How Much Money Does The Watchtower Make

13893 Highway 7
Georgetown, ON L7G 4S4
President: Kenneth Little
Board President: Warren Shewfelt

Charitable Reg. #:11928 8918 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

RESULTS REPORTING

Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

Low

DEMONSTRATED IMPACT

The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.

NEED FOR FUNDING

Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.

97%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 97 cents are available for programs.

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About Watch Tower and Tract Society of Canada:

Founded in 1967, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada is the head office of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada. In F2018, Watch Tower granted $10.8m to nine Jehovah's Witness charities across Canada with $10.7m to JW Congregation Support, which helps other JW congregations to build, buy, and remodel churches and other religious buildings. JW Congregation Support also provides emergency relief to natural and man-made disasters. Watch Tower's largest area of program spending is grants and gifts in kind to international charities. According to its unaudited financial statements, Watch Tower sent $46.1m in F2018 to support charitable programs in other countries. According to Watch Tower's T3010 filing with the CRA, it spent $50.0m on international programs and activities. Of that $50m, $35.1m went to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York and $7.1m went to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. The Society also works with the Order of Special Full-Time Servants for Bible education which includes special training schools for those that lead preaching activities of Jehovah's Witnesses.

During F2020, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada printed 32 million copies of the Watchtower magazine in 49 languages, 165 million Bible-based tracts, 20 million copies of the semi-monthly Bible journal 'The Watchtower', 62 million copies of 'Awake!' (companion to The Watchtower), and 4 million Bible-based brochures. These literature items were free for the public and congregation members throughout Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Guyana. The charity reported that it did not have any paid employees in F2020.

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Impact Rating: Low

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Watch Tower and Tract Society of Canada received $75.9m in donations in F2018. Its administrative costs are 3% of revenues and the charity does not report any fundraising costs. For every dollar donated, 97 cents go towards the charity's programs, falling outside of Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending. Excluding its bank loans of $19.6m, Watch Tower has gross funding reserves of $17.0m which could cover program costs for around three months. The financial statements Watch Tower provides to the CRA Charities Directorate are incomplete, missing the financial notes and auditors information.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated June 24, 2021, by Shira Wine.

Financial Review

Financial Ratios Fiscal year ending August	2018	2017	2016
Administrative costs as % of revenues	2.8%	2.6%	1.9%
Total overhead spending	2.8%	2.6%	1.9%
Program cost coverage (%)	(3.5%)	(4.9%)	6.4%

Summary Financial Statements All figures in $000s	2018	2017	2016
Donations	75,851	64,434	78,102
Investment income	183	161	158
Other income	(217)	452	568
Total revenues	75,816	65,047	78,828
Program costs - International	46,102	58,640	36,048
Program costs - Canada	18,028	19,548	20,107
Grants	10,847	8,259	9,260
Administrative costs	2,109	1,674	1,509
Total spending	77,087	88,121	66,924
Cash flow from operations	(1,270)	(23,074)	11,904
Capital spending	2,422	1,218	(1,083)
Funding reserves	(2,629)	(4,235)	4,186

Note: There is no indication that the financial statements have been audited. Amortization has been removed from program and administrative costs pro-rata.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 0

Avg. compensation: $0

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +	0
$300k - $350k	0
$250k - $300k	0
$200k - $250k	0
$160k - $200k	0
$120k - $160k	0
$80k - $120k	0
$40k - $80k	0
< $40k	0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2020