The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints detailed $906 million in charitable spending in 2021 in a report released Friday.
The church and its charity broadened the scope of its global humanitarian aid, according to “Caring For Those in Need: 2021 Annual Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Latter-day Saint Charities provided humanitarian aid across 3,909 humanitarian projects in 188 countries.
That’s up from:
Latter-day Saints also provided 6.8 million volunteer hours in 2021, according to the report.
In addition to those hours, the church’s JustServe app and website facilitated over 41,000 volunteer projects. The report said JustServe registered 62,000 new local community volunteers and 2,500 new organizations registered.
“We are grateful for the selfless and faithful offerings of church members and friends who make this possible,” the First Presidency said in a statement at the front of the report.
Friday’s report differed slightly from previous years, when it was released as the annual report of Latter-day Saint Charities. This year’s report was broader.
For example, it detailed that the $906 million spent to help those in need was provided across many different parts of the church:
- Fast offering assistance, which provides temporary financial help to those in need at the congregational level.
- Bishops’ orders for goods, which include giving food and commodities from bishops’ storehouses and Deseret Industries stores to those in need.
- Humanitarian projects, including Latter-day Saint Charities relief efforts in communities across the world.
- Donated commodities, including church-produced goods provided to communities through food banks and other agencies.
- Donated clothing, including discounted or free apparel given to Deseret Industries.
- Church operations, including Family Services counseling, employment centers, farms and food-processing facilities, and Deseret Industries.
The report said the church:
- Produced 100 million pounds of food in 2021 and donated over 80 million pounds of food.
- Engaged in 104 food security projects worldwide.
- Distributed 1 billion vaccine doses as part of 199 emergency response projects in 61 countries and territories.
- Recycled 58,981,915 pounds of goods.
- Manufactured 39,835 furniture items.
- Hosted over 3,000 blood drives at which over 105,000 individuals donated more than 100,000 units of blood.
- Supported 585 COVID-19 projects in 76 countries and territories.
- Provided clean water and sanitation projects to help 1.74 million.
Church members and missionaries provided volunteer support across numerous programs. For example, in 2021 the church had 11,329 welfare and self-reliance missionaries and long-term volunteers.
The church’s Addiction Recovery Program operated in 30 countries and 17 languages. Church volunteers and counselors hosted 2,800 meetings per week, serving 304,405 people in 189,994 family, group, individual and marriage counseling sessions.
The church also hosted 14,984 self-reliance groups with 137,458 participants.
“Caring for those in need is both a duty and a joyful privilege for followers of Jesus Christ,” the First Presidency’s message said. “As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we commit to living the two great commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor (see Matthew 22:37–39). As a church, we are blessed to have the ability, global connections and resources to follow his admonition.”
Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé, who oversees the humanitarian operations of the church, also was quoted in the report.
“I believe that for every disciple of Jesus Christ, this is part of our DNA, that we go and find those that are in need and try to help them, whether it is in our own community or far away in other countries,” he said.
“This is really at the center of our religion.”