Jan. 10, 2020

The Youtube Channel, Saints Unscripted – formally known as 3 Mormons – aimed at discussing difficult Church issues with Millennials has denied financial support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

On Janurary 9th, youtube user Anthony LDS asked in one of their videos, “What’s Saints Unscripted’s relationship with the church itself? It is funded by the church corporation? If it is (I’m pretty sure it is) shouldn’t that be disclosed somewhere?”

Saints Unscripted responded, “Hey Anthony LDS! We aren’t funded by the Church 🙂 We are funded by private donors.”

However, it is well-documented that the Church is one of their largest benefactors. Saints Unscripted is supported by the More Good Foundation (MGF). This foundation, in turn, receives support from the Foundation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Foundation), a non-profit arm of the Church, which receives its money through the Church’s for-profit endeavors.

How much has the Church donated to the More Good Foundation? Millions. According to their tax files (You can see more years by following the footnote[1]), the church began donating to the MGF in 2009. Through fiscal year 2017, the Church has donated $2.4 Million, which is about 24% of their operating budget, for this period.

The Church began donating over $150,000 each year through its LDS Foundation in 2009. The spike in fiscal year 2017 comes from an additional $1 Million donation from the Deseret Trust Company, another Church-run organization. It was not accompanied by an increase in expenditure, indicating the funds may be for future projects.

Although certainly a substantial majority is through “private donors”, Saints Unscripted is, in part, “funded by the Church.”

This is not the first time the More Good Foundation has mislead the public about its financial support from the Church. Despite receiving between 10 and 32 percent of its annual operating expenses from the LDS Foundation, from 2009 through 2014 the website continued to claim that it was not “funded by the Church”. On its About page, it said, “it is not directed by or funded through the Church; no Church funds are used for the Foundation.” That summer, the website was updated to include language that some funds “may” be received by the LDS Foundation. This may have been due to the exposure their misleading statements received in the bloggernacle.

However, the FAQ still included the statement that “it is not managed or funded by the Church.” In 2016, that phrase was finally updated to say that they are not “directly funded by the Church.”

Conclusion

Let me be abundantly clear. It is perfectly appropriate for the Church to financially support Saints Unscripted and the More Good Foundation. As far as I can tell, these organizations do what they say they do and they further the mission of the Church. My criticism is more narrow.

Dishonesty about money is perfectly inappropriate. Especially considering the Church’s practice of maintaining its financials behind an opaque wall, asking for our trust that they use those funds ethically, it would behoove members and organizations that end up using the Church’s funds not to resort to deceit. If they are willing to lie over something this innocuous, what would prevent them from doing so for more serious issues?

[1] Here are links for the More Good Foundation’s tax returns: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.