The LDS Church has announced that it spent $1.58 billion in humanitarian and welfare assistance in 2025, a number the Church says represents record-level giving around the world. But what exactly is included in that number, and how much of it represents money the Church itself donated versus funds that passed through programs like fast offerings, welfare systems, and the “Giving Machines”? Tonight we break down the announcement, what the Church says it means, and why critics say the way the number is presented deserves a closer look.
We’ll also cover several other major stories in Mormon news this week. A new update in the case of the LDS doctor arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting his wife’s friend as the legal situation continues to unfold. We also discuss leadership movement involving Apostle Ronald A. Rasband’s cousin, which some critics are already pointing to as possible nepotism, while others argue the individual’s credentials make the appointment defensible. Internationally, a LDS missionary was reportedly attacked with a machete, raising concerns about missionary safety in certain parts of the world. Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Temple open house preparations are causing concern among some nearby residents, who say the scale of the event could significantly impact their neighborhoods. The Church has also issued two public statements this week—one addressing religious freedom along with a call for a special fast, and another responding to recent violence in Michigan. And sadly, we have more disturbing news involving Mormon-connected child abuse cases, highlighting once again the ongoing concerns about how abuse allegations surface and are handled in LDS communities. Finally, we’ll take a brief look at “Mormon Easter”—how the Church continues to shape and reframe its approach to Easter observance as it emphasizes Christ-centered messaging in recent years. Join us as we break down the biggest Mormon news stories of the week.
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From my blog, The Righteous Cause:
Charitable activity, however real, does not automatically sanctify the institutional structures that produce it. The question Scripture presses is not merely what was done, but in whose interest, with whose resources, under what terms of accountability, and with what transparency to those whose covenant faithfulness made it possible. A $293 billion institution that disbursed an estimated $906 million in humanitarian aid in 2023 — less than one-third of one percent of its total estimated wealth — while publishing no audited financial statements, maintaining no independent oversight, and conditioning its members’ eternal salvation on continued financial compliance, is an institution whose charitable works, however genuine, exist within a framework that the Matthew 7 warning was precisely designed to address.
The bishops’ storehouse is real. So is the $206 billion reserve that its donors were never told existed.
If rank-and-file Latter-day Saints are required to give a full tenth of their income to retain standing before God, one might reasonably ask why the institution’s own distribution of its vast investment returns falls well beneath that same threshold. The result is a distribution profoundly skewed toward institutional perpetuation and away from the biblical priority of the poor.
https://novus2.com/righteouscause/2026/03/01/the-lds-church-heavenly-fathers-wealthiest-subsidiary/