home > interesting topics > declining donations

Declining Donations

Watchtower has gone from saying it would never solicit money, to constantly requesting donations. Watchtower's financial records from the United Kingdom and Australia show donations have declined significantly since 2020.

Watchtower’s financial reports for Australia, Ireland, Britain, England and Wales show a startling decline in donations since 2020.

Unfortunately, the United States does not require public lodgement of financial statements for not-for-profit and is not included in this summary.

(Please note, I cannot verify that the data is 100% accurate as Watchtower may have additional corporations in these regions and changed where they direct funds. If anyone can link to additional public information to increase accuracy, I will update the donation figures.)

It is surprising how low donations are, considering the aging population of Jehovah’s Witnesses. My mother worked two weeks a year in Bethel selling items received in deceased estates, and I assumed old couples with no children would donate their property to Watchtower. However, with the median house price in Australia being around $1 million, and total donations being only $13m in 2025, that means few Jehovah’s Witnesses donated their home in their will.

The opening graph that combines UK and Australian donations is based on the following figures, converted into Euro based on 1st of July exchange rates.

In 2025, Watchtower set up a company called Lepta Payment Solutions for collecting donations. leptapay.com

This is tied to their Event Donations app.

The decline in British donations is not that it is now being reported by Lepta, as in Lepta’s 2025 financial statements there is no reported income.

The following is an example of how a Watchtower income statement shows donations.

The breakdown of the donations figure generally appears in the notes, point 2.

Watchtower prided itself on not begging for donations, with doing so indicating a loss of Jehovah's blessing.

"We have never considered it proper to solicit money for the Lord's cause, after the common custom . . . It is our judgment that money raised by the various begging devices in the name of our Lord is offensive, unacceptable to him, and does not bring his blessing either upon the givers or the work accomplished." Watchtower 1899 Aug 1 p.201

"As early as the second issue of the Watch Tower, in August 1879, Brother Russell stated: “‘Zion’s Watch Tower’ has, we believe, JEHOVAH for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support. When He who says: ‘All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine,’ fails to provide necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication.” Consistent with that, there is no begging for money in the literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses." Proclaimers p.340

In recent times, Watchtower constantly requests money, even requiring congregations commit each publisher to a monthly donation amount, as outlined in the August 2026 Announcement and Reminders.