It’s Tithing Settlement Time again and the church must face its yearly security hole. The church may be able to keep a lot of things secret, but its greatest financial vulnerability is the local Ward Clerks who know for sure just how MUCH money goes out – and how LITTLE of it comes back!

So, all you disillusioned Ward Clerks, you may now vent your many frustrations right here at Recovery From Mormonism.

SHOW US THE MONEY!

back in the dot.com days in the morridor we took in over a million and got back $15k for budget for the year.Stake got a small chunk too but do not know how much.

thanks churchco!

We took in at least half a million a year. And we received back as a ward around ten to fifteen thousand a year. The bishop might give out maybe five thousand a year in bills for indigents.

Basically from what I could see the wards operate three to four weeks a year to cover costs (I am thinking, in addition, of building operating costs--power and water, routine repairs and upkeep for building and grounds--but keep in mind these are typically shared with about three other wards). The Morgue makes back per ward about eleven months out of the year in profit.

the $5k your bishop gives out comes from fast offerings-not tithing. Tithing goes to uhh.... sh*t we don't know!

There are now eight or nine categories on the tithing slip IIRC.

Why doesn't Tithing cover everything, it should according to magical thinking mormonism but it doesn't.
it's all about the money- always was-always will be and the BofM proves it.
THE BOOK OF MORMON
CHAPTER 8
32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.

The only things I ever filled out on a tithing slip were the tithing and fast offering lines. I never understood why tithing wasn't paying for all that other stuff either.

Also, now that Missionaries all pay into a general fund that is redistributed among them, what percentage of that money, do you think the church keeps for itself?

Most of it.

If the Morg spent that money on the missionaries as they claim, they would have no reason to hide their expenditures from members.

duplicate, see below



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2012 12:15PM by lump.

posted in the wrong place



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2011 05:35PM by derrida.

Seven years ago was the last time I saw year ends.

~$900K income, $8k ward budget, $12k Welfare/FO expense. Missionary budget was zero-sum, not included. (Meaning I don't include missionary expense/income in my amounts. Every missionary in the ward had family paying the $375/mn required, which went to SLC, and presumably paid for their mission. Tho we know it's averaged across all missionaries.)

Note Budgets do come out of tithing from SLC central. It's the pittance US wards get for the tithing collected. The amount each ward gets is dependent on the attendance record, especially the number of Fast Offering payers and Full Tithe payers in a given ward. SLC keeps both statistics and attendance on quarterly basis to determine by some unknown equation what the stake budget will be, which is then divided into shares for wards by membership numbers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2011 11:59AM by Jesus Smith.

This classic clerk thread from 2008 was archived in 'short topics' here:
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon565.htm

I'd also love to know if anything has changed. Is tithing way down in this economy?

One of my last 'callings' was as Ward Clerk in a very working class ward. We had a bishop who stressed the importance of missionary work above all, and our Ward Mission Fund was large enough that missionaries called from our ward had to pay very little out of their own pockets to go on their missions. One day we got a notice from SLC that our Ward Mission Fund was to be remitted in its entirety to SLC, ostensibly to be used by the General Missionary Fund [more likely to be used to invest in more real estate]. "No discussion, no rebuttal," to quote the late, lamented Lena Horne. The bishop was furious, most of us were dumbfounded - but the money went south, and we had to start all over again from zero. Our Ward Mission Fund never recovered - people just wouldn't contribute since they knew our ward would not be allowed to keep the money available for our own kids.

Foxdale Ward, North Clearfield Stake (Davis County), UT:
* $350,000 collected for the year
* Ward Budget of $1,900
* Average Contribution per family = $2,200
* 65% members reported being "full" tithe payers

As a ward we remitted almost a million to salt lake each year and as a stake almost 5 million for the year. As the stake clerk I could see how much was in each wards missionary fund and one year collectively the stake had almost 85k for all wards. I got to send out a letter to each ward requesting they write a check to the stake for the excess missionary funds and then wrote a check to salt lake. I got to clean out the whole stake.

Among the most notable checks I wrote were a fairly large donation above 50k to habitat for humanity as part of a stake sponsored service project. Other large expenditures were for chartered bus rides for the stake girls camp which was 4k each year.

Another time I had to reimburse the stake 2nd counselors wife for stake girls camp expenses totalling $120 and she provided her complete credit card statement as support. They had spent over 10K and had numerous purchases for Victoria secrets and online adult stores and massage paroles. I made sure the whole statement was copied and attached to the check when I asked the stake Pres to sign the check.

Another time we were sitting in the stake clerks office where there were probably 8 file cabinets against the wall. 6 were locked and had been for years. Nobody seemed to know what was in them. So I started digging through a box of keys that were in the cupboard and was able to unlock 5 of them. They contained records for the last 12 years. So we dug through them and found a lot of disciplinary records from courts of love and old financial records. The stake Pres walked in on us while we were digging and he asked what we were doing. He had no idea all of that was there and I told him it was all old financials from years past. He suggested shredding it so I loaded it in the back of my truck and dumped it in the dumpster on the way home.

That was a fun job and provided a lot of insight into how the stake was run.

"They had spent over 10K and had numerous purchases for Victoria secrets and online adult stores and massage paroles. I made sure the whole statement was copied and attached to the check when I asked the stake Pres to sign the check."

Seriously? No $4!t?

You didn't keep a copy for your personal files did you? That would be too sweet.

I'm nearly speechless.

Since members aren't hit up to build chapels any more, the cost of building the chapel should be figured in.

Say you pay off a building over 20-30 years. What would the percentages look like with this factored in?

I'd still bet it looks pretty rosy for LD$ Inc., but just ongoing O&M (operations & maintenance) is definitely not the whole story.

Our ward building was built in the late 70s. I wonder what the average life of a ward building is in the states. 50 years?

The church probably pays cash; no financing or mortgage costs I imagine.

The buildings are all cinder block construction where I live.

What are the costs of the ward buildings typically?

All of it and dont forget to add in interests and dividends earned in investments.

In a small ward in rural Utah, the amount of donations collected during 2011 was around $350,000. Kind of mind boggling as this is not a wealthy ward by any means.

In the U.S., a typical ward meetinghouse costs around $2-$3M to build. So, if a building houses 2 wards, and they each submit $500k per year to Central, the building pays for itself in 2-3 years.

Has ChurchCo replaced any of the 50's or 60's era buildings? I don't believe that they have around Seattle or 'burbs. The old 8/10 W in N. Seattle .... was built with a FLAT ROOF (a BOLD invitation for leaks & frequent replacement here)... TOTAL NONSENSE.... but I believe it's still in use.

I know that some of the Legacy buildings in UT are Sorely Missed.