1831
The law of consecration and stewardship is revealed
Revelations given in 1831 established what became known as the law of consecration and stewardship, instructing members to devote their property to the work and to the relief of poverty, and establishing the office of bishop to administer it. The system required members to deed property and receive back a stewardship. The formal system was abandoned in 1834 after persecution, repeated moves, too few workable stewardships and unresolved questions about its legality.
Disputed Whether consecration was suspended, rescinded, or merely deferred is argued between scholars who date its abandonment to 1834 and apologists who point to 1842 Nauvoo affidavits of consecration.
2 November 1836
The Kirtland Safety Society is organized
Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and others ratified a constitution for the Kirtland Safety Society as a community bank, with Rigdon as president and Smith as cashier. Stock had been offered for subscription from October. Orson Hyde travelled to Columbus that winter to seek a bank charter from the Ohio legislature.
2 January 1837
Reorganized as an 'anti-banking company'; the office opens
Denied a charter, the organizers reorganized the society as an unincorporated joint-stock company, the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company, with Rigdon as secretary and Smith as treasurer. Notes printed from the original bank plates were altered by stamping. The banking office opened for business in early January and notes began circulating on 6 January.
February 1837
The notes collapse and charges are filed
By 1 February 1837 Safety Society notes were circulating at about 12.5 cents on the dollar of face value. On 9 February, Samuel Rounds, acting for the society's local antagonist Grandison Newell, brought charges against Smith, Rigdon and four others for violating an Ohio statute barring unchartered institutions from issuing bank notes. The Ohio senate refused a charter the next day.
June–September 1837
The Safety Society failshinge
Between 8 June and 7 July 1837, Smith and Rigdon resigned as officers; Warren Parrish and Frederick G. Williams replaced them. A nationwide financial panic that spring had made most banks unwilling to accept or redeem the society's notes. The institution had closed by September 1837. Smith and Rigdon were prosecuted for operating an illegal bank.
Why this is a hingeThe first collapse of Church finances, and the origin of the still-live argument over whether the prophet's economic judgment can be separated from his prophetic claim.
Disputed Apologists and several legal historians attribute the failure to the national panic, poor legal advice and Parrish's later fraud; critics read it as a speculative venture that Smith led and that his followers paid for.
8 July 1838
The tithing revelation at Far Westhinge
A revelation dictated at Far West, Missouri — now Doctrine and Covenants 119 — required members first to give their surplus property, and then to 'pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever.' A companion revelation, section 120, assigned disposition of those funds to a council of the First Presidency, the bishop and his council, and the high council.
Why this is a hingeThis is the legal and doctrinal foundation of every Church dollar since, and the text whose meaning — surplus, interest, income — has been reinterpreted for nearly two centuries.
Disputed Critics argue verse 1's 'surplus properties' and verse 4's 'interest' were originally narrower than the modern gross-income tithe; the Church has since 1970 defined 'interest' as income and declined to define it further.
1880
John Taylor's Jubilee Year
On the fiftieth anniversary of the Church's organization, Taylor declared a biblical Jubilee, forgiving half of delinquent tithing and half the debts owed to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. When the forgiven half failed to bring in the rest, he offered a carrot-and-stick approach in 1881. Non-compliance with tithing was widespread through the century. Brigham Young had told the October 1875 general conference that neither he nor anyone else had ever paid tithing as the revelation actually required, and had in 1861 invited members who wanted to know about Church money 'item by item' to inspect the books.
1884
Taylor ends public financial reports
President John Taylor ended the practice of presenting financial reports to general conference. Quinn dates the resumption to Rudger Clawson's formal report at April 1906 conference, 'the first provided to the public since President Taylor ended them in 1884.'
3 March 1887
The Edmunds–Tucker Acthinge
Congress dissolved the corporation of the Church and directed the attorney general to forfeit and escheat to the United States its property held over a $50,000 limit, exempting only buildings used exclusively for worship, parsonages and burial grounds. The proceeds were to fund common schools in the territory. The Supreme Court upheld the confiscation in Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States on 19 May 1890.
Why this is a hingeThe federal government stripped the Church of its legal existence and its assets at once, and the resulting debt is what the 1899 tithing reformation was raised to pay.
