An inside look at how Church finances fund humanitarian efforts, temples, worship, missionaries and education

In collecting tithes and donations, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses member contributions in a myriad of ways — helping the poor and the needy, building temples, offering free-of-charge genealogical resources, providing worship and gathering locations, supporting its missions and missionaries, and investing in education and institutions of learning.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the sacred tithes and donations of its members in worldwide efforts to love God and neighbor,” states a Newsroom article posted Friday, Dec. 20.

Titled “How the Church of Jesus Christ uses Tithes and Donations,” the Church statement comes during a week where media has been publishing about the Church and its finances.

“In light of recent media stories that have misrepresented the Church’s approach, we provide the following summary,” the article said, highlighting five areas of emphasis.

The Church is committed to helping the poor and the needy.
The Church builds temples and connects families through genealogical work.
The Church provides worship and gathering space for its members.
The Church supports a global missionary program.
The Church invests in education.

The statement also includes video clips from a 2018 interview Newsroom conducted last year with the Presiding Bishopric, which under the direction of the First Presidency administer the temporal affairs of the Church.

THE POOR AND NEEDY

Latter-day Saint Charities, the Church’s global program, works with worldwide local charitable organizations — such as the Red Cross – in emergencies, natural disasters and other needs. The efforts in providing assistance and relief primarily benefit those who are not of the Latter-day Saint faith.

President Russell M. Nelson spoke in October 2019 general conference about Latter-Saint Charities and the Church’s humanitarian efforts, which is a small portion of what the Church spends to help those in need.

The Church’s most recent annual report showed more than $2.2 billion in aid given in 197 countries since the Church’s humanitarian arm was created in 1985.

Also, men, women, children and families receive assistance in food, housing and other temporal needs from the leaders of the Church’s 30,000-plus congregations through its welfare program. That provides billions more dollars of assistance beyond the humanitarian outreach.

TEMPLES AND CONNECTING FAMILIES

The Church helps connect families across generations through ordinance work done in temples, with 217 of the sacred buildings worldwide either operating, under construction or announced.

Temple work by members draws upon support from the FamilySearch, the Church’s nonprofit family history organization, which offers free of charge its genealogical resources to anyone.