"Ways to Mention the Donation Arrangement" Plus: Did you keep it instead?

by stillAwitness 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  stillAwitness

  Taken from January 2006 KM:

  Ways to Mention the
  Donation Arrangement:

  "If you would like to make a small
  donation today toward our worldwide
  work, I will gladly accept it."

  
  "Although our literature is offered
  without charge, we do accept
  modest donations for our
  worldwide work."

  
  "You may wonder how we can afford
  to do this work. It is because
  our worldwide work is supported
  by voluntary donations. If you wish
  to make a small donation today, I
  will be pleased to accept it."

  I'm sure we all can think of other ways we can mention the donation arrangement to interested ones like:

  "Did you know Jehovah is a giving God? Would you not want to imiatate Him in this? Of course you would! Now gimme that 10 bucks I see peeking out of your wallet!"

  Hey! And how many of you got money from a householder and actually put it into the contribution box like you were supposed to? Come on! Let's be real here!
• 

  IP_SEC

  Kept it when we paid for the lit at the counter. I can count on one hand how many times I got a donation from the new way. I rarely even mentioned it at the door unless they asked "how much?"

  We are fart of a bile education work that is financed through voluntary donations. If you'd like to make a donation to the hurlded wide work, I'd be happy to accept it.
• 

  blondie

  I never asked unless they asked about it and I never mentioned the "worldwide work." I said, "whatever you feel is fair."

  I never understood why the donation arrangement for the worldwide work was invoked when publications were left and not when publications weren't left with the person. The idea was not connect the donation with "buying" the publication.

  I never heard a JW ask for a donation except for demonstrations on the platform.

  Blondie
• 

  TallTexan

  I never heard a JW ask for a donation except for demonstrations on the platform.

  I heard very few. I know I personally never did unless they would ask how much the publications were. The funny thing is that I always got more than what we had been selling them for previously. Oh, and I never put it in the contribution box, because I was paying for the literature out of my pocket. I considered it a consignment deal - I'd pay up front and then get reimbursed. Even I was smart enough to see through the 'get paid twice for the same piece of literature' ploy.....
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  >> Even I was smart enough to see through the 'get paid twice for the same piece of literature' ploy.....

  Yeah, I was a heavy-duty dub, too, and I still didn't buy that line. It was a little too brazen. They should have at least mentioned the "donate for the mags yourself" and "put the householder's donation in the contribution box" lines in two different paragraphs. Then my cult-controlled mind woulda had something to work with.

  Dave
• 

  rekless

  Then my cult-controlled mind woulda had something to work with. Dave Boy can you say that again.I think I will,(Then my cult-controlled mind woulda had something to work with.) It always irked me to no end that the society wanted to get paid twice.
• 

  undercover

  Color me 'cult-controlled' back then. I didn't get it at very first that the literature would get paid for twice. I was just glad that we didn't have to charge for them anymore. I thought the donation arrangement was a better way to go.

  But as time went by and I realized that asking for a handout was harder than saying "we're offering this for the printing cost of 50 cents" I started paying attention to how the donation arrangement worked and saw that if everyone got a donation for every publication 'placed', the WTS would get paid twice for each piece of literature. Even then, knowing that most people weren't getting too many donations, I still didn't sweat it.

  Later when the heavy doubts about doctrine couldn't be compressed anymore, the donation arrangement and the story behind how it came to be became an important part in my seeing that the WTS was more of a publishing company than a religious organization.
• 

