Light the World

[MG 2.0]

No matter what your personal beliefs are one way or the other in regard to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this initiative sponsored by the church is a worthwhile option for yourself or your family and friends to give at this holiday season when many people from around the world celebrate the birth and mission of the Savior Jesus Christ. The Light of the World.

Take time to give! If not through this means, find a way to give a serve/give. Tis the season!

[link to A.I.-generated content deleted]

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/wel ... eng#kiosks

This yearly opportunity to give has grown year by year. It's a great way to share with others.

Regards,
MG

[I Have Questions]

Some related information

Even for a portfolio that already boasts incredibly large numbers, the latest sums out of the chief investment arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are impressive and record-setting.

The account managed by Salt Lake City-based Ensign Peak Advisors topped $60.9 billion in the third quarter, the highest amount it has held since the faith began disclosing its contents in 2019.

That’s after setting a record in the previous quarter, when it inched above $58.4 billion. For comparison, the new total is equivalent to spending $1 million a day for 167 years.

New disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission also reveal other milestones, including the fund’s first single stock holding well above $4 billion, with just short of 24 million shares in artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia worth $4.5 billion.

That Nvidia position was at $3.93 billion the quarter prior and continues to swell as the company’s fortunes have exploded with the world’s ongoing A.I. transformation.

That growing stake is one of three stock positions in the Ensign Peak portfolio now exceeding $3 billion — yet another first in nearly six years — along with shares of Microsoft worth $3.6 billion and Apple shares valued at $3 billion (along with $34 million in not-so-small change).

Ensign Peak’s SEC filing for the quarter ending in September shows those technology whoppers are among 1,697 holdings in stocks, bonds, real estate trusts, index funds and other equities.

Ensign Peak’s fund marks a portion of the Utah-based faith’s immense overall wealth in investments, businesses and landholdings. It represents only the U.S. equities the church holds directly and only those it is required to disclose to regulators.

In-depth analysis indicates Ensign Peak and a host of third-party funds manage total investments worth about $206 billion as of the end of last year — all on behalf of a worldwide church with 17.5 million members.

That‘s according to a website called The Widow’s Mite Report, devoted to illuminating the faith’s finances through public documents. The independent site has estimated the church’s overall wealth at about $293 billion at the close of 2024, up $28 billion from the previous year.

Another $86 billion or so of that wealth came from its operating assets, including ecclesiastical buildings, welfare farms, Brigham Young University-related operations and other landholdings.

According to Widow’s Mite, the faith’s combined assets could exceed $1 trillion sometime between 2040 and 2050.

Tue Widow's Mite Report, an online study of the finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, forecasts the church could be worth $1 trillion within 25 years.

The Church will not be using a single dollar of this money this Christmas. It will simply hold onto to it and gather more interest. However, the Church will use your donations to these machines to gain positive PR for itself, whilst holding on to all its own money.

You absolutely should give to worthy causes. But not via an eye wateringly wealthy and selfish organisation that doesn’t practice what it preaches.

[MG 2.0]

The purpose of the Light the World global initiative is to celebrate the birth and life of Jesus Christ and embrace His invitation to “love thy neighbor” (Matthew 22:39).

https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-fa ... s-in-2025/

Don't let the naysayers keep you from giving to those in need.

Regards,
MG

[I Have Questions]

The purpose of the Light the World global initiative is to celebrate the birth and life of Jesus Christ and embrace His invitation to “love thy neighbor” (Matthew 22:39).

https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-fa ... s-in-2025/

Don't let the naysayers keep you from giving to those in need.

Regards,
MG

I agree, you should give to those in need. Just don’t do it via an eye wateringly wealthy and selfish organisation that doesn’t practice what it preaches and will only seek positive PR for itself from your donations.

Here’s an alternative list of suggested worthy causes for you to consider.

Groups included on the CharityWatch Top-Rated list generally spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not hold excessive assets in reserve, have met CharityWatch's governance benchmarks, and receive "open-book" status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to CharityWatch. Please see the Our Process page of the website for more information on the rating criteria and methodology that CharityWatch adheres to.

[MG 2.0]

Another thing that is kind of cool about Light the World is that 100% of Light the World donations reach the partnering charities or recipients, as the Church covers all its operational costs.​

If others...not just church members...give to the Light the World charity this Christmas, we can do even more good than last year.

