Watch Tower Britain Loses £18 million in Investments in 2022

The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Britain (the Society), showed a deficit of £11 million on their August 2022 Statement of Financial Activities. 

This, the Society claims came about due to a combination of lower donations received from other entities with similar aims and objectives, and an increase in activity assisted by the Society. 

The deficit was further increased due to an £18 million net loss on investments. This was caused by the increase in interest rates, which decreased the value of investments, principally bonds, held by the Society. However, the Society’s trustees performed a review of the matter and decided to reclassify the assets from short to long term, with the hope that the unrealized losses of the affected assets will not become realized in future years.

The Society has two funding sources. One is construction of new facilities or places of worship which is invoiced at cost to other entities owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The other is voluntary donations used to support its work. This is a consistent stream of income through regular donations and legacies received.  

To support the donations paid out to overseas activities, the Society has arrangements with other global entities owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses to receive donations. These funds arrive when such entities have met their own needs. This allows the Society to pool the funds in banking institutions in Britain.

Despite the significant losses, the trustees are confident that the Society is in a strong financial position as demonstrated by their 2022 financial statements.

The Society received over £77 million in donations and legacies in 2022. It has total funds of over £250 million which is substantially less than the £261 million in 2021.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales opened a statutory inquiry on the matter of safeguarding policies and procedures due to the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society’s apparent responsibility for this issue. You can read the Charity’s decision here. We reported on it here.