How much would you say the average JW donates in $$$ ?????

by run dont walk 41 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  run dont walk

  Regarding donations, what would you say the average JW would donate in $$$ in a one year span.

  Some are richer then others, some have no children, some have 6 children, I imagine it would vary quite a bit.

  So what would be a fair average, $1,000 / year per person ?????

  Now when I say donation, I mean every dollar a person gives, this would include contribution boxes in the hall, assemblies, etc, donations for magazines, books, videos etc, every possible thing one would donate money to the Watchtower for.

  if $1000 a person is a fair number, then multiply it by 6,000,000

  = $ 6 billion dollars a year, nice scam Watchtower

  maybe the average is higher ???

  any thoughts ???

  how much did you donate on a yearly basis ???

  even at $100 a person, still $600 million a year.
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  RunningMan

  Well, when I was accounts servant, I would remit about $500 a month to the society for the worldwide work. At year end, I would issue around $5000 in tax receipts. Then there were cash contributions (around $1500) - So, we're up to $12500 per year. For a congregation of 70 publishers, that's $178.57 per person - probably around $400 per household.

  On top of that, some would send contributions directly to the society, and put money into contribution boxes at assemblies. I'm guessing that the average contribution per publisher would have totalled no more than $250 per year, and that includes all literature remittances.
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  run dont walk

  $250 X 6,000,000 = 1.5 billion

  I think thats a fair number !!!!
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  RunningMan

  Our congregation has its hall paid for, and we are notoriously cheap. Back in the days of charging for magazines, our WWW remittance would be closer to $1000/month. I would assume that where a congregation has payments to make, donations would be higher.

  Also, I have not included periodic pledge drives - you know, when a new KH or assembly hall is being built, and they ask everyone to pledge some amount. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it raises a lot of money. I have also not included wills, insurance policies, and estates. Typically, these are left directly to the Society.

  They also earn a whack of money from interest and real estate appreciation.

  I would estimate their total haul (worldwide - local cong and head office) at closer to 5 Billion.
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  freedom96

  As mentioned above, there are other types of donations, such as wills, etc. Not counting that, if you were to take actual cash money, per person in the hall, I would say far less than $100 per person. Especially in a hall of 100, there may be only 35 or 40 families, each counting a kid or two. There is no way that a family of four was donating $400 cash money a month. Not on average.

  Was I the extreme? I don't know. But I swear I never donated more than $50 total ever other than magazines and books.
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  ezekiel3

  I would like to hear some confirmation on this, but Bethel members in the know have told me that most of the contributions come from California (money per publisher). Any coincidence they also have 6 assembly halls in Cali as well?
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  drwtsn32

  We only donated like $50/mo. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I didn't want to give them much money. Now I know why. lol
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  blondie

  Having been married to a MS who did accounts, I would say that in a congregation of about 90 only 10 people donate at all. There are few who donate 25 to 75 dollars a month (tax write-off) and some wealthy big hitters give around $200/300 (tax write-off again). Then there is the brother who gives nothing for 5 months and then when the congregation is $1000 in the hole he steps forward and bails them out, Of course, that averages to $200/a month, same as the regular big hitters, but not with the same emotional impact.

  Many JWs give nothing after all who knows if they do or not. Older people with hardly a dime give about $5/month. People between 18 and 30 give little because they haven't learned the benefits of tax write-offs yet. People with children are struggling.

  It only takes a few big hitters and several secondary hitters to pay the utilities and the deposit into the month maintenance. Now if they have a loan with the WTS...that's where they rack up the deficits.

  It used to be worse when then paid the WTS for the publications.

  Blondie
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  morty

  While I was growing up, we were very poor. There were 5 of us kids and only one small income.I remember us just donating the coffee ( a big huge can of the best) for the pioneers and ones going out on service on Saturdays...I also remember just giving 3 bucks( a one dollar bill and a two dollar bill) for our weekly mags and stuff. So I guess all in all it was about 16.00 bucks a month....Did not get a hole lot from us........
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  candidlynuts

  i always had my ex put in 20 bux a week in the regular box and some for whatever magazines/books we got in the publications box. (once an elders daughter that stayed with us because her dad kicked her out told us how he was assigned to watch the boxes i'd always tell my husband to wave it and make a big deal out of putting it in the box, catching the dudes eyes if possible. must have worked cuz he became their golden boy for awhile) also the kids would get a dollar or two each to put in the box.

  memorial he'd always put in some but wouldnt tell me how much. (that and district assemblies were the only time he'd give without urging from me)

  he was always big on slipping the c.o. some cash. (which i resented..let the richer ones take care of the dude)

  he liked to donate at district assemblies 250 (unless we were broke) so he'd get a tax reciept although we didnt file long form lol what was funny was he started doing it with a personal check... said if he was gonna give that much he wanted credit for it lol.

  we had 4 kids and our income was some years 15k some years 25k some years 40k . (although 15k now seems nice and rich.. i live on 360 social security a month, take note any wives who are thinking of divorce .. get a freakin lawyer even if you have to rob a bank or hook for a few weeks , jw husbands will cheat you out of a lifetime of memories and use god as a reason to do it)

  wonder if the wtbs would give me a refund to assist me in my time of need. 18 yrs.. 20 bux a week.... how much is that? would it buy me a car so i could see my kids more often?