Talk:Finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Beneficial Financial Group

I don't get it, is BFG a portion of Thrivent, or is this statement simply for comparison purposes... ie. don't get your panties in a bunch because the Mormon church has all this money, take a look at what kind of whopper the Lutherans have... Either way, the paragraph ought to be rewritten

Beneficial Financial Group - An insurance and financial services company with assets of $3.1 billion. This is 5% of the size of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a religious-oriented nonprofit investment company for Lutherans of any denomination in the United States, which has holdings of over $60 billion and some 3 million participants.

Could there be a separate article listing the assets of even more religious-affiliated financial institutions? This might fit better there. --TrustTruth 16:51, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Scouting

Are donated funds used to support Scouting? There is a reference for the support and endorsement of the programs [1](thanks TrustTruth), but I'm not sure if that includes financial support. Thanks, Alanraywiki 22:59, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I can look for a more-specific reference on where the money comes from, but I can't imagine it coming from any other source. I have seen checks cut for troop scouting dues and they didn't seem to be any different from checks cut for other ward expenses (actually it may have been cut by the stake). I know that's original research. I know scouts sometimes put on fundraisers; also, the church encourages members to donate to the Friends of Scouting drive, but that money goes straight to the BSA as a tax-deductible donation -- it doesn't go to the troop. Other than fast offering, BofM fund, or the missionary fund, I can't think of any other source of funding. Also, I don't recall seeing "scouting" as a line on the standard donation slip. --TrustTruth 23:15, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

You don't have to go through the trouble, but thanks. I've been the ward finance clerk off and on for years, so I know no donations at that level go to Scouts (plus I shell out personally to Friends of Scouting). I think it's me not understanding the sources of income for the Boy Scouts of America and similar international organizations. Since I'm the CFO for a non-profit, I will look that up on my own. I was just unclear on what "support" represents. But I do appreciate your help. Alanraywiki 23:27, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Relatively recently, tithing funds (10%) donated by members to the LDS Church come back to stakes and from there to wards based on sacrament meeting attendance percentages. The ward budget then is decided by ward bishoprics, with ward councils, and includes Young Men activities, and Young Women activities. Is this not a good thing? . . . Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 00:53, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Jargon tag

I tagged this with a jargon tag. The following words, and others, probably need to be explained or reworded: "the church," "principle of tithing," "tithes and fast offerings," "chapels," "missionaries." Fredsmith2 (talk) 13:36, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

I think I've cleaned up the jargon. --TrustTruth (talk) 17:08, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

The "church" still needs to be fixed. This is typically how it is referred to by members of this religion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.23.149.51 (talk) 03:31, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Why does the church not disclose its US finances?

The footnote about this (note 2) is dead, so I can't look that up. I'm in the UK, where as mentioned the church is required to publish such details, but it would be very useful to have an explanation (preferably in the text) as to why they have not published finances in the US since 1959; they must have given a reason at some point, surely. 86.132.142.168 (talk) 12:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't know the reason; feel free to add it if you find it in a reliable source. I fixed the dead link. --TrustTruth (talk) 13:53, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Generally, tax-exempt organizations in the U.S. disclose financial information by filing a Form 990. This form becomes public information. However, churches are specifically exempt from this filing requirement (see http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=152729,00.html). I am not aware of any U.S. churches that are disclosing financial information to the public. Alanraywiki (talk) 14:25, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

That is correct. --TrustTruth (talk) 18:19, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Simple, It doesn't have to. Why don't you publish your finances so i can look at them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.71.167 (talk) 23:33, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Took me 5 minutes to find 600+ US Churches that publish financial statements...ECFA.org Rnashwa (talk) 11:40, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Missionaries who need assistance.

I added citation request. I don't know how to make a snazzy [citation needed] so I did the next best thing I could think of. Please fix the link.

I have never heard of missionaries needing to repay any assistance the church provides them if they cannot afford to serve. Nor have I been asked to repay before, during or after my missionary service. Please prove that statement with a citation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bendgoman (talk • contribs) 05:56, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

This whole article pretty much reads like a whitewash

No mention of extensive properties in Missouri, Arizona, or its General Authority only hunting lodge Utah. No mention of the copious "public/private" companies like Intellectual_Reserve that sell items sold at retail (or higher) that are manufactured by free or at labor costs below US minimum wage. Also no mention of compensation packages made to church general authorities for managing for-profit arms of the LDS chuch. What about the value of church owned properties? Payouts made by the LDS church to settle child molesting cases? Do they own stock in a company while criticizing the competition under a moral guise? While I am not quetioning these acts as legal or not they should at least be mentioned.

It's pretty clear pro-LDS editors have been hard at work on this article. I suspect this modest complaint will be deleted in minutes by editors' of the same ilk. Wikipedia is about facts and that article has very few. 74.104.0.122 (talk) 00:15, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

If this is your "modest complaint," then I will point out that it has been here since October 2010 and no one has touched it or until now legitimized it with a response.

Instead of editing the page and adding value you came to the discussion page to "modestly complain" about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an evil corporation out to take advantage of the poor and needy and molest children. I think everyone here can see that this is troll behavior.

If you feel that the information in the article (with cited sources) has "very few facts," but your statements (without cited sources) are nothing but facts, then follow Wikipedia's admonition to be bold, edit the page, and add your information. If it is removed and you feel that reliable and relevant information is being blocked, then you should open a discussion with the other editors and defend you position (maybe with some reliable sources). If, after doing so, you feel there is bias harming the veracity of this article, then make a compliant.

The troll posted his "modest complaint" on 23 October 2010. I think that seven months is well enough time for it to sit. If this doesn't become a legitimate discussion moving anywhere by 23 May 2011, then it should just be removed. HankyUSA (talk) 23:53, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Just leave it in for WP educational purposes; at some date, it will roll over to archive. Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 22:39, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Changes to Monthly Cost to Missionaries

My edit on 05 October relating to the change in monthly missionary costs added a sentence (and source) saying that the cost would increase in July 2020. This was erroneously changed (to say that the cost is currently $500) and then corrected. The end result is that a citation about the current, USD$400 cost was lost (it is replaced with the price change citation) and the sentence about upcoming changes is removed.

Is the upcoming change to missionary costs not appropriate information to this article?

For now, I will make another edit restoring my change. It seems that the removed citation link has gone bad. (I'm apologize if this is not correct Talk page usage) — Preceding unsigned comment added by DivingApple (talk • contribs) 00:30, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Name of the church clarified

simply went through and made sure the name of the church is update to the current media styling guide e.g. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church. removed "LDS Church" or "Mormon Church" from main article. I left the sources alone of course. This will make no difference in the quality of the article. Thepayne0 (talk) 21:36, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Title capitalization

The title of this article, along with a provision at MOS:LDS, violates MOS:THEINST, a site-wide guideline which trumps WP:LOCALCONSENSUS. Please participate in the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Latter Day Saints § Capitalization issue. Thanks. InfiniteNexus (talk) 05:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

Political section verification

@ChristensenMJ: the Associated Press/Deseret piece doesn't seem to support your changes[2] to that section. I can't seem to access that NYT article, can you demonstrate that it does support those changes? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 22:47, 30 September 2024 (UTC)