Regards,
MG

[I Have Questions]

Another thing that is kind of cool about Light the World is that 100% of Light the World donations reach the partnering charities or recipients, as the Church covers all its operational costs.​

If others...not just church members...give to the Light the World charity this Christmas, we can do even more good than last year.

Regards,
MG

The Church creates a middle man (the machines) and then claims credit for covering all the operating costs of the middle man (the machines). The Church is not covering the admin costs of the partnering organisations. The machines are just the Church’s way of gaining credit for the donations you could make directly to those same organisations.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints covers all operational costs for the Light the World Giving Machine initiative. This means 100% of your donation goes to the participating nonprofit.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/wel ... eng#kiosks

To be clear - The Church creates an unnecessary expense (the machines) and then lauds itself for covering the costs of that unnecessary expense (the machines). In reality donors could just give their donation directly to the charities. The real reason the Church wants you to use their machines rather than giving the money directly, is so the Church can produce some PR about this.

[sock puppet]

No matter what your personal beliefs are one way or the other in regard to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this initiative sponsored by the church is a worthwhile option for yourself or your family and friends to give at this holiday season when many people from around the world celebrate the birth and mission of the Savior Jesus Christ. The Light of the World.

Take time to give! If not through this means, find a way to give a serve/give. Tis the season!

[link to A.I.-generated content deleted]

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/wel ... eng#kiosks

This yearly opportunity to give has grown year by year. It's a great way to share with others.

Regards,
MG

Wow. Imagine that. People can't give to the underlying the charities unless it funnels through the LDS church. That reminds me of Ben Franklin's comment about doctors: "God heals and doctors collect the fee." No wonder the LDS church wants its own med school.

[MG 2.0]

It looks like there might be a bit of flak being put out there on why not to give.

For those that don’t want to give for any reason, then don’t. On the other hand, if you think it is a good/worthy cause to participate in during this Christmas season, then do.

Kind of simple really.

Regards,
MG

[Gadianton]

Friends, I highly encourage everyone to avoid giving to "light of the world". If you wish to give this season, research for yourself the causes you wish to support and research the best way to help those causes. Charity is big business. People who work for charities get paid. "light of the world" is just going to divide up the money to other umbrellas that you could have donated to directly. Some of those may employ family of the GAs. A charity can rake a whole lot off the top and leave very little for the actual cause. Also make sure you're taking the tax deduction and that by giving to LoW that you aren't giving the Church yet another tax deduction. The best thing you can do is research those organizations most effective at getting your money to help people as possible with as few hands in between your money and the hands of the needy as possible.

[MG 2.0]

Friends, I highly encourage everyone to avoid giving to "light of the world". If you wish to give this season, research for yourself the causes you wish to support and research the best way to help those causes. Charity is big business. People who work for charities get paid. "light of the world" is just going to divide up the money to other umbrellas that you could have donated to directly. Some of those may employ family of the GAs. A charity can rake a whole lot off the top and leave very little for the actual cause. Also make sure you're taking the tax deduction and that by giving to LoW that you aren't giving the Church yet another tax deduction. The best thing you can do is research those organizations most effective at getting your money to help people as possible with as few hands in between your money and the hands of the needy as possible.

Again, the Church and partner organizations say the Church covers machine, tech, and overhead costs so that 100% of each Light the World Giving Machine donation goes directly to the participating nonprofits. In practice this means Light the World is not “raking off the top”; it is absorbing costs that donors or charities would otherwise bear, while channeling funds straight to vetted organizations like the Red Cross, UNICEF, and other local/international nonprofits.

Also, it's important to keep in mind that the initiative aggregates hundreds of reputable global and local charities into one simple interface, which is especially useful for casual or first-time givers who are unlikely to do deep Charity Navigator–style research but will give if the process is easy and tangible.

The highly visible kiosks (more and more of them!) and large and now well known/publicized Christmas campaign generate donations that many of the partner organizations say they likely would not have received otherwise, so it isn’t just diverting money from “better” channels, it is enlarging the overall pie.

Still, it's everybody's choice. I see this as being a viable/good one to participate in during this time of giving to those in need.

Regards,
MG