Disputed Congress passed the act on 19 February 1887; it became law on 3 March 1887 without President Cleveland's signature. Sources cite either date — the Supreme Court in Late Corporation (1890) says 19 February, Sunstone 61 n.54 gives both.
1890–1893
Tithing revenue collapses in the Panic
Church tithing revenue fell from $878,394 in 1890 to $576,584 in 1893 as Utah's speculative bubble burst following the collapse of London's Baring Brothers. The Church borrowed heavily, and lost further sums in failed mining ventures.
September 1898
Lorenzo Snow inherits a Church near bankruptcy
Snow was ordained president with the Church seriously in debt. A committee report summarized by Rudger Clawson put the Church's surplus or net worth at $235,482.90 against loans bearing 5 to 10 percent interest, and, in Clawson's words, showed that the Church 'if not bankrupt, was surely upon the verge of bankruptcy.' Apostle Francis M. Lyman recorded telling Snow his special mission was 'to get the Church out of debt.'
May 1899
The St. George revelation and the tithing reformationhinge
Travelling to a stake conference in drought-stricken St. George, Snow reported receiving a revelation on tithing. He declared, in the Church's own retelling, that 'The time has now come for every Latter-day Saint, who calculates to be prepared for the future and to hold his feet strong upon a proper foundation, to do the will of the Lord and pay his tithing in full.' He then carried the reformation to stakes across Utah and Idaho. On 30 May in Salt Lake City he told a startled audience the Church had 'no reserve at all.'
Why this is a hingeThis is the hinge on which tithing changed from a widely-ignored obligation into the non-negotiable practice that funds the modern Church.
Disputed Bell found no contemporary record — not obituaries, journals, newspapers, official minutes or lesson manuals from 1899 to 1933 — supporting the familiar promise that the drought would break if the Saints paid tithing.
April 1907
'The Church owes not a dollar that it cannot pay at once'
Joseph F. Smith announced to April conference: 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owes not a dollar that it cannot pay at once. At last we are in a position that we can pay as we go. We do not have to borrow any more, and will not have to if the Latter-day Saints continue to live their religion and observe this law of tithing. It is the law of revenue to the Church.' The bond issues floated under Snow were retired by 1903 and 1907.
April 1915
The disclosure era begins
For the first time the Auditing Committee's annual report showed how the tithing of the Church had been disbursed. Joseph F. Smith explained that he was 'taking a liberty that has not been indulged in very much: but there have been so many false charges made against me and against my brethren by ignorant and evilly disposed people, that I propose to make a true statement.' Brunson reads the motive as pragmatic — short-circuiting criticism and reinforcing members' trust — rather than as the fulfilment of a commandment. Smith had already acknowledged in February 1904, during the era of the Senate's investigation of apostle-senator Reed Smoot, that tithing was the source of financial support for the general authorities.
1923–1951
Routinization, then the most detailed accounts the Church ever gave
By 1923 Heber J. Grant introduced the report as 'customary.' Under J. Reuben Clark in the 1940s the disclosures ran to several printed pages, itemizing budget appropriations against actual expenditures by category, including hospitals, welfare, education and the salaries of headquarters employees. Marion G. Romney called the 1944 report more comprehensive than any he had heard in his life. Revenue, however, was never disclosed in any year of the disclosure era except fast-offering receipts between 1942 and 1950.
April 1952
The retreat begins
President McKay ended Clark's seven consecutive years of reading the financial report; the duty went to the First Presidency's secretary, Joseph Anderson. The disclosure reverted from budgeted-versus-spent tables to bare categories, and detail was progressively collapsed: in 1953 the separate line items for the Office of the Corporation of the President and the Office of the Presiding Bishopric were folded into 'Administrative Expenses.'
April 1959
The last detailed financial reporthinge
Joseph Anderson read the expenditures of the Church for 1958 — the last year the Church provided any kind of detailed financial transparency. Quinn transcribes the report as an appendix; it opens 'For Missions and Missionary Work . . . $13,034,893,' not including an estimated $4,990,000 paid by missionaries themselves. Quinn computes the total, stated in 2010 dollars, at $548,869,067.20.
