who owns the KH/ asembly halls? (page 2)

Yerusalyim

I was under the impression that all the property was Deeded to the Society itself since it lost a Hall in Texas. I could be wrong.

Realist

farkel,

is there anyone profiting from the money or the property / KH ? this stuff is only used for their religious activities...hence it is not profit oriented is it?

core

In the UK congregations have a Constitution which basically says that if wound up the assets will be passed to the WT Society of Britain, no provision exists to repay/distribute funds to members.

Society can at will 'close' congs or merge them as the Constitution allows this.

Assembly Halls are even less open - used to have an annual meeting for the elders in the area served and accounts were sent to each cong involved, then acounts were 'available' to see via the CO.....now no news of the financial affairs of Assembly Halls at all.

The owners are the 'trustees' who are technically and should legally be independent however that means nothing as they are directed what to do via the society appointed Assembly Hall Committees - If a Hall closes the funds etc become WT property with no redistribution to local congs.

Nice work if you can get it.

Farkel

Realist,

: is there anyone profiting from the money or the property / KH ? this stuff is only used for their religious activities...hence it is not profit oriented is it?

That money has been used to build posh monuments to themselves and posh living accommodations, too. Consider the Patterson Resort for one thing. Why didn't they sell that million-dollar chandelier in the Standley Theatre decades ago, if their money was ONLY used for religious activites. All WT elites travel first-class, stay in first-class hotels, routinely eat at the finest restaurants, have private chauffeurs and basically live the good life.

That's not exactly what Jesus did, now was it?

Farkel

Preston

Does the society charge interest on their loans? Does anyone ahve any proof to back this up? Isn't this usury?

Farkel

Preston,

:Does the society charge interest on their loans? Does anyone ahve any proof to back this up? Isn't this usury?

Yes, but I believe they are going to stop charging it if they already haven't. The interest is 2% per annum, which is far below what any other lender would give you.

Farkel

Mackin

Farkel said:

Usually, the local elders form a Corporation with themselves as directors and that Corporation has the say about what happens to the Hall. When the loan is paid, I've been told that the title to the property is often deeded to the society by the Corporation if those directors so deem it to be so.

This is what happens here in New Zealand. The congregations are Incorporated Societys.

Ed:

We must have different laws here. I remember not so long ago (maybe a couple of years) the elders got our congregation to vote* on whether to send extra payments to the Society from the congregation's funds to help buy a new car for the CO (and pay for its maintenance).

This is a somewhat different situation. The local congregation (legally an incorporated society) has given a mandate to the elders to use congregation funds for regular expenses, power, phone, cleaning supplies etc. But when there is an extraordinary expense (like contributing to the CO's expenses) the law requires a resolution to be put to and passed by the corporation, hence the voting.

Mackin (of the "correct as best I can remember" class)

Golden Girl

Some good info here!...

Under...JW and Society..Jw and Monies!

Snoozy...Hope link works..I always have to do it 10 times!!!!

http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=JWANDSOCIETY9

Check out "Raking in loan and rent monies!"

Especially the"Assembly Halls!".

Edited by - Golden Girl on 26 January 2003 2:14:8

Gizmo

GG,

The article you found was not on that exact link, I eventually found it, took a while, so I just thought i'd post the article for you, thanks for the excellent Link, it is now in my Favorites

Raking in Loan and Rent Monies How much money does the WT Society possibly rake in each month and each year for Kingdom Hall mortgages and Circuit Assembly Hall fees? There is no way to be certain, but I made the following estimates for your interest.

Amazing

There are approximately 7,000 JW congregations in the USA. Assuming that each Hall is shared by an average of two congregations (some have more and many have only one) then we can safely assume 3,500 Kingdom Halls in the USA. While I have no data on how many have outstanding loans with the Society, it has been my experience over 27 years serving in 9 different congregations in 3 states that each and every one has had a loan with the Society. But, for this discussion, I will assume 1,750 Kingdom Halls have loans.

While the Society in the early 1990s moved its interest rate up to 6%, I will conservatively assume that all outstanding loans today are back to the older 3% APR.

Some KH loans are small, maybe less than $100,000 and many are higher, but for this analysis, I will assume an average of $100,000 per Kingdom Hall still owing the Society on a mortgage. Back in the 1980s I knew of several congregations with mortgages of around $200,000. So, just using an average of $100,000 owed, then here is how it would break down:

1,750 Halls with an average of $100,000 Principle value = $175,000,000.00.

Monthly Principle and Interest payment at 3% over a 30 year mortgage on all $175,000,000 together sent in to the Society is:

$737,807.06 or $8,853,684.71 each year. Over the life of 30 years the Society would collect a total of $265,610,541.25!

Keep in mind that the above is a very rough and general estimate. While the actual loans outstanding might be smaller, they could as easily be greater. Also, not included are the outstanding loans on the multimillion dollar Circuit Assembly Halls in many parts of the USA.

James 2:15-17, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

What are the works again that the early Christians talked about doing? And with millions of dollars coming in just from Kingdom Hall loans, does it not make us wonder how many poor JWs could be greatly helped? And in Africa a USA Dollar goes much farther, anywhere from 8 to 12 times the value in the USA. So that $8,853,684.71 the Society may be getting each year could equal anywhere from $70 million to $106 million in real buying power in many poor nations. Think of all the JWs that could be lifted out of poverty, and all the Kingdom Halls that could get a roof and maybe even the luxury of cushioned seats or air conditioning?

Someone mentioned on H20 earlier that the recent Circuit Assembly they attended requested over $9,000 to be sent in to the Society for use of the Circuit Assembly Hall. These Assembly Halls are used each weekend for assemblies, so, if each CA send is $9,000, then that means $36,000 per month is sent to the Society.

Each Assembly Hall holds about 1,500 maximum in attendance. These Halls are typically about 20,000 to 25,000 square feet or more. Using 20,000 sqft, this means that the Society is getting about $1.80 per sqft per month or an annual rate of $21.60 per sqft.

Common commercial lease, rates for such properties I managed run between $20 and $24 per square foot per year. So, the Society is doing very well in collecting comparable fees much like the rental market keeping up with common commercial rent rates.

Contributed by

Simply Amazing,

who owns the KH/ asembly halls?

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