Mormon Volunteerism

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes mistakenly called the “Mormon Church,” are well-known for their volunteerism, giving both service and funds in their church and their communities.  In early 2012 the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released findings associated with a comprehensive study of Mormons.  The focus was Mormon volunteerism, which was found to be far and beyond what most Americans, even very religious Americans give in terms of time and money.

An event was scheduled along with the release of the results of the study, called Mormons and Civic Life (read the transcript here), in which the results were discussed by those who mounted the study, scholars, members of the press, and others.

The findings of the study showed that while about 30% to 50% of Americans volunteer, they do it for about three to four hours a month.  Studies by the Corporation for National and Community Service show that Utah has the highest rate of volunteering.   Utah is the American state with the most Mormons.  The Pew study (using a 14 page, very detailed questionnaire) showed that Mormons do much more on a monthly basis.

For religious activities, people give on average 242 hours. For church-affiliated volunteering to help meet social needs of people in the church, 96 hours. For church-affiliated activities helping people outside the church, 56 hours. And for activities outside of the church totally, 34 hours.

If we take the value of the hours volunteering for an average member of the Latter-day Saints, it’s about $9,140 annually. This is a major, major contribution.

When analyzing the giving habits of Mormons the Pew study divided “giving” into three types — secular giving (outside the Church), giving as tithing (10% of one’s increase), and giving to the Church over and beyond tithing.

For secular giving, meaning giving money to worthy causes outside of the church, an average person in the church gives $1,171. Giving to welfare through the church — $650. And on top of tithing — $203 per person for religious activities.

The first thing that I said about tithing — 88.8% of members of the church that we interviewed reported that they provide full tithing. Remember, we went to the church; people that we interviewed were active members of the church. They went to a Sunday service, and this is where we found them. Another about 6% said that they do partial tithing. The total social donation — I’m excluding now the religious donation outside — if we only take what they gave for social causes within the church and outside the church, we have $1,821.

To conclude, we found a group of people that are most generous in our society. Through their theology of obedience and sacrifice and strong commitment to tithing and service, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints are the most pro-social members in American society. We couldn’t believe the findings. But that’s what we have.

Discussed at the event was the remarkable fact that Mormons show up after every major disaster, ready to provide relief; that Mormons believe in preparedness and self-reliance; that there is a social structure within each congregation that binds members together and encourages them to provide more service.  Most Mormons interviewed said that taking care of the poor and needy is a very important aspect of their faith.

Additional Resources:

More on the Pew Study on Mormon Volunteerism

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

Mormons Believe

Our Search for Happiness

Mormon Charity Aids Malaysia

The country of Malaysia consists of West Malaysia on the Malaysian peninsula, and East Malaysia, with the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the north side of the island of Borneo.  Malaysia is unique in that there is little to fear from either earthquakes or storms.  Even the devastating tsunami of December 2004 originating just west of Indonesia caused relatively minor damage and the loss of less than 60 lives.  But there are ongoing needs in the country, and humanitarian aid missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have done much good in finding those needs and providing aid through The Church of Jesus Christ’s ongoing humanitarian efforts.

In early 2012 LDS senior Mormon  missionaries, Kenneth and Gloria Larson, traveled to Tawau, Sabah, East Malaysia, where they have three current Humanitarian Projects.  They are in the process of completing a vision project with the Rotary Club of Tawau, where they have distributed about 1500 pairs of eyeglasses to poor school children who live in villages in and around Tawau.  They have also provided several pieces of new optical equipment which are portable and can be  used for eye exams in these remote villages.  They worked closely with Dr. Adjit who is the only ophthalmologist in the Tawau area, and a member of the Rotary Club, the partnering organization.

The Church of Jesus Christ is also working on a large water project with the Rotary Club of Tawau as its partner.  This charitable project will supply clean water to a village of about 4,500 people.  This village has a source of fresh spring water, but no way of supplying the village.  The government built a small, unusable dam for them, but still no way of getting the water to the people.  LDS Charities, in partnership with the Rotary Club, has built a bigger, better dam with two 10,000 liter storage tanks, a solar powered generator to pump the water to the storage tanks, and all new PVC pipes to take the water to the homes.    The total cost for LDS Charities is $125,000-$150,000, all of it donated by caring Mormons and their friends of other faiths.

As part of the ongoing “wheel chair initiative” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, partnering in this case with Cheshire Homes and the  Red Crescent Society,  LDS Charities has donated 620 wheelchairs to Kota Kinabalu this year.  Jennifer Liew  of Cheshire Homes in Sabah  has helped to distribute these chairs in Sandakan and Tawau.  Red Crescent Society is helping to distribute these chairs in Tawau.   The partnering local organizations must assure that recipients have been properly assessed for the correct size of the wheel chairs they receive, and are responsible to train recipients how to care for and use the chairs.  For this, the partnering organizations receive training from LDS Humanitarian Aid missionaries.

