SatanWasSetUp wrote:I agree with Nehor. Most people, whether LDS or not, are too lazy to follow up with this stuff. We give our money, it makes us feel warm fuzzies, and that's good enough for us. It's a human thing. We don't like to think a charity that says it is doing something good would lie about it. Also, most LDS I know don't donate to charities outside the LDS church. Some of the more extreme consider it almost blasphemous to do so. If you have extra money to donate above your 10% tithing, just pay additional tithing. Let the church decide where best to put your money. That's how many LDS think.
Well, shoot. Then I'm spending one whale of a lot of money putting my agency's annual report in the hands of the corporate sponsors, the participants, the donors, etc. Criminy! I should have listened to you guys and just told all those hundreds of businesses and people that they don't need to know where the money goes! Just think how much easier that would be.
Of course, that's not the real world. Maybe in the real world, people actually care where the money goes, so upstandiung agencies like mine (that would like to continue to have those millions roll in every year) publish the report and mail it out.
My bad for thinking church members might have been in that group. How silly of me. Someone should just tell my offices in Utah to shut the door and fire all the employees, because we're never going to make goal there.
It's like any other kind of documentation. It's required by law, or company policy, or whatever, but nobody really reads it. In fact I just got the annual report for the company I work for. It went directly from my mailbox to the circular file:) It's not that I don't appreciate the time and effort that went into creating it, but I simply have zero interest in reading it. Maybe it's just me. In my experience in the church members are the same way with tithing. They don't care where their money goes. Should they? Absolutely, but they don't. Should I care about my company's annual report? Of course, but I don't.
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
SatanWasSetUp wrote:I agree with Nehor. Most people, whether LDS or not, are too lazy to follow up with this stuff. We give our money, it makes us feel warm fuzzies, and that's good enough for us. It's a human thing. We don't like to think a charity that says it is doing something good would lie about it. Also, most LDS I know don't donate to charities outside the LDS church. Some of the more extreme consider it almost blasphemous to do so. If you have extra money to donate above your 10% tithing, just pay additional tithing. Let the church decide where best to put your money. That's how many LDS think.
Well, shoot. Then I'm spending one whale of a lot of money putting my agency's annual report in the hands of the corporate sponsors, the participants, the donors, etc. Criminy! I should have listened to you guys and just told all those hundreds of businesses and people that they don't need to know where the money goes! Just think how much easier that would be.
Of course, that's not the real world. Maybe in the real world, people actually care where the money goes, so upstandiung agencies like mine (that would like to continue to have those millions roll in every year) publish the report and mail it out.
My bad for thinking church members might have been in that group. How silly of me. Someone should just tell my offices in Utah to shut the door and fire all the employees, because we're never going to make goal there.
It's like any other kind of documentation. It's required by law, or company policy, or whatever, but nobody really reads it. In fact I just got the annual report for the company I work for. It went directly from my mailbox to the circular file:) It's not that I don't appreciate the time and effort that went into creating it, but I simply have zero interest in reading it. Maybe it's just me. In my experience in the church members are the same way with tithing. They don't care where their money goes. Should they? Absolutely, but they don't. Should I care about my company's annual report? Of course, but I don't.
Um....OK....You must not be the one in the family who prepares the taxes.
liz3564 wrote: Um....OK....You must not be the one in the family who prepares the taxes.
If I was a tithe payer, I wouldn't need to know what the church spends my tithing on to prepare my taxes. I would definitely keep the tax form that the bishop gives out during tithing settlement, but if the church issued a financial report to me, I wouldn't read it. I'm just being honest, and I could be in the minority here, but I suspect most members wouldn't bother reading it either. I could be wrong.
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
liz3564 wrote: Um....OK....You must not be the one in the family who prepares the taxes.
If I was a tithe payer, I wouldn't need to know what the church spends my tithing on to prepare my taxes. I would definitely keep the tax form that the bishop gives out during tithing settlement, but if the church issued a financial report to me, I wouldn't read it. I'm just being honest, and I could be in the minority here, but I suspect most members wouldn't bother reading it either. I could be wrong.
liz3564 wrote: Um....OK....You must not be the one in the family who prepares the taxes.
