Philanthropies

Last updated
Philanthropies
FoundedApril 29, 1955 (1955-04-29)
Founder The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Location
Coordinates 40°15′12″N111°39′29″W / 40.253400°N 111.658055°W / 40.253400; -111.658055
Key people
Tanise Chung-Hoon, Director
Website philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org
Formerly called
LDS Philanthropies (2005–2018)
LDS Foundation (1982–2005)
The Development Office (1973–1982)
Church Education Development Office (1971–1973)
BYU Destiny Fund (1955–1971)

Philanthropies, formerly LDS Philanthropies, is a department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is responsible for facilitating donations to humanitarian and educational initiatives. [1] The department works under the direction of the church's Presiding Bishop. [2] The most widely known educational projects are the operation of church-owned schools, such as Brigham Young University (BYU). Humanitarian funds are given to Latter-day Saint Charities which sponsors and organizes relief efforts. In 2019, the church reported over 3,000 community-based projects with an excess of 2,000 partners, in locations around the world. [3] A 2020 statistic reported a total of $2.3 billion that had been donated over Philanthropies' existence. [4]

Contents

History

Founded in 1955, Philanthropies has evolved in both purpose and brand over the intervening 65 years. Initially called the BYU Destiny Fund, it became the Church Education Development Office in 1971, but then quickly changed to The Development Office in 1973. The name changed to the LDS Foundation in 1982 and then LDS Philanthropies in 2005. [5] The current name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Philanthropies, was changed in 2019 as part of a focus by the LDS Church to move away from the monikers 'LDS' and 'Mormon'. [6] [7]

N. Eldon Tanner initially created a task force to address philanthropic issues in the LDS Church and named Donald T. Nelson as the first director. The organization reported to the Church Commissioner of Education until 1980 when it began reporting to the First Quorum of the Seventy and Ronald E. Poelman, a church general authority. In 1981, Philanthropies began reporting indirectly to the Presiding Bishopric's office. This continued until 1986 when LDS Foundation began reporting directly to the Presiding Bishop, Victor L. Brown. An advisory board was approved February 5, 2000 to supervise funds. The church built offices in Provo, Utah to house LDS Philanthropies. The building was dedicated by Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the church's First Presidency on May 16, 2008. [8] As a church department, Philanthropies continues to operate under the direction of the Presiding Bishopric.

Transparency and accreditation

The LDS Church, and its affiliated entities, do not publish a complete financial report on the amount of funds received or their use. Addressing this topic in 2018, the church's presiding bishop, Gérald Caussé, published a Q&A, stating that "The Church is not a financial institution or a commercial corporation [and] chooses not to publish the details of its finances...". [9] However, certain entities do publish limited details. For instance, BYU-Idaho stated it received 6.3 million dollars in donations in 2018, [10] of which, 69% went to need-based aid for individual students, administered through a university grant.

Due to these transparency practices, Latter-day Saint Charities does not meet requirements for evaluation by established charity-rating organizations, such as the BBB Wise Giving Alliance or Charity Navigator.

Educational efforts

Some funds donated through Philanthropies are used by the LDS Church and its affiliated educational entities, including: BYU, BYU-Hawaii, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Pathway Worldwide, and Ensign College.

Donations to education efforts help provide scholarships and create mentored learning opportunities for students from around the world. [11] For example, BYU-Hawaii helps students from the Pacific Islands and Asia. Additional efforts include the Perpetual Education Fund, which provides repayable loans for students in developing nations to obtain an education. When graduates of the program become employed they repay the loan and the money is used to replenish the endowment.

Latter-day Saint Charities

While welfare programs within the LDS Church funded by fast offerings are generally for members, humanitarian donations are used to provide assistance in countries around the world to people without regard to religion or race. These donations provide assistance to victims of natural disasters, including aid such as hygiene kits, food and water, and blankets. Current humanitarian projects include neonatal resuscitation training, wheelchair placement, eye surgery initiatives to help the blind, well drilling projects for water sources, and other health and wellness projects.

Humanitarian aid deliveries are supervised by service missionaries who live and serve in countries around the world. Many volunteers wear distinctive yellow shirts that said Mormon Helping Hands .

