MormonStories in Financial Trouble

[InCognitus]

Just now, Tacenda said:

That was my plan, haha. It wouldn't look too out of the normal, lol.  Since a lot of people come out of the woodwork for Christmas. 

Yep!  That's perfect. 

[JAHS]

3 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

That was my plan, haha. It wouldn't look too out of the normal, lol.  Since a lot of people come out of the woodwork for Christmas. 

They might just think you are a relative visiting for the holiday.😊

[bluebell]

19 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

That's so kind of you bluebell! My husband has been wanting to go to church but was afraid to tell me, until I mentioned I wanted to go. He's been praying and even had his brothers give him a blessing for some health problems dealing with his receding gums and recently had one whole side done with gum grafts and has stomach pain. We'll see how it goes, we could probably go to our friends' ward that is in our stake if it doesn't work at our ward. But thank you for the offer! ❤️ 

Anytime!

I hope your hubby starts to feel better. 

[Olddrummer]

Since this topic is about Mormon Stories financial issues, I'd like to weigh in:  I struggle a bit with Mormon Stories plea for additional money for a couple reasons.  First, it seems like the CEO isn't telling the whole story.  He shows a graph of their donations and how those donations have flatlined in 2022 and 2023, but that's only part of the story.  He never mentions they make money outside of donations.  The make revenue from social media views, and from the services they offer once someone is in a faith crisis, like conferences, workshops, seminars, and coaching fees (starting at $125 for a 25 minute session). In fact, their overall revenue numbers, according to the IRS, are WELL above the numbers he is showing.  For example, in 2019, his graph shows their donations totaling $180,000.  But Mormon Stories reported their overall revenue to the IRS that same year at $464,000....more than double what he is reporting to his followers.  Mormon Stories made over $750,000 back in 2021. There is a strong likelihood their revenue will exceed $1 million this year. 

The second thing that bothers me a little is he points out they had a banner year for views on YouTube, totaling 53,000,000 views in 2023.  But he doesn't mention that YouTube pays them for every view.   YouTube pays on average $0.018 for every view (less than two cents), but with 53,000,000 views, that adds up to $954,000.  So that is almost a million dollars in revenue last year that he doesn't mention when showing their donations have flatlined.  He wanted to paint a picture that they were hurting financially so he only used partial data that supported that narrative. To top it all off, according to the IRS, their CEO made $266,000 in 2021.  The IRS hasn't yet released data for 2022 or 2023.   However, he had an average salary increase of 17% every year for the previous 8 years, so if we use that to calculate his 2023 salary, it would be in the neighborhood of $364,000.  I would think rather than asking for more money from his followers, that he could simply stop taking so much off the top for himself?

I'm glad that there are people who have found community by watching their videos.   I'm sincere about that.  Faith Crisis' are gut-wrenching events to go through, and I wish nothing but the best for our brothers and sisters who find themselves in that scenario.  But I have to wonder, since Mormon Stories is willing to withhold really important information about their finances from the people that are most important to them... their own followers and donors, then how much of a stretch is it to think they would withhold information about Church history, doctrine, leaders, or culture to push their own narrative in the 1800+ videos they have on YouTube?

[Calm]

1 hour ago, Olddrummer said:

Since this topic is about Mormon Stories financial issues, I'd like to weigh in:  I struggle a bit with Mormon Stories plea for additional money for a couple reasons.  First, it seems like the CEO isn't telling the whole story.  He shows a graph of their donations and how those donations have flatlined in 2022 and 2023, but that's only part of the story.  He never mentions they make money outside of donations.  The make revenue from social media views, and from the services they offer once someone is in a faith crisis, like conferences, workshops, seminars, and coaching fees (starting at $125 for a 25 minute session). In fact, their overall revenue numbers, according to the IRS, are WELL above the numbers he is showing.  For example, in 2019, his graph shows their donations totaling $180,000.  But Mormon Stories reported their overall revenue to the IRS that same year at $464,000....more than double what he is reporting to his followers.  Mormon Stories made over $750,000 back in 2021. There is a strong likelihood their revenue will exceed $1 million this year. 

