In CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ segment on church finances, it missed the sweeping rags-to-riches history of faith
On Sunday night, CBS news program “60 Minutes” broadcast a segment about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints financial assets. The segment highlighted widely reported items about church investments and spending as well as one critic’s criticisms – a self-described “whistleblower” who once worked with church investments.
“60 Minutes” and other reports often overlook an important history that helps explain church finances and decision-making today, including its historic and modern record of self-sufficiency that supports its global church presence.
One historian wrote that 60 years ago, a financial crisis threatened to become one of the worst episodes ever in Christian history – something no church with such an extensive past of economic trouble can claim to have experienced.
As one example, an apostle once secured loans in New York City just hours before his church would have defaulted on a large payment with a San Francisco bank. On waking that morning he felt hopeless knowing that run on two banks owned by their church would wipe out its deposits if he hadn’t succeeded – had that happened, the church’s credit rating would have been severely damaged, with debtors filing suits against assets owned by its church according to historian Ronald Walker (deceased).
In 1962, the church ran up a $32 million deficit. When red ink started appearing again in early 1963 and financial officers worried they wouldn’t be able to meet payroll for church employees, President David O. McKay took swift action: He changed one of his First Presidency counselors who had overseen church finances; historians speculate that this action may have saved their employees.
President McKay appointed a brand-new counselor, who immediately started steering the church on a path of fiscal responsibility, beginning with years of belt tightening. A major symbolic measure was an immediate building moratorium that lasted five years: this period saw no construction taking place on Utah or Latter-day Saint history’s largest structure: 28-story Church Office Building.
One historian observed that this new strategy proved immensely successful; established principles for church finances during the 1960s have led directly to their accumulation of assets today.
“That program has been implemented consistently and faithfully for half a century,” observed Nathan Oman, historian and professor of law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. If one takes a portion of their tithing revenue each year and invests it, an enormous pool of reserves would accumulate over time – between savings and compound interest growth on investments, this has provided the church with enormous reserves.
Today, the church boasts an estimated stock portfolio worth billions of dollars and assets totaling up to $150 billion, according to “60 Minutes”. However, church assets remain confidential so as not to compromise religious mission, said Bishop Christopher Waddell from Presiding Bishopric first counselor Waddell for “60 Minutes.”
The program reported, without providing sources, that the church receives $7 billion each year in tithing contributions, dispersing $6 billion to various religious and charitable causes while investing what’s left through Ensign Peak Advisors, an investment arm which functions more like an “integrated auxiliary” of the church than as an independent entity.
If the church truly had $150 billion – an estimate which it did not confirm during its interview with “60 Minutes” – its reported annual charitable spending would amount to 4.4% annually, more than what a retired IRS executive indicated was necessary for non-church 501c3 entities like itself in order to keep its nonprofit status. Churches do not need to make minimum disbursements.
The church offers generous charitable contributions of more than $1 billion annually for education worldwide (including BYU as its flagship university) as well as humanitarian offerings of $1 billion annually. Furthermore, it funds over 30,000 congregations as a global missionary effort as well as thousands of meetinghouses, temples and free genealogical services all as part of its religious mission: inviting others to follow Jesus Christ and become members.
These factors, along with an atmosphere of social and governmental unrest, created an immense impetus to form independent, self-sufficient communities and economies. One such community was the Church of Jesus Christ – starting out from humble roots with no money but now having achieved economic sufficiency that its founders sought from day one.
Reserve funds – an unprecedented first in church history – could play an instrumental role in its global growth trajectory, according to Oman. Oman proposed that church assets may become even more significant when most membership growth centers on Africa and Latin America.
“Today’s Latter-day Saints likely have more wealth per capita than future Latter-day Saints will,” said Elder Smith. “Savings is used to move funds away from current Latter-day Saints with high per-capita wealth to those with lower per capita wealth of future Latter-day Saints.