Additional Resources:

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

LDS Church Finances

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

Mormons’ Church Service – 2011

With many disasters and severe weather incidents, 2011 was an active year for Mormons’ church service around the world.

The earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan was the worst disaster of the year, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent immediate aid and still continues to help.  The LDS Church provided more than 250 tons of supplies, food, water, blankets, bedding, hygiene items, clothing and fuel. Church-sponsored volunteers numbering over 20,000 have donated 175,000 hours of service in Japan.  Church Humanitarian Services has worked with and continues to donate equipment and supplies to 20 of 54 fishing co-ops wiped out by the disaster.  Latter-day Saints within Japan mobilized to help their stricken neighbors.  Fifty-two Mormon meetinghouses were also damaged and have since been repaired.

Other disasters struck different parts of the world, which experienced flooding, landslides, earthquakes, tornadoes and a hurricane (Irene). They occurred in Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines, as well as the Midwest and southern United States. Latter-day Saints in each of these areas also donated their time and efforts.  “Mormon Helping Hands” is the name of groups of Mormons gathered to help in relief efforts on the ground.  They can mobilize locally or travel, sometimes at their own expense.

In Germany, 9,000 Latter-day Saints and their neighbors worked side-by-side to donate 34,000 hours in support of children battling cancer.    (Read about other Mormon Helping Hands projects.)

2011 was the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Perpetual Education Fund, funded by donations from Latter-day Saints.  This fund helps with schooling expenses for returned-missionaries from impoverished countries.  The money is loaned to them, so they can afford advanced education.  The loan is paid back as they join the work force, and then loaned to the next worthy young person.  Thousands have achieved better employment through this program since its inception.

Additional Resources

Basic Mormon Beliefs — Official LDS Church Website

Mitt Romney’s Mormon Charity — Where Does it Go?

Mormon Self-Reliance and Philanthropy

The welfare system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established during the Great Depression in America, when so many people were out of work and in dire straits financially.  Its central concept was self-reliance, and that continues to be its watch-word today.

Touring the Mormon Humanitarian Center at Welfare Square, Photo by Tom Smart, Deseret News

This exemplary system has been studied by many governments and organizations wishing to emulate its successes.  Recently, a group of philanthropists visited “Welfare Square” in Salt Lake City, the LDS Humanitarian Center and the Bishop’s Central Storehouse.  Welfare Square consists of a storehouse, a bakery, a cannery, a milk processing plant, a thrift store and an employment center.

The LDS Church, sometimes erroneously called the Mormon Church, owns ranches, orchards, and farms staffed by volunteer workers.  It also has its own canneries, again manned by members of the Church offering their labors free of charge.  The food produced by these efforts finds its way to “Bishop’s Storehouses,” which look like small grocery stores that also carry basic linens and clothing.  Members of the Church in temporary need approach their local congregational leaders who help them fill out order forms for their basic necessities.  Meanwhile, the family receiving aid participates in volunteering, while engaging in educational and employment counseling.  They can then “shop” free of charge at the Bishop’s Storehouse closest to home.  The LDS Church welfare system is funded by Mormon donations and is one of many Mormon charities.

The philanthropists visiting the central facilities in Utah were part  of a conference sponsored by the  The Philanthropy Roundtable based in Washington, D.C. ,  which seeks to improve charitable outcomes by educating donors.

“We came to Utah to see Welfare Square because it is one of the nation’s greatest models of cultivating self-reliance, not only for members of the Mormon faith but for people of all backgrounds,” said Shannon Toronto, COO of The Philanthropy Roundtable, a national network of individual donors, corporate giving officers and foundation trustees.  [1]

Mormon Donations

Mormon contributions to their church mainly consist of the paying of Mormon tithing.  Based on the ancient biblical law of paying ten percent of one’s increase (either in money or “in kind” — paying with goods), Mormon tithing funds go to running the LDS Church.  (Read more — how Mormon tithing funds are used.)

Mormon donations also include “fast offering.”  Mormons fast for two meals the first Sunday of each month and offer the monetary value of the food to the Church of Jesus Christ for the care of the poor and the needy.  These are the funds that drive the exemplary welfare system of the Church.  Mormons are asked to be generous with their fast offerings, and many give far more than the value of two meals.  During the 1980′s the First Presidency of the Church asked members to make generous fast offerings, with the total collected during one “Fast Sunday” to go to Ethiopia, where starvation was rampant.  Six million dollars were collected and sent to help those starving people.

Mormon donations also include specific donations to Mormon humanitarian aid.    One hundred percent of these funds actually to to Mormon humanitarian aid, which includes disaster relief and rebuilding and ongoing projects around the world.  The Church has donated over a billion dollars of aid since 1985.  Special humanitarian aid missionaries serve all over the world at their own expense.

Mormons who can also donate to the LDS Church’s Perpetual Education Fund and to help missionaries afford to serve (since missionaries serve at their own expense).

Additional Resources

How the LDS Church Uses its Money

Is the “Mormon Church” Wealthy?

Mitt Romney’s Mormon Tithing

Mormon Philanthropies