KH's Still All Closed- How Bad is WT doing Financially?

by OnTheWayOut 41 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • asp59
    asp59

    Lot's of thing now with org was somethings that no one could imagine 30 years ago. Orgs main preaching ways a Webb side or people sitting around magazine carts. Most of meetings base on videos from headquarter. Almost 2 year's now online meetings. If someone told me me there's sigh outside kingdom halls saying permanently closed. I go to the other extrem telling them, no kingdom hall was sold to Muslim or some other group. And you know what, i probably be right. Cause it has happened several times now.

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    As to the financial state of the Org, I should think they are still solvent. They embarked upon a big cost cutting exercise years ago, most Congregations have lower costs at present so will still send the Monthly "Tithe" as I call it at pre-Covid levels.

    What huge expenses does the Org have ? They pay NO TAX ever, and if the Contributions only work out from the whole World as $1.00 a week per Publisher, that is still $8,000,000 a week rolling in !

    That may be a bit simplistic, Contributions may well be less than that, but not much less I would guess.

    The Org. will not go bust anytime soon, but individual Congregations may well struggle to meet their monthly commitment soon, do you think ?

  • FFGhost
    FFGhost
    numbers were higher than they’ve been for years - for the first few weeks - then it began to drop off to lower than prepandemic levels.

    This is exactly what will happen with JWs.

    The novelty will be there for maybe a month. Then the tiresome drudgery sets in, and attendance will plummet. It will no longer be "special".

    Concerned elders will have meeting after meeting. JW Broadcasting will produce urgent videos extolling the importance of meeting attendance.

    Won't make any difference. Attendance will drop and stay down.

    If there are any with a modicum of intelligence left at Warwick, they have to know this is precisely what will happen.

  • joe134cd
    joe134cd

    I was talking to a PIMI jw last night. He said it wouldn’t bother him if he never went back to a KH.

  • dropoffyourkeylee
    dropoffyourkeylee

    Like any organization, for-profit or otherwise, the WT will adjust to survive. I think they were overextended with too many Bethelites, too many higher cost facilities. There are a few underlying financial-related problems that won't go away:

    Declining membership in affluent countries, increasing membership in third world countries; hence lower donations.

    Aging and dying core members, who tend to donate more. The religion is less attractive to the younger populace.

    Increasing number of lawsuits and expensive settlements.

    Their 100+ year old business model; ie print paper literature and sell it; is a thing of the past and won't be coming back.

    Financial issues alone won't bring the WT down, maybe something else will, but they will adjust financially.

  • Overrated
    Overrated

    Jwism is just gone! Only a few gullible believe in it and dropping. No matter how many corny videos Watchtower makes they will never have growing numbers.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Watchtower are doing well financially at the moment. Congregations have fewer expenses and they are sending large amounts to the branch every month. On top of the monthly payment, if the bank balance of the congregation gets to a certain level, they send the surplus too.

    Plus JWs are online as never before and many are donating online for the first time. As many businesses know, if you can get over the initial hurdle and convince a customer to set up a monthly payment, most of the time they’ll let it run for years and years without a second thought. The pandemic lowered that hurdle for a lot of JWs who set up monthly donations for the first time, and will no doubt carry on indefinitely.

    Not to mention the fact that Watchtower must have saved an absolute fortune by printing fewer magazines, books, leaflets, Bibles, song books—everything. Financially, Watchtower is having a very good pandemic indeed. This comes on top of major cost cutting since 2014, and refocusing on digital media and video production. They had already cut costs hugely by 2020. The pandemic cut costs further, and possibly boosted revenue for the reasons given above. There were some on the forum who predicted financial collapse for Watchtower around 2015. Those posters were obviously too hasty in their prognostications. 😉 I have tried to remain circumspect on this topic. 😉

    On the other side of the ledger, is the extent of the payouts Watchtower will need to make for abuse case settlements. Will these be large enough to wipe out the savings from cutbacks, and the gains during the pandemic? Who knows. Will more people leave, or at least stop donating as a result of news about Watchtower settlements?

    On top of the factors we can list here, there are of course unknown unknowns (with apologies to the recently departed “other” Donald of American politics, Donald Rumsfeld) that may come along, as the pandemic did, to change the calculation, possibly change the course, or even the direction, of events. A major war? (Contrary to Steven Pinker, the fact that we haven’t had a world conflict for many decades is not necessarily proof we have become an incredibly peaceful species because of reduced lead in the air. It could be an indication we are due a major war. As others have pointed out, a forest that hasn’t had a fire in a long time hasn’t defeated fire. It’s in the perfect condition for a major forest fire any time soon.) An even worse pandemic? Aliens? Runaway technology that completely alters life as we know it? (Such as life extension, or strong AI) Or inside the Org, a GB level defection? Promotion of a new date? 2034? Who knows? A true unknown unknown, that nobody would even think to mention now, may come along and change everything.

    For now, it seems, those posters who years ago predicted the collapse of the organisation were, at the very least, premature. As for the future, que sera, sera.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Very interesting thoughts here. I will say in rebuttal to some, that no matter how much people are donating electronically, it cannot possibly match what they raked in at conventions and assemblies in cash and checks. Even if I am wrong, it can't last. Children attending Zoom will leave faster than ever before.

    Watchtower is dying slowly, but I think it is already picking up speed going downhill.

  • JW GoneBad
    JW GoneBad

    Kingdom Halls...Still All Closed...How Bad is WT Doing..

    Last official word from WT was Kingdom Halls might start opening-up August 2021. The rapid increase of new cases of Delta Variant Covid19 could be a game changer. WT recently mentioned covid related deaths are now 19,000 & rising and stressed the health and safety of rank and file was main concern.

    Doctors offices, restaurants, entertainment facilities, churches and businesses in general are pretty much back to normal with some safety precautionary in place but JWs are still in their 'Bunker' type mindset!

  • asp59
    asp59
    Jw gonebadWhere's the information from that they open up in August? Do you have link from statement in there Webb sight, letter or something that GB member said? Please share. As long it's not something some elder said in congregation.

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