I was wondering where all the money goes that the Mormon church collects from tithing. I have read that the amount they give back to charity doesn't come anywhere close to the amount collected. Who is drawing the big salaries? And who is benefitting from getting everyone to believe it is necessary to give 10%? Does the church really enforce the 10% rule? If they suspect that you aren't giving your fair share will they mention it ? Thanks just curious in learning more about the religion

Probably a billion goes to BYU, some goes to building churches and temples, general administration. Only about 100 million goes to humanitarian causes. Nobody really knows because they refuse to disclose it all.

There is an annual tithing settlement meeting for every member with their bishop and they are asked if they pay a full tithe. They are also asked every 2 years when they renew their temple privileges.

You can't ascend to the highest levels of Mormon heaven without being married in the temple, and that requires a full tithe.

I have been asking the same question and well I figured S. Benson would know.

Your title, "Where all the tithing money goes," made me think, "All right! Someone knows!"

Hey, when I was a Mormon I thought, if they aren't telling me, it has to be good. (I was a rube.)

They don't have to tell and they never will, no matter how much the members kick and scream, unless there was a mass exodus over the subject. Then they would only explain as much as they had to, to keep everyone happy.

Pay, Pray, Obey - learn it, live it, do it!!!

Only a minority of the Quorum of the Twelve knows the full picture on where the church's money goes. Only approx. 8 people (an accountant, Presiding Bishop, First Presidency, and few apostles) know. Why not suggest that your girlfriend get you a copy of the balance sheet & revenue/expenses reports. Then she can learn about obfuscation.

At least a billion goes to subsidizing BYU. I looked at UofU's expense report for 2007(the school is about the same size as BYU), assuming costs to run both schools about the same. Looked at student population for the Y, calculated tuition for two semesters, and came up with just over a billion difference in the amount of income received in tuition vs. how much it cost to operate the school. And that was just the Provo Campus. LD$ Org has two other schools to operate.

Close to another billion to build, operate and maintain all the chapels and temples around the world.
Plus, there's the CHurch Education System, and all the ful-time employees in the COB.

And they like to spend some of that money on PR... Commercials, ads, radio, facebook, etc.