Report
Review of Media-Based Ministries: memorandum to Senator Grassley (6 January 2011), with minority staff overviews of Copeland, Dollar, Long and White
The document is a staff memorandum to Senator Charles Grassley, then ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, dated 6 January 2011. It closes an inquiry begun by his letters of 5 November 2007 to six media-based ministries. The memo records that Joyce Meyer Ministries and Benny Hinn's ministry complied and that the four others did not. It then builds overviews of the four from public records and unnamed informants, and describes the tax rules for churches: the Form 990 exception, parsonage allowances, the Church Audit Procedures Act and excess-benefit taxes. It lists options for discussion and recommends against requiring every church to file Form 990. It makes no finding that any ministry violated tax law.
Who made it
- Memo header: TO Senator Grassley, CC Senate Finance Committee files, FROM Theresa Pattara and Sean Barnett, RE Review of Media-Based Ministries, 6 January 2011, 61 pages (memo p. 1).
- The memo is a staff document to the ranking member, not a report adopted by a Committee vote. Grassley was ranking member (minority) in 2007 to 2011; Max Baucus chaired the Committee and co-signed the 11 March 2008 follow-up letters (exhibit Exhibit 441).
- Each ministry overview carries the line 'Prepared by Lynda F. Simmons' (Copeland overview p. 1; Dollar, Long and White overviews p. 1), a different name from the memo's two authors.
- Overview sources are public records (Secretary of State filings, county deeds and appraisal records, FAA records), news reports, the ministries' own submissions, and informants who were current or former officers, directors, key employees, members, or watchdog groups (memo p. 1). The Copeland overview cites the Trinity Foundation 'Religious Conversion' report in dozens of footnotes.
- The six ministries are Kenneth Copeland Ministries (Eagle Mountain International Church), World Changers Church International (Creflo and Taffi Dollar), New Birth Missionary Baptist Church (Eddie Long), Without Walls International Church (Randy and Paula White), World Healing Center Church (Benny Hinn) and Joyce Meyer Ministries (memo p. 1; Grassley release 6 January 2011, exhibit Exhibit 428). All six are Christian ministries; the memo says each classifies itself as a church (p. 2).
- Grassley's office published the memo, the four overviews, the Hinn and Meyer reform letters, a letter to ECFA and correspondence on the Committee's site on 6 January 2011 (grassley.senate.gov release page, attachments list).
Its claims checked against the record
10 claims checked:8 supported · 1 partly supported · 0 contradicted · 1 not in the record
A verdict rests on the documents named in its row.
| The work says | Verdict | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Two of the six ministries (Meyer and Hinn) complied with the Committee's 2007 requests; the other four (Copeland, Dollar, Long, White) gave no response or an incomplete response. | Supported by the record | Memo p. 1: 'Pastor Hinn and Joyce Meyer complied with your request'; 'The other four either did not provide a response or provided incomplete responses.' The 7 July 2008 Committee memorandum classes White as answering only the 'general' and 'real and personal assets' questions, Long as 'not responsive' (general information, articles of incorporation and bylaws), Copeland as 'not responsive' (partial answers, none on compensation) and the Dollars as having 'declined to provide any of the requested information'. |
| Creflo and Taffi Dollar's church, World Changers Church International, provided no response to any question and its counsel said the decision would not change. | Supported by the record | Dollar overview p. 1: 'WCCI did not provide responses to any of the questions and was, therefore, the least cooperative.' The 6 December 2007 Committee memorandum records a letter to Grassley and Baucus saying the ministry 'does not intend to provide information voluntarily' and raising the idea of a subpoena; the 7 July 2008 memorandum says counsel 'indicated that the church's decision not to respond remains the same'. Staff then stopped communicating with the church and its counsel (overview p. 1). |
| Kenneth Copeland's church declined to give the detailed accounting, audited financial statements, board names or compensation information, and pointed to an IRS church tax inquiry under section 7611 as the proper route. | Supported by the record | The overview quotes counsel's submission: 'the Church respectfully declines to provide the detailed accounting requested', and says the IRS can ask under section 7611 and the Committee can then obtain the information 'through a request pursuant to section 6103(f)' (p. 1). It records that the church declined board names for 2004 on (p. 2), gave no compensation information (p. 8), no credit-card or vehicle information (p. 10), and declined 'copies of the audited financial statement' (p. 16). The 7 July 2008 memorandum adds that Kenneth Copeland 'has declared publicly that he will not submit responses even if a subpoena is issued'. Section 6103(f)(1) lets the Finance Committee chairman request returns and return information, taxpayer-identifiable material only in closed executive session. No 6103(f) request is recorded in the memo or overviews. Record not produced. The church's compensation, credit-card, vehicle and audited-statement records were requested on 5 November 2007 and declined (Copeland overview pp. 1, 8, 10, 16; Q&A memorandum 7 July 2008); the memo says the Committee did not receive them (memo p. 2). |
