Lesson 55 Explore 4: How Is the Work of Jehovah’s Witnesses Financed? Ways to Donate
How Is the Work of Jehovah’s Witnesses Financed?
Our worldwide work is primarily financed by voluntary donations from individuals who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Contribution boxes are provided in our meeting places, and other ways to donate are listed on our Donations page. Separate options are provided so that a person can choose to donate for our worldwide work, for local expenses, or for both.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are not expected to tithe or to donate any specific amount or percentage of their income.
(2 Corinthians 9.7: Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.)
We never take collections or charge admission at our meetings, nor do our ministers charge fees for baptisms, funerals, weddings, or other religious services. We do not raise money through bake sales, bazaars, bingo games, carnivals, dinners, raffles, or similar events, nor do we solicit donations. Donors’ information is never shared or made available to the public.
(Matthew 6.2-4: So when you make gifts of mercy, do not blow a trumpet ahead of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when making gifts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gifts of mercy may be in secret. Then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you.)
Our websites and publications do not contain revenue-generating advertisements.
Every congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses provides monthly financial reports at its meetings, which are open to the public. The accounting records of each congregation are audited regularly to ensure that donated funds are being handled properly.-
(2 Corinthians 8.20, 21: Thus we are avoiding having any man find fault with us in connection with this liberal contribution that we are administering. For we ‘care for everything honestly, not only in the sight of Jehovah but also in the sight of men.’)
Ways to Donate
• Contribution boxes: You may place donations of cash or checks in contribution boxes at Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, or other locations where our meetings are held.
• Online donations: In many countries, you may use the page “Donate to Jehovah’s Witnesses” to make donations by means of credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, and other electronic methods.
Some Witnesses choose to “set something aside” each month by scheduling recurring donations using one of these methods.-
(1 Corinthians 16.2: On the first day of every week, each of you should set something aside according to his own means, so that collections will not take place when I arrive.)
• Planned giving: Some donation methods require advance planning and/or legal advice. Such planning may allow you to take advantage of tax benefits in your country. Many individuals have benefited by becoming better informed about charitable gifts that may be made during life or that take effect at death. Please contact the local branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses for further details if you would like to make a donation that involves: bank accounts insurance and retirement plans real estate stocks and bonds wills and trusts
For more information on the donation methods available in your area, see the page “Donate to Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
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