The second thing that bothers me a little is he points out they had a banner year for views on YouTube, totaling 53,000,000 views in 2023.  But he doesn't mention that YouTube pays them for every view.   YouTube pays on average $0.018 for every view (less than two cents), but with 53,000,000 views, that adds up to $954,000.  So that is almost a million dollars in revenue last year that he doesn't mention when showing their donations have flatlined.  He wanted to paint a picture that they were hurting financially so he only used partial data that supported that narrative. To top it all off, according to the IRS, their CEO made $266,000 in 2021.  The IRS hasn't yet released data for 2022 or 2023.   However, he had an average salary increase of 17% every year for the previous 8 years, so if we use that to calculate his 2023 salary, it would be in the neighborhood of $364,000.  I would think rather than asking for more money from his followers, that he could simply stop taking so much off the top for himself?

I'm glad that there are people who have found community by watching their videos.   I'm sincere about that.  Faith Crisis' are gut-wrenching events to go through, and I wish nothing but the best for our brothers and sisters who find themselves in that scenario.  But I have to wonder, since Mormon Stories is willing to withhold really important information about their finances from the people that are most important to them... their own followers and donors, then how much of a stretch is it to think they would withhold information about Church history, doctrine, leaders, or culture to push their own narrative in the 1800+ videos they have on YouTube?

Good post, good research and welcome to the board.  

[Tacenda]

44 minutes ago, Calm said:

Good post, good research and welcome to the board.  

Ditto, plus MS's hasn't had a new podcast for the longest time. I wonder if that's strategy for getting donations and making the listeners suffer and want more. 

[JAHS]

6 hours ago, Olddrummer said:

Since this topic is about Mormon Stories financial issues, I'd like to weigh in:  I struggle a bit with Mormon Stories plea for additional money for a couple reasons.  First, it seems like the CEO isn't telling the whole story.  He shows a graph of their donations and how those donations have flatlined in 2022 and 2023, but that's only part of the story.  He never mentions they make money outside of donations.  The make revenue from social media views, and from the services they offer once someone is in a faith crisis, like conferences, workshops, seminars, and coaching fees (starting at $125 for a 25 minute session). In fact, their overall revenue numbers, according to the IRS, are WELL above the numbers he is showing.  For example, in 2019, his graph shows their donations totaling $180,000.  But Mormon Stories reported their overall revenue to the IRS that same year at $464,000....more than double what he is reporting to his followers.  Mormon Stories made over $750,000 back in 2021. There is a strong likelihood their revenue will exceed $1 million this year. 

The second thing that bothers me a little is he points out they had a banner year for views on YouTube, totaling 53,000,000 views in 2023.  But he doesn't mention that YouTube pays them for every view.   YouTube pays on average $0.018 for every view (less than two cents), but with 53,000,000 views, that adds up to $954,000.  So that is almost a million dollars in revenue last year that he doesn't mention when showing their donations have flatlined.  He wanted to paint a picture that they were hurting financially so he only used partial data that supported that narrative. To top it all off, according to the IRS, their CEO made $266,000 in 2021.  The IRS hasn't yet released data for 2022 or 2023.   However, he had an average salary increase of 17% every year for the previous 8 years, so if we use that to calculate his 2023 salary, it would be in the neighborhood of $364,000.  I would think rather than asking for more money from his followers, that he could simply stop taking so much off the top for himself?

I'm glad that there are people who have found community by watching their videos.   I'm sincere about that.  Faith Crisis' are gut-wrenching events to go through, and I wish nothing but the best for our brothers and sisters who find themselves in that scenario.  But I have to wonder, since Mormon Stories is willing to withhold really important information about their finances from the people that are most important to them... their own followers and donors, then how much of a stretch is it to think they would withhold information about Church history, doctrine, leaders, or culture to push their own narrative in the 1800+ videos they have on YouTube?

Right. They should be more transparent with their finances. 😉 Now where have I heard that before?

[Calm]

4 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Ditto, plus MS's hasn't had a new podcast for the longest time. I wonder if that's strategy for getting donations and making the listeners suffer and want more. 

I am seeing stuff posted on YouTube, just not their website list.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Calm

[Teancum]

19 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Ditto, plus MS's hasn't had a new podcast for the longest time. I wonder if that's strategy for getting donations and making the listeners suffer and want more. 

I see new podcasts from December 11 and 5. Also November 28 and 27.  Seems fairly active.

[Tacenda]

3 minutes ago, Teancum said:

I see new podcasts from December 11 and 5. Also November 28 and 27.  Seems fairly active.

They use to be dropped every day to every two days. Maybe that's my problem. Not that I have to listen to them or get my fix. Just noticed the lag time being much more. 

[Teancum]

21 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

They use to be dropped every day to every two days. Maybe that's my problem. Not that I have to listen to them or get my fix. Just noticed the lag time being much more. 

In my experience it ebbs and flows.