LDS Church vowed to up its humanitarian aid in 2024. It did. See by how much.

For the third year in a row, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported donating more than a billion dollars in aid, funding global initiatives focused on food security, emergency relief, clean water, environmental sustainability, maternal and newborn care, and more.

The Utah-based faith — whose overall wealth has been estimated at $293 billion — contributed $1.45 billion in 2024 (an apparent record), according to its annual humanitarian report released Tuesday, benefiting millions of people in nearly 200 countries and territories.

“[These] figures are, of course, an incomplete report of our giving and helping,” apostle Dallin Oaks, next in line to lead the worldwide church of 17.2 million members, explains in the summary, titled “Caring for Those in Need.” “They do not include the personal services our members give individually as they minister to one another in called positions and voluntary member-to-member service.”

Neither, Oaks added, does the report make “mention of what our members do individually through innumerable charitable organizations not formally connected with our church.”

The summary, nevertheless, demonstrates how the faith, which has faced growing scrutiny in recent years over its amassed wealth, continues to expand its charitable efforts, from congregation-led projects to large-scale collaboration with partners.

In a 2023 national TV appearance, W. Christopher Waddell, a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, which oversees the religion’s vast financial, real estate, investment and charitable operations, pledged that the church “will double the humanitarian work again and then again.”

In 2023, it reported spending $1.3 billion on global aid, up from $1 billion in 2022 and $906 million in 2021.

Here is what last year’s $1.45 billion looked like in practice:

• 6.6 million volunteer hours.

• 3,836 individual humanitarian projects.

• 12,277 welfare and self-reliance missionaries worldwide.

• 32 million meals donated in the U.S. and Canada.

• 146,000 children given additional access to education in Ghana through a partnership with UNICEF.

• $5 million donated to Edesia Nutrition, maker of lifesaving foods that treat malnutrition.

• 2,503 addiction recovery meetings per week worldwide.

• One nursing and midwifery center built in Kurdistan. It will train up to 7,000 nurses and midwives a year.

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Responding to some of the world’s biggest crises

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to kill thousands and displace millions, the church collaborated with a network of aid groups to provide hygiene kits, energy storage systems and more to those living in the besieged nation, while assisting in refugee resettlement efforts in neighboring Romania.

The church undertook similar efforts to support displaced families in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel, where peace negotiations have repeatedly failed to quell attacks on civilians.

In Sudan, where a devastating civil war and climate change have combined to create one of the world’s worst food crises, the church helped provide food, shelter, early childhood education and more.

“No humanitarian effort is more foundational to Christ’s church than feeding the hungry,” President Camille Johnson, head of the faith’s worldwide Relief Society, said in the report. “As we serve together, we extend the reach of Christ’s loving arms.”

Meanwhile, in Mali, a vaccination partnership with UNICEF led to the complete elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus.

“We believe serving alongside others helps build bridges between groups of people who might not otherwise interact due to differences in backgrounds or beliefs,” said Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé, “but who will come together through the common value of caring for one another.”

Beyond physical aid

From mental health and addiction recovery services to job interview preparation, the church continued its holistic approach to fostering “self-reliance” in 2024.

Much of these efforts come under Deseret Industries, a thrift store with 46 locations that doubles as a job training facility. At the same time, volunteers carried out other trainings aimed at financial literacy, emotional resilience and entrepreneurship on the level of congregations and regions.

“Young people and families don’t want a handout,” Barron Segar, president and CEO of the World Food Program, said in the release, “they want a hand up.”

Environmental ‘stewardship’

Undergirding an increasing number of the church’s efforts is an emphasis on renewable energy, recycling and water conservation — an outgrowth of the faith’s expansion of its sustainability office last year.

“Food security, energy independence and clean water access,” the release stated, “are all supported by greater climate adaptation and resiliency.”

These efforts included:

• Donating and recycling used electronics in the United States and Canada.

• Constructing four new schools powered by solar energy in Kurdistan, done in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services.

• Installing solar-powered water pumps in Sudan.

• Replacing plastic bags and packaging with reusable and biodegradable alternatives in church stores in Latin America.

Finally, the summary emphasized the projects organized and supported by church members through the platform JustServe, a website where anyone can search for or create a service opportunity, be it a one-off project or ongoing effort.

More than 134,000 people have registered on JustServe, and 30,000-plus projects have appeared on the site.