Lets run some numbers...

Lemonp

After the bombshell that is the May Broadcast asking for cold hard cash, I was thinking about the mathematics of the money that they want.

Details are very few, but with help from a few people we could build up a decent guess about cashflow.

We know that 6 buildings recently were sold for 375 Million dollars, tax free I assume. Lett says that "a significant property's" sale would only cover a few weeks of running. So if we ballpark this and say that the single property was worth 50 million (it was "significant" remember).

The 2014 YB reports that almost 200 Million USD was spent on the special pioneers, CO etc. Obviously the latest Brooklyn sale could sustain that work for more than a year!

So my thinking is this: If we can get info from a decent amount of congregations around the world, and calculate a rough average of donations per congregation per month. Times the average by 113,823; the amount of congregations reported in the 2014 YB.

The figure we get from that would be very generous considering many congregations cannot donate as much as ones in 1st world countries, but it would be interesting to see how the figure we get compares to the "significant" sale!

StephaneLaliberte

Here are some real numbers for you: In Canada, the branch has received a revenu of 61.8 Millions dollars.

I find this number very high considering that this would amount to 3,705 $ per month per congregations (1,390$ in Canada).

That being said, looking into the reported number of printed magazines and brochures,close to 300 millions, you can tell that a great deal of that money goes straight into their printed material.

source: revenu canada

DesirousOfChange

How many publishers in Canada?

How much is that per publisher?

I would suspect that would be a good "average" for industrialized nations, but way high for 3rd world.

Doc

Oubliette

Every congregation publicly discloses its finances each month. Why doesn't "mother" practice the same transparency?

DATA-DOG

Don't forget to calculate "gifts", and Estates. Then there are extra donations from conventions, which are already paid for BEFORE you get there.

Hmmmm.... ONE convention center ( paid for ) x TWO separate conventions ( let's assume you English and Spanish ) + kickbacks from the host city = $$$$$

DD

nelim

Taking ecan6's numbers and considering there are 113,000 witnesses in Canada; assuming those are Canadian dollars? Then I get to about 1.5 billion USD globally. I have glossed over the 2014 year report, estimating 3.5 million "well-paying" witnesses. For some countries taking a factor 1/3. Calculation then is: 61800000 * 0.82 / 113000 * 3500000 = ~1.569 billion USD.

Assuming the 'significant property' was $81 million (taking the Bossert Hotel), and the 'few weeks' is 3 weeks, then I get to 1.4 billion dollars spent. ( 52 * 81 / 3 = 1404 )

These two seem to be not far off, so I guess these are in the ballpark. Note that these calculations are way too fuzzy to conclude a deficit or surplus on WT's part.

The 3.5 million witnesses sum is: 66+21+24+767/3+134+113+15+14+18+124+163+28+22+248+215+100+2+802/3+29+14+12+122+48+40+165/3+4+11+95/3+108+22+18+1186 = 3530.666 for those who want to check my work (run down countries alphabetically).

TTATTelder

They act as if they are letting you see some numbers with no intention of ever letting you see any numbers at all.

Which property are you referring to Lett? How many weeks of operating expenses exactly? How many weeks are a "few"? These are incredibly simple questions to answer since they brought the subject up and all. While we are at it, why don't you throw a graphic up showing how much money was donated during the calendar year of 2014?

There is no need to speculate and turn to the devil's mathematics on this topic. These are deceptive crooks running a game. The sad thing is, they will see a bump in donations at the expense of some well-meaning but gullible people.

-TE