  DannyHaszard

  Blowing the Whistle on the Watchtower re: sales tax fraud

  The following letter was mailed out in quantity to the 50 states (Sales Tax Fraud Divisions) in early 1997. The collecting of sales tax by peddlers from customers is required in 49 of the 50 states. For a full report on the fraudulent nature of the Watchtower in this regard, read The Watchtower Way of Laundering Money. Earlier the Watchtower organization suffered a defeat along with Jimmy Swaggart. The previously-mentioned article says, "Just one month before the new policy was announced, the Society watched how the Supreme Court ruled in California Board of Equalization vs. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. California wanted to assess sales taxes on the sale of books and tapes and other items by Swaggart's ministry. The Watch Tower Society filed amicus curiae (a friend of the court legal brief) in support of Swaggart's position, that a religious organization should be exempt from such taxation. On Jan. 17, 1990, just a little over a month before the Society's change in policy, the Supreme Court ruled against Swaggart and permitted taxation. The Society's new policy avoided any liability for taxation by taking the financial transaction out of the picture (donations cannot be taxed)." While the Watchtower's "new policy" shielded them from a lawsuit by the State of California (and subsequent others) , they continued to peddle the magazines and books from door-to-door (and to this day), mentioning contributions and although not saying a specific amount to the householder to give, the Witness peddler himself has to come up with the "value amount" of the literature and give it back to the Kingdom Hall to send to Brooklyn. If not enough funds come in according to their evaluation of the "value" of the literature, the Watchtower's literature supply desk will halt the flow of all literature to the local Kingdom Hall until the "bill" has been paid. This is still currently the hypocritical practice as of March 2003. I also included in the mailings a copy of David Reed's book Blood On the Altar. Some states wrote back; their reply was basically "Thank you," or that they will process the request of the Watchtower's abuse. Here is a facsimile of the letter I write in 1997:

  Danny Haszard P. O. Box 15449 Boston, MA 02215 ATTN: Certified Mail to Criminal Investigation Tax Fraud Division To all 50 states and all I.R.S. Offices January 15, 1997 Dear Tax Office, I am writing to blow the whistle on an organization I used to belong to, an organization that is selling millions of dollars of merchandise in this state without collecting sales tax. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York ships truckloads of books, videos, tapes and assorted other merchandise to their Kingdom Halls across the state. The members take these items from there and sell them house-to-house, returning the money collected to the Kingdom Hall, so that it can be mailed back to Brooklyn headquarters each month. They talk about "donations" but this is a thinly veiled tax-dodging sales operation. Dunn & Bradstreet reports for recent years show their sales in the $1 billion range, so the Jehovah's Witness are certainly selling $--millions in this state. The religious publishing operations and bookstores connected with other churches are collecting and paying sales tax. As a taxpayer, I am writing to blow the whistle and to ask what is going to be done about the Watchtower's tax evasion. Yours truly, Danny Haszard
• 

  TheListener

  I was hardcore and I didn't ask for a donation more than a handful of times. I contributed when I picked up and that was that. If someone contributed anything to me (did happen once in awhile) I put it in the box.

  I also didn't like the double contribution thing but I didn't let it bother me since I rarely received any money from the householders.
• 

  Mary

  When they changed the policy from selling the mags to donations, I remember someone telling me it was to avoid paying taxes which was easy to believe and wasn't really a state secret at the time.....at least in our area. Although I was stil a good Dub then, whenever someone applauded the "new arrangment", without hesistation I openly stated that it was a terrible idea and that one day, the Organization would regret ever doing it. This is because Witnesses are notoriously cheap.......if they think they can get something for free, there's no way they're gonna pay for it and so it's proved to be because I don't believe for a second that the Borg is getting anywhere near in "donations", what they were before when you had to actually pay for the magazines.

  It was a real bonehead of a move on their part and they would've been far better off adding the required tax to the cost of the magazines. For example, if the magazines used to be 50 cents, then up the price to 60 cents, and send Uncle Same the 10 cents or whatever is is they required. That way, they'd still be getting the money, the taxes are paid and everyone's happy. Their move to the "donation" basis was a very bad business move and I'm amazed that their lawyers didn't try to talk them out of it........

  Ever since that time, they've been begging far more often and far more loudly for everyone to pony up the dough. They never used to do this years ago, but I guess they figure this is the best way to get more cha-ching to pay off the lawsuits.