Mormon Finances and Membership Data in the UK Revealed
The Mormon Church membership is now at less than a 1% growth rate and still declining
The Charity Commission for England and Wales recently published the 2021 UK Financial/Membership Report for Charity number: 242451. This innocuous number refers to the "charity," THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (GREAT BRITAIN), more commonly known as the Mormons, and was initially established in 1965. This so-called charity has 199 employees, three trustees, and 61,000 volunteers in the United Kingdom.
UKformerLDS Facebook group expert, Chris Mace, brought the report to my attention. Although links are added for your information, the "highlights" are as follows:
· Major economic changes have been made to the way donations are handled. Previously, tithing was treated as "unrestricted" and could be used any way the church wanted. Donations to specific funds (such as Fast Offering, Humanitarian Aid and Temple Construction) were kept separate as "restricted funds."
However, these restricted fund balances were largely unused and had been accumulating for over ten years. Accordingly, these substantial remaining balances were transferred to SLC (£6.7m in total) at the end of 2021.
This transfer included balances in Humanitarian Aid (£4.6m), Temple Construction (£800k), Perpetual Education (£1m), and Book of Mormon fund (£370k).
The balance in Fast Offering (£870k) was transferred to the main UK account. For context, this is about half of the annual donation to Fast Offering (2021: £1.65m)
· The Mormon church in Utah has been propping up its UK operation by transferring around £5m a year across from Salt Lake City. This rose further in 2021 when £9.2m was transferred over. It was previously assumed this was to help run the missionary program as most missionaries and their funding comes from abroad. The total cost of the missionary program in the UK in 2021 was £8.6m, so additional funds are still required.
· Two years ago, the Mormon church bought a huge office block in London called Alder Castle for around £100m. This produces a significant annual income in a separate company called Covent Garden IP. All profits from this company are donated to the UK church's main account. In 2021 this was £2.3m.
· Membership total is 186,803. This has fluctuated from year to year but is still almost exactly the same as in 2009. However, in 2020, total membership declined by 1453, the largest ever 1-year decline.
· There were 655 Mormon baptisms during 2021 — higher than in 2020 but still 65% down on ten years ago. In 2020, saw the lowest number of recorded baptisms for a year (454). This was a 77% drop since 2010 and had declined in 8 of the last ten years.
· 38 UK Mormon staff earn over £60k, which is very high as the UK median wage is £26k. The staffing costs were 31% of tithing donations (down from 39% last year as tithing rose post-lockdown). However, staff costs have increased dramatically since 2008. In 2020, tithing donations fell by 8% to £29m. This was the lowest tithing receipt in the UK for ten years.
· There were no unit closures in 2021 (though there has already been a Stake closed in 2022, along with several unit closures). In 2020, one unit shut down, taking the total units to 319. This was a drop of 17 congregations since 2010. One meetinghouse/church was also closed and sold.
© Stephen G. Arrowsmith 2022
Links to the reports:
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/...
Link to last year's summary:
https://www.reddit.com/.../2020_uk_financialmembership.../
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