Is JW.org going Broke?
by Vanderhoven7 68 Replies latest watchtower bible
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NotFormer
Interesting that he's calling it a membership fee. I wonder if they can figure out a way to make that official. 🤔
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enoughisenough
I don't think they are going broke. If I recall someone's math correctly, they are raking in over 13 million a month in the US the number of publishers. That is just one country! That does't include all the money people directly donate to them. ( on their online donation page, you select to send to your congregation or to the worldwide work if I recall. I sent donations to both at the same time.) Then you have people dying and leaving their estates, stocks and bonds ,etc. You have them making bank when disasters strike because the brothers donate labor and materials to repair homes and the JW picks up the home owner's insurance benefit. It has been discussed they have money from various trusts and stocks. They have basically stolen and sold halls from those who paid for them so as to have a close local place to meet. Their realestate is worth billions. They get money from some countries just in the name of religion. They are tax exempt. They have money to buy off CSA cases. They have money to pay lawyers to go after some lone youtuber or to sue a country for money they really don't deserve. I am inclined to believe it is wishful thinking that they are going broke. They can buy a home for someone they kicked out...
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JW GoneBad
Watchtower is running out of cash!
A family that is house rich but cash poor is a family that has equity in the house they own & are living in but not enough cash/money in the bank to draw from to pay the cost of raising a family month to month. Unless this family finds a way of generating cash...like finding jobs & working longer hours...this family will eventually have to mortgage the house or worse yet sell the house & pay rent in order to make ends meet until all the money runs out.
This is the predicament WT aka 'Mother' finds herself in today & in the days/weeks/months & years to come! Mother owns a ton of Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls with a ton of equity to boot. With less & less cash in the bank to pay for all the fixed & variable expenses of maintaining all this property & other costly expenses of running a large Corporation...what is Mother to do? She can sell Kingdom Hall & Assembly Hall property to generate cash (which she's done). Mother can also mortgage Kingdom Halls & Assembly Halls to generate cash...but that means she'll have a ton of monthly mortgage payments including high interest costs.
So, what is Mother to do? She'll attempt to tithe its Active Publisher Members a certain amount each per month per publisher. In the USA it happens to be $10.75 per publisher per month.
Mother hopes by tithing its members she'll be able to generate enough cash flow monthly to pay all her enormous monthly expenses.
Me thinks Mother is getting deeper & deeper in debt month by month...tithing its members ain't going to work...she's doomed...Yay!
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smiddy3
Is this for real ? Can I see something official from the WT please b4 I`ll beleive it .!
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stan livedeath
Mother can also mortgage Kingdom Halls & Assembly Halls to generate cash...but that means she'll have a ton of monthly mortgage payments including high interest costs.
no she wont--she will get the bruvvers to cover it all
Brilliant !
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no-zombie
Sorry guys, don't read too much into this 'levy' as it been going on for years. Yes, it did have its start when the Watchtower and Awake magazine became free to congregational publishers to distribute, but now that the Organization has gone mostly digital (baring the limited runs of the 'public editions') Witnesses feel that its just a operational cost that should be covered.
And realistically ... a request of Publishers for $2.50usd per week, is nothing like asking for a 10% tithe. Why its not even the price of a take-away cup of coffee.
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enoughisenough
Here is the thing about the "membership" fee. The Bible says not to give under compulsion. The rank and file are compelled to donate whether they realize it or not. They are sneaky with their letters only the elders are to see. The rank and file don't know there is a $ sign on their head. They are told all donations are voluntary-yet the elders get letters to try to get as much money as they can from the congregation ( in other words, if possible , determine if they think the congregation can afford more.) Some can. The last congregation I was in always had plenty of money in the bank and every now and again a resolution would come up to send X amount to the branch. I remember telling people there were no collections and free seating, no paid clergy. A contribution box was in the back if someone wanted to donate so as to help with utilities and mortgage. We paid for the literature even after the "donation" arrangement came in. We really don't know where all the money goes.
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Journeyman
I agree with JW GoneBad.
Just because an organisation has a high turnover or seemingly large income, doesn't mean it's on a sound or strong financial footing.
Given the secrecy over the org's internal accounts, we can only guess at their level of outgoings, but I would not be surprised if it's substantial enough (especially when you factor in the costs of fighting legal actions - not just on abuse but also things like planning, 'freedom of speech', etc - and paying out 'hush money', compensation, damages and/or court costs whenever they lose, which is more frequently these days) that they are in a more precarious situation than most people imagine.
They have also 'invested' badly in recent years in expensive projects like NY and Chelmsford Bethels and now Ramapo, which are largely white elephants and do not in themselves generate any financial value or income.
Even if the increase in begging videos is just a tactic to get more money without actually needing it, there are other clues. Look at the things like printing cutbacks, the mass hall sell-offs, bethel closures, the seizing of local congregations' funds, the sale of second-hand Bethel equipment, the centralising of all construction and maintenance projects, and so on. These are not the actions of a cash-rich and financially secure organisation, but rather one that is trying to squeeze every dollar/pound/euro/etc out.
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Beth Sarim
The Borg will call this new 'tithing arrangement' everything short of,, a "membership fee"