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?

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