Why this is a hingeEverything after this date — the estimates, the whistleblower, the litigation, the modelling — exists because this report was the last of its kind.
1959–1962
Deficit spending, and the decision not to publish
Henry D. Moyle, appointed second counselor two months after the last report, set aside the current budget and launched a large increase in expenditure, especially on buildings. Quinn writes that the Church spent $8 million more than it received in 1959, against a $7 million surplus after 1958's expenditures, and that because the last published report had included the building program, Moyle persuaded McKay not to publish even an abbreviated accounting. In April 1962 the Auditing Committee's public reports stopped noting whether the Church carried debt.
Disputed The Church's own account attributes the 1960s crisis to international growth and an expansive building program and describes the response as strengthened financial planning, without addressing the end of disclosure.
1962–1963
The payroll crisis
The Church ran a $32 million deficit in 1962, and by early 1963 its financial officers were worried they would not be able to meet payroll for Church employees. McKay reassigned N. Eldon Tanner to Church finances; within two decades Tanner had established headquarters as a financial power with significant annual income from investments and businesses.
19 March 1970
The First Presidency defines a full tithe — and declines to define it further
A First Presidency letter stated that 'the simplest statement we know of is that statement of the Lord himself that the members of the Church should pay one-tenth of all their INTEREST annually, which is understood to mean income. NO ONE IS JUSTIFIED IN MAKING ANY OTHER STATEMENT THAN THIS,' and that every member should be entitled to make his own decision as to what he owes. The same language was still carried in the Church Handbook decades later.
Disputed Members are left to choose gross or net; critics note the ambiguity means the Church can require a 'full tithe' for temple entry without ever having to defend a definition.
April 1991
Hinckley states the doctrine of reserves
In 'The State of the Church,' Hinckley named the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes — the First Presidency, the Twelve and the Presiding Bishopric, eighteen men — and stated the two principles: 'One, the Church will live within its means. It will not spend more than it receives. Two, a fixed percentage of the income will be set aside to build reserves against what might be called a possible "rainy day."' He compared it to the food storage the Church asks of families.
1997
Ensign Peak Advisors is founded
Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. was founded in Salt Lake City as the Church's investment manager, structured as a supporting organization under section 509(a)(3) and supervised by the Presiding Bishopric. The SEC later found that from 1997 through 2019 it failed to file the Forms 13F required of institutional investment managers.
April 2003
Hinckley on City Creek: 'tithing funds have not and will not be used'
Announcing the downtown redevelopment, Hinckley told general conference that 'tithing funds have not and will not be used to acquire this property. Nor will they be used in developing it for commercial purposes,' and that funds would come from commercial entities owned by the Church 'together with the earnings of invested reserve funds.'
Disputed Whether earnings on invested tithing are tithing is the entire dispute; the Church says principal and earnings are distinct, Huntsman and Nielsen call it a distinction without a difference.
22 March 2012
City Creek Center opens
The First Presidency cut the ribbon on City Creek Center, a three-block mixed-use development across from Temple Square, financed entirely by the Church. Contemporary reporting put the cost at $1.5 billion at announcement and about $2 billion on completion. The center generated roughly $200 million in sales in its first nine months and was credited with 2,000 jobs and 16 million downtown visitors.
21 November 2019 – 17 December 2019
The Nielsen complaint becomes publichinge
A confidential whistleblower complaint from David A. Nielsen, a former Ensign Peak portfolio manager, was received by the IRS on 21 November 2019, alleging the Church had amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes and had used tax-exempt donations to prop up two businesses. Religion Unplugged and the Washington Post published on 16 and 17 December. The First Presidency responded the same day that the vast majority of funds are used immediately, that a portion is 'methodically safeguarded,' and that 'The Church complies with all applicable law governing our donations, investments, taxes, and reserves.'
Why this is a hingeFor the first time since 1959, an outside document put a number on Church wealth that the institution had to answer publicly.
Disputed The $100 billion figure comes from Nielsen's complaint as summarized by his brother Lars and by reporters; the Church has never confirmed or given a figure of its own.
