Share Gains for the Watchtower
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Share Gains for the Watchtower
The Fourth Watch | Imprint
Updated January 13, 2019:
We were made aware that the linked website (NCCS) has moved
and thus, the given links ("deep links") do not work anymore. We
are currently doing research to set the proper links to the newest
data available. Could you assist us? The new URL is https://beta-
nccs.urban.org/.
Lately, the call for greater transparency on the subject of money
usage of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS) is
getting louder. The desire of many sincere proclaimers has become
a demand, which we consider justified. Therefore, on this page we
are showing you the path to facts publicly accessible to everyone,
The Memorial – an invitation for and make some considerations in the form of questions. The rating
ALL? is left up to each reader himself.
Who is Blind As the Servant Where there is clarity and openness, there is no room
of Jehovah?
for speculations and question marks.
Shhh! 2017 Convention preview
Every nonprofit organization is obliged to submit a kind of tax
"DON´T GIVE UP!"
return to the NCCS (National Center for Charitable Statistics) each
year. This declaration on the form 990 is publicly available.
Open letter from a 90-year-old
JW to the GB This was the path to the 2015 declaration that provides information
on a small portion of the income of WTBTS:
Share earnings of the
Watchtower > outdated website of the NCCS
Ananias & Sapphira Inc.
Acta Pilati – the report of Pontius
Pilate to Caesar Tiberius
Was 1914 the end of the "times
of the gentiles"?
Series of articles about Jesus 
Got Hurt?
Are You Forward-Looking?
Here you could find "Henrietta M. Riley Trust FBO Watch Tower
Bible".
> By clicking on the tab "Form 990" ...
Craving for Candy?
Film Tips for You
... you could download the tax declaration form directly from the
NCCS server. Don´t worry, there is nothing illegal about it, these
documents are open to public inspection!
If you wish to take a shortcut, simply click on the image below to download the form as a PDF file: (Luckily, this link has remained unchanged!) Link: http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/386/386043103/386043103_201504_990PF.pdf Page 11 of this PDF file shows that the "Henrietta M. Riley Trust" worked for the benefit and general support of WTBTS: Who is Henrietta Riley? What is the Henrietta Riley Trust? Ms Henrietta M. Riley, a member of a rather wealthy family, was supposedly a Jehovah´s Witness, or at least sympathized with them. Before she passed away in 1945, she donated a capital to support the Watch Tower Society. Founded in the 70s, the trust´s sole purpose is to generate equity returns that, after deduction of treasury costs, flow 100% to the WTBTS. The trust is being managed and supervised by employees
of the Comerica Bank in Detroit. The trust is quasi "owned by itself". The capital is being lent to companies to work with, and they return a part of their earnings to the pot, and these gains are given to and accepted by the WTBTS. To make a long story short: Neither does it consist of our donations. It´s the donations of deceased Ms Riley. Analysis of WTBTS Share Earnings in 2015 The list reflects the investments and gain results of the tax year 2015 (05/01/2014 to 04/30/2015). The thrilling thing starts at page 25: In which branches are shares been placed? From which companies´ economic success did the Watch Tower Society have their benefit?
Corporate investments of the Henrietta M. Riley Trust for Watch Tower in 2015 The equity portfolio includes ca. 70 companies. Sadly, the Watchtower continues to accept share earnings from the Armaments industry as well as from questionable Entertainment companies. Here are a some of them in alphabetical order (each of the product images taken from the company's own website): BOEING Sector: a.o. Armaments industry, e.g. combat aircrafts, helicopters, missiles
End of Year Book Value: $ 6,326 HONEYWELL Sector: u.a. Armaments industry, e.g. military technology $ 8,333 LOCKHEED MARTIN Sector: Armaments industry, e.g. combat aircrafts $ 4,825 LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP. Sector: Entertainment industry, e.g. Horror movie series "SAW I-VII" $ 5,227 MONSANTO COMPANY Sector: Agrochemicals, biotechnology, very aggressive lobbying, environmental scandals $ 5,647
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP.
Sector: Armaments industry, z.B.
e.g. Stealth Bomber B-2 Spirit,
combat aircraftF-14 Surveillance
Drone RQ-4A Global Hawk
$ 3,337
TIME WARNER INCORP.
Sector: Media,
e.g. Softporno, war and mystery
movies (subsidiary Cinemax)
$ 4,955
With the whole equity stake, the HMR Trust generated a net income of $ 696,897 (2015) as a General Support for the Watch Tower Society . Update: On the Foundation Center´s web server we found ... the 990 form of the tax year 2016 (link to the server) on page 11 – General Support for Watchtower: $ 566,096 and the 990 form of the tax year 2017 (link to the server) on page 11 – General Support for Watchtower: $ 380,939. Regrettably, neither the 2016 nor the 2017 data do not include ANY specified information on the composition of the equity funds. The 2017 data only mention collective terms, such as "Various stock funds", "Various bond assets", "Various alternative investment". This does not really promote transparency and openness, does it? And what about the spiritual and moral dimensions of these economic matters?
Any JW who kills
as a professional
soldier will be
disfellowshipped.
Any "rank and
file" JW who
earns his living in
the Armaments
industry will be
shunned if he
doesn't cancel his job immediately – at the consequence of losing
his family's income.
What about a "top" JW?
Shouldn't we to apply the same Christian
principles here?
If so, there are two ways to chose between:
A) Reject the whole stock gains of the HMR Trust in total or
B) Reject the specific amounts generated in questionable
branches.
And then ... I had a dream.
Download this page as
PDF file:
Share-Earnings-of-the-
Watchtower-2015.pdf (670
KB)
* The fourth nightwatch (Mat 14:25) was the last watch before dawn – the most dangerous time for falling asleep.
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