When the Org lost the Candace Conti case, the court ordered (pending the appeal) that the Org would have to deposit several million$ as security. The puzzling thing is, the Org got a Bond Company to put up the millions, thereby incurring heavy interest charges. I've always wondered, 'Why?????????'. Donations, are just that - donations!! They are not guaranteed. However, if fluctuating donations suddenly become a guaranteed income via pledges, then doesn't that give the Org a very powerful hand if/when they want or need to negotiate finance for expansion of their Real Estate empire - or pedophile payouts? The finance boys at Brooklyn have it all neatly tied up, and are planning for the long-term, I think! The sheep will be used as security for the future 'mortgages' of the Org!!
CANDACE CONTI & THE NEW CONTRIBUTION DEMAND
by The Searcher 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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fakefading
Good point I think that' exactly what's going on.
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JeffT
YES! I don't know why I didn't think about this. I'm familiar with some aspects of funing non-profits. Banks are very wary of them because the income stream is uncertain (as opposed to a business that can produce sales records, or better yet solid documents like contracts or leases. Pledges are not quite as solid as contracts, but they are better than just donations, because there is a written document noting future payments.
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metatron
Can anyone answer why they used a bond company, if true? Is there some legal reason? Or are they truly broke?
Beth Sarim sez there is a freeze on KH construction. WTF? And they're demanding contributions for building?
metatron
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baltar447
meta, check your PMs
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gingerbread
In this particular case the WT lawyers tried to put the Patterson Educational complex up as surety. The California court accepted the argument (Conti's attorney) that real estate is too unstable to be considered a safe surety bond - and it was in New York and if there was a future issue about the appeal the laws in two different states could cause problems.
So, WT found a bonding company (in Chicago I think) that posted the surety - for the amount awarded in favor of Candace. The WT must pay a monthly fee to keep this bond.
I think that the WT knows that they are going to lose this case (among others around the world) and are going to have to pay up. The WT is preparing all JW's for the worst outcome - and outlay of millions of dollars.
Recall the recent WT warning about everyone being ready to do things that are not practical or 'strategic from a human standpoint'.
ginger
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JeffT
I doubt the WTBS has a huge amount of available cash. If they are smart everything beyond immediate need is invested in something. Using a bond company doesn't require a huge amount of cash, so they don't have to sell their investments to have it sit in the court's account doing nothing.
Back when I was in (OK I'm dating myself here) when the Watchtower and Awake sold for .25 each they moved about 10-12 million copies of each issue. They didn't care if they were placed or not because they got the money from the publishers when we picked up our magazines. Thats two to three million dollars four times a month. That's a cash cow no matter what business you're in. Since they went to the donation arrangement I imagine they've been more strapped for available cash.
Absent financial transparency there is no way to judge their financial status. They're showing signs of financial strain. Going to a pledge contribution might help make up for the loss of revenue from the publishing arm.
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sir82
I don't know how "guaranteed" the income will be. The pledges from publishers are anonymous and non-binding.
It is a highly intriguing question, though, regarding how the WTS will react when congregations inevitably fail to forward the full amount that they communicated to the WTS would be their "pledge".
I have posted this thought earlier - the "pledged donations" will absolutely positively fall short by huge amounts (20, 30, 50%) within a few months of this new arrangement.
How will the WTS "enforce" their collections? THAT is the million dollar, as it were, question.
An even more (to me anyway) intriguing thought - the WTS has to know that this new arrangement will fail spectacularly. Are they setting up this new system actually expecting it to fail, so they can then "justifiably" enforce whatever their real plan is?
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smiddy
They will play on the superstitions of the R&F , reminding the congregations that what they pledge to jehovah/G.B./ Org.,must be honoured , otherwise it would be stealing from jehovah . That tactic goes back decades.
smiddy
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Listener
When the whole lot fails they won't be pointing at themselves, they'll be saying it is the fault of the r & f who didn't honor their pledges.
Without a question, the new arrangement of pledges will give them more money than they would have had otherwise, even if the brothers don't give the amount they pledged. (I would say donate but once you/ve pledged money in reality it could no longer be considered a donation). Even if they were to get the fully pledged money they could still play the games they do when trying to get more money from brothers at assemblies.