Our next 1978 moment?

[wtfluff]

The way the Church transfers (funnels? diverts? plunders? struggling to find the right word) from Canada to BYU is a sore point for me.

How's this for the "right words": BYU is the money laundering division of LDS-Inc.

Isn't there literally some sort of law in Canadia that says religions institutions can't send collected money to other countries? So this is how LDS-Inc. gets around that: By sending all the funds to a "University".

[Can of Worms]

The way the Church transfers (funnels? diverts? plunders? struggling to find the right word) from Canada to BYU is a sore point for me.

How's this for the "right words": BYU is the money laundering division of LDS-Inc.

Isn't there literally some sort of law in Canadia that says religions institutions can't send collected money to other countries? So this is how LDS-Inc. gets around that: By sending all the funds to a "University".

You're exactly right wtfluff. Canadian registered charities may only make gifts to qualified donees – Church headquarters doesn’t qualify but BYUs do as they are “prescribed universities outside Canada”.

They are skating past the rule against conduits which Revenue Canada (our version of the IRS) describes as “a registered charity that receives donations from Canadians, issues tax-deductible receipts, and funnels money without direction or control to an organization to which a Canadian taxpayer could not make a gift and acquire tax relief”.

The Canadian LDS Church cannot transfer money to Church Headquarters as the Canadian church would have to direct and control the use of its resources. This is a high standard that would be unpalatable to Church Headquarters. It would also mean that Church Headquarters would have to report back to the Canadian church regarding the activity.

Interestingly, in 2016 the Canadian church reported sending just over $1M (not as donations) to the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church for unspecified activities in South & Central America ($254K); Asia & Oceania ($352k); and Africa ($533k). The reporting is so vague, it is hard to understand what this is for. My guess would be this is the value of goods contributed to humanitarian aid projects as there is leeway on donated items.