14 February 2020
Ensign Peak files its first consolidated 13F
Ensign Peak filed a single aggregated Form 13F disclosing holdings of nearly $38 billion in stocks and mutual funds as of the end of 2019, including about $1.5 billion each in Apple and Microsoft, $930 million in Google and $855 million in Amazon. No earlier filings under its own name appear on the SEC website. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators filed its first 13F the same day.
February 2020
The Presiding Bishopric gives a rare interview
Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé and his counselors told the Deseret News that the Church had doubled its humanitarian spending over five years and now provided nearly $1 billion a year in combined humanitarian and welfare aid, alongside 30,000 congregations, more than 200 temples and education for hundreds of thousands of students. 'It's no surprise we are talking about billions of dollars,' Caussé said.
Disputed Critics point out that the Church's published welfare fact sheets historically counted material assistance and volunteer labor alongside cash, and that cash aid was a minority of the totals.
23 March 2021
James Huntsman sues for the return of his tithing
Huntsman filed in the Central District of California seeking more than $5 million in tithing, alleging the Church misrepresented that tithing was not used for commercial projects while spending, he alleged, $1.4 billion on City Creek and $594 million on the Beneficial Life bailout. Nielsen supplied a sworn declaration that Ensign Peak staff 'referred to and revered all funds of EPA as "tithing" money, regardless of whether they were referring to principal or earnings.' Judge Stephen V. Wilson granted the Church summary judgment on 14 September 2021.
Disputed The Church called Nielsen's declaration hearsay and maintained that only earnings on reserves, not tithing principal, funded the project.
31 January 2023
Nielsen takes his allegations to the Senate
Nielsen submitted a 90-page memorandum to the Senate Finance Committee and its Subcommittee on Taxes and IRS Oversight, alleging false statements, systematic accounting fraud and private inurement. He asserted that Ensign Peak 'failed to engage in any charitable activities for 22 years,' that 'it is clear that EPA has never been tax-exempt,' and that it had avoided more than $20 billion in taxes.
Disputed These are allegations in an advocacy filing; no tax assessment against Ensign Peak appears in the corpus.
21 February 2023
The SEC settlementhinge
The SEC charged Ensign Peak with failing to file Forms 13F from 1997 through 2019 and with misstating information on the forms it did file, and charged the Church with causing those violations. To obscure a portfolio that by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs with the Church's knowledge and approval and filed in their names. Ensign Peak paid $4 million; the Church paid $1 million. The Church said it had relied on legal counsel since 2000, that it believed all required securities were reported, and that it 'regret[s] mistakes made, and now consider[s] this matter closed.'
Why this is a hingeA federal regulator established, on the Church's own consent, that the institution had for two decades deliberately obscured the size of its investment portfolio.
Disputed FAIR emphasizes that there was no allegation the Church hid investments or that the LLCs were themselves illegal; the Widow's Mite Report counts 268 filings from 2003–2019 carrying over 650,000 instances of misstated key information and calls it a long-term policy of selective legal compliance.
14 May 2023
'60 Minutes' and the Church's answer
Nielsen broke a three-year public silence on CBS, saying 'I thought I was going to work for a charity' and calling Ensign Peak 'really a clandestine hedge fund — once the money went in, it didn't go out.' W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric was interviewed and disputed the characterization. The Church issued a release calling the segment 'unfortunate' and based on 'unfounded allegations by a former employee who has a different view on how the church should manage its resources.'
7 August 2023
A Ninth Circuit panel revives the City Creek claim
A three-judge panel reversed summary judgment on Huntsman's fraud claim as to the City Creek representations, while affirming as to Beneficial Life, and denied the Church's request to seal the financial portions of the opinion. The Church sought rehearing; Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia granted en banc review and the panel opinion was vacated.
Early 2025
The en banc court dismisses the tithing suit
An eleven-judge en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously agreed with the district court and dismissed Huntsman's suit in a 63-page set of rulings — the second dismissal in four years. Commentators noted the ruling would carry persuasive weight over two further tithing cases then pending in the Tenth Circuit. The Church welcomed the ruling, saying tithing donations are considered sacred and are dedicated to advancing its mission.
Disputed The corpus does not fix the exact date; reporting places the ruling on a Friday and the Church's public response in February 2025.
