-1360 SAT, 26-31 ACT) are the second lowest among "top 100" US universities

2. Male BYU faculty are paid on average $2,000 a month more than female faculty, and there are 965 male faculty to 246 female faculty -- meaning women make up 20% of the BYU faculty, the lowest % among the top 500 universities in the US.

There has been a lot of talk on here that nearly all tithing from Canada goes to BYU due to the charitable spending laws in Canada. The money can only leave the country if it goes to certain things. Foreign universities is one of those legal destinations.

As far as the church hurting financially, I doubt it. I'm sure tithing is way off, but I doubt that's where most of the money comes from. I think their profitable enterprises are quite profitable.

"I think their profitable enterprises are quite profitable."


I see this a lot here but do you really think it is true? You know who is running these companies? Right? Seems like they probably have bloated overhead and decreasing revenue. The people who work there probably do well, the companies themselves I bet are barely afloat.

They are heavily invested in agriculture and real estate. What this means is that their income is highly volatile and cyclical. Add this in with income from tithing which every income tax state can attest to is also volatile and cyclical.

So what does this mean. They need large reserves of cash to keep the whole ship afloat. Sometimes they are making money and sometimes they are not.

In the last economic downturn commodity prices skyrocketed and farmers made excellent money. This buffered the decline in tithing. They obviously are shedding excess cash now as they have made some massive capital investments in agriculture as well. We are looking at reserves from the last 8 years being depreciated.

I am guessing their income from tithing has rebounded somewhat and they are no longer putting all the capital into mctemples. I personally think they are anticipating a future decline in tithing income and they are looking to expand out their income streams.

When figuring the cost of a white-collar employee you have to add about 35% for fringe benefits (health care, retirement, employer part of social security tax, etc), then figure on about 50% on top of that for overhead (building maintenance, furnishings, utilities, phone, internet, HR admin costs, etc). You end up with a number about 2x the gross salary as a true cost per employee. Of course in the case of LDS Inc, they get 10% back from the employee and I don't know how generous (or not) they are about retirement - seems to be a wide range of employer contribution to retirement annuity and/or 401k match.

You forget that many of these "employees" are actually volunteers.

Does their lack of activities outside of morg church services count!???and if they do any activities they've got be morg orientated???

The Morg followed the Mafiosi plan--after extortion to bring in funds, diversify assets. The Ambitious Boner.

10% of ALL faculty income comes back to Church coffers,,,,

The temples aren't conceived as profit centers any more. Thank God the cynical executive mentality of Tanner and Hinckley appears to be dying out. Hinckley boasted many times in conference that he was a business executive. He rarely stated that he was a prophet.

Instead, the temples are now conceived as a protective measure, sort of like a wall on the border keeping the apostate truth away from the members. A public good, so to speak. I think they're badly mistaken, but at least there's a sort of sincerity behind it. At least they'll find out what the actual results of their traditional beliefs are when implemented.

So without the huuuge profits from cheap McTemples, they need actual market investments to subsidize their inept bureaucracy and luxurious lifestyles. Right now rental housing appears to be their focus. Their current presiding "bishops" aren't stupid, in fact they've got some very successful real estate men.

Historischer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> So without the huuuge profits from cheap
> McTemples, they need actual market investments to
> subsidize their inept bureaucracy and luxurious
> lifestyles. Right now rental housing appears to be
> their focus. Their current presiding "bishops"
> aren't stupid, in fact they've got some very
> successful real estate men.


Our leadership at the stake and ward levels are much the same in this area. Real estate investors with a mix of accountants and other businessmen. The corporate culture of Mormonism is probably very comfortable for these men and likely one of the reasons they stay. The scientists and those with a philosophical bent have largely fled.