Latter-day Saint Charities sponsors relief and development projects in 195 countries and is largely run with volunteer labor. [12] Since its founding in 1985, the organization has donated $2.3 billion worth of aid and assistance. [4] Sharon Eubank is the current director. Latter-day Saint Charities operates both independently and in cooperation with other charitable organizations and governments including American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, Muslim Aid, Southern Philippines Medical Center, UNICEF, and the United States Agency for International Development.

In response to the ongoing COVID pandemic, in February 2021, Latter-day Saint Charities announced a pledge of $20 million to support UNICEF in delivering vaccines worldwide. This pledge complemented an earlier $3 million donation to assist with food, water, and medical supplies, and represents the largest donation from the private sector to support UNICEF's ACT Accelerator and COVAX work. [13]

Family history research

As of 2022, the LDS Church operates more than 5,700 Family History Centers in 146 countries. [14] The publicly-available centers supply resources for research and study of genealogy and family history, and are financed, in part, through donations to Philanthropies. The church also finances one of the largest genealogical databases, familysearch.org, which contains more than 36 million names that are linked into families and approximately 600 million names of deceased individuals, indexed from historical records. The Family History Library at Temple Square is the largest genealogical library in the world. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span> Largest church in Mormonism

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is the largest Latter Day Saint denomination. Founded by Joseph Smith during the Second Great Awakening, the church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, as of 2023, it has over 17.2 million members of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S. The church also reports over 99,000 volunteer missionaries and 350 temples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallin H. Oaks</span> Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Dallin Harris Oaks is an American religious leader and former jurist and academic who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called as a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984. Currently, he is the second most senior apostle by years of service and is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey R. Holland</span> American educator and religious leader (born 1940)

Jeffrey Roy Holland is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the third most senior apostle in the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell M. Nelson</span> President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1924)

Russell Marion Nelson Sr. is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nelson was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly 34 years, and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson is recognized by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LDS Humanitarian Services</span> Charitable services within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Latter-day Saint Charities is a branch of the welfare department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization's stated mission is to relieve suffering, to foster self-reliance for people of all nationalities and religions, and to provide opportunities for service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mormon missionary</span> Missionary of the LDS church

Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and community service. Missionaries of the LDS Church may be male or female and may serve on a full- or part-time basis, depending on the assignment. Missionaries are organized geographically into missions, which could be any one of the 449 missions organized worldwide. This is one of the practices that the LDS Church is well-known for.

The self-reported membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as of December 31, 2023, was 17,255,394.

Below is a chronological list of temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with sortable columns. In the LDS Church, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord and considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time, and then each is dedicated as a "House of the Lord," after which only members with a current temple recommend are permitted to enter. Thus, they are not churches or meetinghouses, but rather specialized places of worship. The LDS Church has 367 temples in various phases, which includes 197 dedicated temples, 5 scheduled for dedication, 49 under construction, 1 scheduled for groundbreaking, and 115 others announced. Within temples, members of the LDS Church make covenants, receive instructions, and perform rituals and ordinances. Additionally, members consider the temple a place to commune with God, seek God's aid, understand God's will, and receive personal revelation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span>

The finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not a matter of public record. In the absence of official statements, people interested in knowing the LDS Church's financial status and behavior, including both members of the LDS Church and others, have attempted to estimate or guess. According to the church, their funding comes from the donations of its members and the principal expense is in constructing and maintaining facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada</span>

Since its organization in New York in 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Canada. The church's first missionaries to preach outside of the United States preached in Upper Canada; the first stake to be established outside of the U.S. was the Alberta Stake; and the Cardston Alberta Temple was the first church temple built outside of the boundaries of the United States.

Gérald Jean Caussé has been the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 9 October 2015. He is the fifteenth man to serve in this position. He has been a general authority of the LDS Church since 2008 and was the first person from France appointed as a general authority. He is the first Presiding Bishop born outside North America since Charles W. Nibley vacated the post in 1925, and the first-ever Presiding Bishop not from an Anglophone country.

Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico</span>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Mexico since 1874. Mexico has the largest body of LDS Church members outside of the United States. Membership grew nearly 15% between 2011 and 2021. In the 2010 Mexican census, 314,932 individuals self-identified most closely to the LDS Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah</span>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Utah. Utah has more church members than any other U.S. state or country. The LDS Church is also the largest denomination in Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As of 2021, the LDS Church reported 102,862 members in 269 congregations in the DRC, making it the third largest body of LDS Church members in Africa, behind Nigeria and Ghana. Currently, the DRC ranks as having the 16th highest LDS growth rate among countries of the world, with an annual growth rate of 13 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provo City Center Temple</span> Latter-day Saint temple in Provo, Utah, United States

The Provo City Center Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, built on the site of the former Provo Tabernacle in Provo, Utah. Completed in 2016, the temple uses much of the external shell of the tabernacle that remained from the original building after a fire in December 2010. The intent to build the temple was announced on October 1, 2011, by church president Thomas S. Monson, during the church's general conference. The temple is the second in Provo, was the sixteenth in Utah, and the church's 150th worldwide. This temple has a distinctive exterior with Gothic-inspired stained glass windows. A groundbreaking ceremony, to signify the beginning of construction, was held on May 12, 2012, conducted by Jeffrey R. Holland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia</span> Presence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a presence in Russia before the rise of the USSR, with the first baptisms occurring in 1895. Preliminary missionary efforts began before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Russian government officially recognized the church in 1991. Membership increased in the 1990s and early 2000s. Missionary efforts were impacted by the 2016 Yarovaya law, which prohibited proselytizing outside of official church property. Current membership statistics are not available for Russia, but the church reported 19,946 members in 2009. As of February 2023, there were three stakes and three missions in Russia. In 2018, Russell M. Nelson announced that a temple would be constructed in a major city in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Eubank</span>

Sharon Eubank is the director of Latter-day Saint Charities. She also served as the first counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 2017 to August 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Mariana Islands</span>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Mariana Islands refers to the organization and its members in the Mariana Islands. The Mariana Islands consist of two jurisdictions of the United States: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and, at the southern end of the chain, the territory of Guam. As of December 31, 2022, the LDS Church reported 2,547 members in one stake, five congregations, one mission, and one temple in Guam. There are 906 members in a ward in the Northern Mariana Islands. There are two family history centers, one in Guam and one at the Saipan Ward building in the Northern Mariana Islands.

References

  1. ↑ Shill, Aaron. "Generosity, humility reflected in lives of donors", Deseret News , Utah, 26 March 2009. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "LDS Church has Spent 1.2 Billion on Welfare and Humanitarian Efforts". World Religion News. 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  3. ↑ "Latter-day Saint Charities Blessed Millions of Lives in 2019". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  4. 1 2 Johnson, Stacy. "Latter-day Saint Charities outlines 3,221 projects in 2019 in annual report", Provo Herald , Utah, 24 February 2020. Retrieved on 26 February 2020.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Sarah Jane. "LDS Philanthropies depicts organization", Church News , Utah, 15 September 2005. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Dias, Elizabeth. "‘Mormon’ No More: Faithful Reflect on Church’s Move to Scrap a Moniker", The New York Times , Utah, 29 June 2019. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  7. ↑ Walch, Tad. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issues new name guidelines, dropping terms Mormon, LDS in most uses", Deseret News , Utah, 16 August 2018. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "New edifice to house LDS Philanthropies", Deseret News , Utah, 20 February 2007. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Church Finances and a Growing Global Faith". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  10. ↑ "Frugality Borne of Faith". Philanthropies. February 2020.
  11. ↑ Stack, Peggy Fletcher. "Mormon feminists, LDS Church unite in scholarship drive", The Salt Lake Tribune , Utah, 29 February 2012. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "LDS Church donates $341,000 to Provo homeless shelter", LDS Living , Utah, 9 November 2010. Retrieved on 6 August 2019.
  13. ↑ "The Church of Jesus Christ and UNICEF Partner to Fight COVID". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  14. ↑ "Statistics and Church Facts | Total Church Membership". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  15. ↑ "Family History Library in Salt Lake City". Temple Square. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.