How the Mormon Church Makes Money

Edited from “How the Mormons Make Money” Caroline Winter, Bloomberg Business Week, July 10, 2012

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). In contrast, the Mormon Church has a vast business empire which is very much of this world.

Historian D. Michael Quinn, writing about the LDS Church’s finances says, “The Mormon Church is very different than any other church. … Traditional Christianity and Judaism make a clear distinction between what is spiritual and what is temporal, while Mormon theology specifically denies that there is such a distinction.” To Mormons, opening megamalls, operating a billion-dollar media and insurance conglomerate, and running a Polynesian theme park are all doing God’s work. Says Quinn: “In the Mormon [leadership’s] worldview, it’s as spiritual to give alms to the poor, as the old phrase goes in the Biblical sense, as it is to make a million dollars.”

 Mormon Media Holdings

A Mormon Mega-Mall

Last March the Mormon “Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS)” completed a megamall. Built for $2 billion, the City Creek Center stands directly across from the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. The mall includes 100 stores and restaurants, ranging from Tiffany’s to Forever 21. Walkways link with the Mormon Church’s HQ on Temple Square. Macy’s is a stone’s throw from Mormon president, Thomas S. Monson, whom Mormons believe to be a living prophet.

Building a Kingdom on Earth

As the mall’s opened... Henry B. Eyring, a Mormon counselor, told crowds, “Everything that we see is evidence of the long-standing commitment of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS to Salt Lake City.” When it came time, Monson, flanked by Utah VIPs, cheered, “One, two, three—let’s go shopping!” City Creek mall reflects modern-day Mormonism. It’s part of the Mormon’s sprawling corporate empire that helps Mormons build the Kingdom of God on earth. “The Church of the LDS attends to the total needs of its members,” says the head of Mormon-owned, Deseret Management Corp. (DMC), an umbrella organization for the church’s for-profit businesses. ...

It’s not surprising Mormons would adopt the US’s secular faith in money. What’s remarkable is how varied & little-known are its financial interests... The LDS Church remains tight-lipped about its holdings. It offers little financial transparency to its Mormon members, who tithe 10% of their income to gain access to Mormon temples. ...

To Mormons Megamalls & Theme Parks are God’s work.

Mormons make up only 1.4 percent of the U.S. population, but the church’s holdings are vast. First among its for-profit enterprises is DMC, which reaps estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion from 6 subsidiaries--a newspaper, 11 radio stations, a TV station, a publishing and distribution company, a digital media company, a hospitality business, and an insurance business with assets worth $3.3 billion.

Mormon Farms, Ranches & Land Holdings

AgReserves, another for-profit Mormon company...reportedly owns about 1 million acres in the U.S., on which the church has farms, hunting preserves, orchards, and ranches. These include the $1 billion, 290,000-acre Deseret Ranches in Florida, which keeps 44,000 cows and 1,300 bulls  & also has citrus, sod, and timber operations. AgReserves also operates in Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Its Australian property, valued at $61 million in 1997, has estimated annual sales of $276 million.

Mormon Malls & Property Management

The church also runs for-profit real estate arms that own, develop, and manage malls, parking lots, office parks, residential buildings, etc. Hawaii Reserves, for e.g., owns or manages 7,000+ acres on Oahu, where it maintains commercial and residential buildings, parks, water and sewage infrastructure, and 2 cemeteries. Utah Property Management Associates, a Mormon real estate arm, manages City Creek Center. The mall cost the church an estimated $2 billion. It’s only one part of a $5 billion church-funded revamping of downtown Salt Lake City, “They run their businesses like businesses, no bones about it,” says Eccles.

Mormon Hawaii Theme Park

The Mormon church also owns several nonprofit organizations; some appear lucrative. Take, for e.g., the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), a 42-acre tropical theme park in Hawaii. In 2010 the PCC had net assets worth $70 million and collected $23 million in ticket sales alone, as well as $36 million in tax-free donations....The tourist destination remains exempt from US federal taxes because the PCC claims to be a “living museum” and an education-oriented charity that employs students from church-run Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

The Mormon Church Incorporated

“There are religious groups that own radio stations, but they don’t also own cattle ranches. There are religious groups that own retreats, but they don’t also own insurance companies,” says Ryan Cragun, a sociology professor...“Given their array of corporate interests, it would probably make more sense to refer to them as ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of LDS Holdings Inc’.”

Religious Tax Advantages

As a religious organization, the LDS Church enjoys tax advantages. It’s exempt from paying taxes on the real estate properties it leases out, even to commercial entities. The church also doesn’t pay taxes on donated funds and holdings. Mitt Romney and others at Bain Capital, gave the Mormon Church millions’ worth of stock holdings. Between 1997 and 2009, these included $2 million in Burger King and $1 million in Domino’s Pizza shares. Under U.S. law, churches can legally sell donated stock without paying capital-gains taxes, a clear advantage for both donor and receiver.

Mormon Church worth $40 Billion

The LDS Church stopped reporting finances in the early 1960s. A 1997 Time investigation estimated the Mormon Church’s total value at $30 billion. Time estimated that $5 billion worth of tithing flows into the LDS church annually, and that it owned at least $6 billion in stocks and bonds. The Mormon Church said the estimates were grossly exaggerated. But a recent Reuters investigation estimates the LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today and collects up to $8 billion in tithing each year.

Mormon’s Power Structure—a Gerontocracy

Starting at the very top--the Mormon Church is owned and run by the “Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS.” This entity is a “corporation sole,” owned entirely by one person. In the case of the Mormon Church, that person is Monson, the Mormon “prophet.”

The Mormon president is not elected... When one president resigns or dies, he is replaced by the longest-serving member of the “Quorum of the 12 Apostles,” commonly referred to as “the Apostles.” This produces a gerontocracy which concentrates power in the hands of the most aged among an elderly oligarchy. Each new president handpicks 2 counselors to help him lead. The 3-man team is called the “First Presidency.”

Lacks Financial Transparency

Until the 1990s, wards—the Mormon equivalent of parishes—kept some donated member money locally to distribute for aid and activities as they saw fit. Today all money is wired directly to Salt Lake City. McMullin insists that not one penny of tithing goes to the church’s for-profit endeavors, but it’s impossible for church members to know for sure. Although the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants says “all things shall be done by common consent in the church,” members are not provided with any financial accounting. Daymon M. Smith, a Mormon anthropologist, points out that tithing slips read, “Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church’s property and will be used at the Church’s sole discretion to further the church’s overall mission.”

Generous? Not

According to an official Mormon Welfare Services fact sheet, the church gave $1.3 billion in humanitarian aid in more than 178 countries and territories during the 25 years between 1985 and 2010. A fact sheet from the previous year indicates that less than one-third of the sum was monetary assistance, while the rest was “material assistance.” All in all, if one were to evenly distribute that $1.3 billion over a quarter-century, it would mean that the church gave $52 million annually. A recently published study in Free Inquiry estimates that the Mormon Church donates only about 0.7% of its annual income to charity. Compare that with the United Methodist Church which gives about 29%. The Mormon Church is not generous.