Aus Bethel 06 Annual Report - INCREDIBLE 50% DECREASE in donations

by jwfacts 42 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts

    I just purchased the 2006 Annual report for the Australian Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Below are the highlights. Most incredible is that donations dropped by almost 50%, from 15 million dollars to only 10 million dollars. This seems almost unbelievable. I don't know if there is some other reason explaining this, such as donations being syphoned off to other entities, but if the fall is real the WTS must be heading into a state of panic. We can expect a lot more pleas for money in upcoming magazines and at conventions etc.

    2006 annual report

    Review of Operations

    A review of the operation of the entity during the financial year and the results of those operations are as follows:

    The entity continues to provide literature and Bible educational programs to the members of the public at no cost.

    The entity is still committed to further overseas aid, including building projects which will result in continuing cash outflows.

    (The total spent on supporting overseas building and aid projects is listed under Administrative Service and was $6,313,412. How long can overseas projects be supported if donations are falling in developed countries?)

    Principal Activities

    The principal activities of the entity in the course of the financial year were to promote the Christian religion and study of the Bible, in accordance with the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the dissemination of Bible truths, both orally and by printed word, by charitable work for the relief of poverty, by establishing and maintaining private Bible schools and classes for instruction and by Christian missionary work and support facilities, both in Australian and overseas. No significant changes in the nature of these activities occurred during the year. (??? what is this supposed to mean. It is common knowledge the WTS does not support charities. Their definition of poverty relief is conversion)

    Income Statement

    for year ended August 31 2006

    Income 2006 2005 2004

    Donations 10,684,802 15,523,039 12,375,661

    Total Income 10,912,167 16,434,005 14,370,864

    Surplus/(Deficit) (3,322,937) 715,901 610,036

    Balance Sheet

    Total Assets 27,185,649 30,545,850 28,361,216

  • Stealth453
    Stealth453

    Ahhhhhh....the poor babies. How will they ever survive on a measly 10 million in donations?

    Maybe we should take up an apostate collection to help them out.

    NOT!!!!!

  • IP_SEC
    IP_SEC
    Ahhhhhh....the poor babies. How will they ever survive on a measly 10 million in donations?

    A little over 3 years if they keep running 3.3 million in the red.

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts

    $10 million may sound a lot but average donations have declined from $250 to only $160 per publisher. Don't forget that Bethel receives a lot of deceased estates, meaning the average JW donates far less than $160. Quite pathetic really.

    The one thing I am not sure of is how much is staying in congregations. Maybe the WTS is afraid of loosing everything through law suites, so encouraging the congregations to keep the donations individually in congregation accounts. Do any elders on JWD know if there has been any letters in regards to donations recently?

  • SirNose586
    SirNose586

    Hmm, looks like people are voting with the purse! You know how angry Mother gets when her babies don't send her a nice check...

    Now the real kicker would be to see how donations have fared in the US...

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass

    Well that's excellent news. My first thought was that some taxation loophole has been taken advantage of, but they don't pay tax anyway. So maybe the congregations are being told to hold onto the cash to starve the grubby lawsuits.

    It must be an especially miserable place these days, ole Liverpool.

  • Gill
    Gill

    The trend in the UK is also down but not as dramatic as Australia by the looks of things.

    But, when I looked at a lot of the UK KH accounts a lot were faring badly with donations dropping a significant amount, and quite a lot of 'overspending' going on. There are a few that are doing well, and the vast majority seem to be just scraping by, by the seat of their pants.

    The UK bethel definitely 'overspent' by a fraction for their last report to the charity commision.

    So it is interesting to see a dramatic drop in Australian donations. Perhapst the UK will follow suit in a few years.

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts
    people are voting with the purse!

    People can go to the memorial to appease their parents, and put in a fake report to keep the elders off their backs, but when it comes to money you can see where the publishers hearts really are.

  • dozy
    dozy

    Trend in the UK is fairly flat , though I'm still waiting for the latest figures to come up - WTS seems a bit slow in submitting the report for last year.

    WTBTS http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=1077961

    IBSA (holding corporation) http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=216647

    I presume that the figures can change quite dramatically from year to year with legacies giving a "lumpy" income stream , but I agree that a loss of 3+ million AUS$ does seem a bit much. Presumably Brooklyn will underwrite any loss.

    Annoyingly it is impossible to get up-to-date US figures as certain charities (including religious ones) don't need to publish returns - so much for the land of the free! And by the way , in the UK you don't need to pay for the accounts - and Aussies think the poms are tight!

  • badboy
    badboy

    PERHAPS`THEY WAIT ON JEHOVAH' to solve the problem.

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