If I was a tithe payer, I wouldn't need to know what the church spends my tithing on to prepare my taxes. I would definitely keep the tax form that the bishop gives out during tithing settlement, but if the church issued a financial report to me, I wouldn't read it. I'm just being honest, and I could be in the minority here, but I suspect most members wouldn't bother reading it either. I could be wrong.
I think you are right.
Probably so. But that's because we rely on 'experts' to read the reports. And believe me, experts would read the reports, and then anything fishy would show up in the newspapers, which would in turn show up on the members radars.
Oh, and I, personally, would definitely read the report - hey, i'm a CPA afterall.
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
liz3564 wrote:Um....OK....You must not be the one in the family who prepares the taxes.
If I was a tithe payer, I wouldn't need to know what the church spends my tithing on to prepare my taxes. I would definitely keep the tax form that the bishop gives out during tithing settlement, but if the church issued a financial report to me, I wouldn't read it. I'm just being honest, and I could be in the minority here, but I suspect most members wouldn't bother reading it either. I could be wrong.
I think you are right.
Ignorance is bliss, which is why Utah County is known as "Happy Valley"!
Why such blind belief in your leaders? Are they not men? Are they not subject to the same temptations, pressures and vices as other men?
Knowledge is Power
Power Corrupts
Study Hard and
Become EVIL!
Who Knows wrote: Probably so. But that's because we rely on 'experts' to read the reports. And believe me, experts would read the reports, and then anything fishy would show up in the newspapers, which would in turn show up on the members radars.
But "experts" would also write the reports. MAybe I'm cynical, but if the church began issuing financial reports, because they were pressured or out of the goodness of their hearts, those reports would be written by highly paid lawyers and finance people within the church. The church would never allow itself to look bad. The financial reports would have more faith promoting spin than the new Joseph Smith manual. Jeffrey Skilling needs a job, right? I woudn't trust a report written by the church. Now if they were required to be audited by an external organization, that would be interesting, but I seriously doubt the church would ever allow that.
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
Who Knows wrote:Probably so. But that's because we rely on 'experts' to read the reports. And believe me, experts would read the reports, and then anything fishy would show up in the newspapers, which would in turn show up on the members radars.
It might show on the radar, but then what???
It's not like there would be a mass uprising against the brethren to spend the tithing more appropriately. After all, the membership has sustained the brethren and entrust them to do what is best, what with direct contact with God and all...
No, all it would do is give anti's more ammo to go after the church.
If there's one thing I've learned from this board, it's that consensual sex with multiple partners is okay unless God commands it. - Abman
I find this place to be hostile toward all brands of stupidity. That's why I like it. - Some Schmo
SatanWasSetUp wrote:But "experts" would also write the reports. MAybe I'm cynical, but if the church began issuing financial reports, because they were pressured or out of the goodness of their hearts, those reports would be written by highly paid lawyers and finance people within the church. The church would never allow itself to look bad. The financial reports would have more faith promoting spin than the new Joseph Smith manual. Jeffrey Skilling needs a job, right? I woudn't trust a report written by the church. Now if they were required to be audited by an external organization, that would be interesting, but I seriously doubt the church would ever allow that.
Well, yeah, I'm assuming that the report would be audited. A financial report issued without an audit isn't worth the paper it's written on - there's no point to it.
scottie wrote:It might show on the radar, but then what???
It's not like there would be a mass uprising against the brethren to spend the tithing more appropriately. After all, the membership has sustained the brethren and entrust them to do what is best, what with direct contact with God and all...
No, all it would do is give anti's more ammo to go after the church.
Who knows what would happen? Some people would care, some wouldn't. So what? That doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done.
Additionally, knowing that you're being audited, and submitting public financials, can be a big motivator to keep things 'clean'.
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...