| The finances of the four non-responding ministries were never produced to the Committee; the ministries that complied (Meyer, Hinn) and White in part did produce financial statements. | Supported by the record | Copeland: staff 'have not been able to locate audited financial statements' and the church declined to provide them (overview p. 16). Dollar: 'no published record of the organization's audited financial statements' (overview p. 7). Long: staff 'unable to locate any information regarding the salary' and 'unable to locate audited financial statements' (overview pp. 6, 8). White: the 2004 to 2006 consolidated audited statements 'were submitted to the Committee' and were once on the ministry's websites (overview p. 2; memo p. 30 gives 2006 revenue of $39.9 million). Hinn: 2006 audited statements 'were provided to the Finance Committee but are not posted' (memo p. 30; revenue and support $97.93 million); Hinn's letter says 'nearly 5,000 pages of production' (exhibit Exhibit 448). Meyer: audits 'since 1995' (exhibit Exhibit 449). The memo gives Copeland's revenue only as a figure he told CBS ('about $100 million a year'). Record not produced. Audited statements, compensation figures and the 'detailed accounting' for Copeland, Dollar and Long were never delivered to the Committee (memo pp. 1-2; Copeland overview pp. 1, 8, 16; Dollar overview pp. 1, 7; Long overview pp. 1, 6, 8; Q&A memorandum 7 July 2008). The submissions that were delivered by Hinn, Meyer and White are not among the documents posted with the 6 January 2011 release, which attached the memo, four overviews, the Hinn and Meyer reform letters and two items of correspondence; the Committee said on 7 July 2008 that responses would not be made available until staff completed its review. |
| The staff did not issue subpoenas to the four churches or to informants, and said why. | Supported by the record | The memo says earlier subpoenas had all been 'friendly' (issued to willing individuals), that informants became more frightened when offered one, that Committee rules require the Chairman's participation, and that 'The Committee's consideration of health reform legislation, which began in the winter of 2009, ensured that we would not have the time or resources to issue and enforce the subpoenas.' The 11 March 2008 letters said the Committee hoped to obtain the information 'without resorting to compulsory process'. |
| The review makes no finding that any of the six ministries violated tax law; for the four, staff could not determine whether income from related entities was reported and taxed. | Supported by the record | Memo p. 2: 'given the four churches' refusal to provide tax information, we are unable to determine whether and the extent to which they are reporting and paying taxes on income earned in those entities.' The same paragraph says the number and types of related entities, 'including private airports and aircraft leasing companies, raises concerns about the use of the church's tax-exempt status to avoid taxation.' The memo presents what follows as 'tax issues for consideration' (p. 3). Several overview statements, for example that the Copeland household is staffed and maintained at church expense, rest on unnamed informants (Copeland overview p. 9). |
| Churches warned former employees and other informants, through confidentiality agreements and lawyers' letters, that they could be sued if they spoke to Committee staff. | Partly supported | Memo p. 1: 'Some had received warnings from the churches that they would be sued if they violated confidentiality agreements they had signed.' The Copeland overview says employees were contacted by the church's attorneys after the investigation began and 'reminded that they signed a confidentiality agreement'; the White overview says staff 'is aware of at least one former employee who received a letter from WWIC's attorneys'. The informants are unnamed, the agreements and letters are not published, and no ministry response to this statement appears in the documents we hold. No suit against an informant is recorded in the sources searched. |
| Churches are exempt from filing Form 990 and Form 1023, and staff found no Form 990 for the four churches or, with very limited exception, their related organizations. | Supported by the record | Section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) excepts 'churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches'; memo p. 16 adds that section 508(c)(1)(A) excepts churches from the application notice. Memo p. 2: 'With very limited exception, we did not find a Form 990 for any of the churches or their related organizations.' The Copeland overview says the IRS, asked to search for Forms 990 for the church's entities, 'was unable to locate any' (p. 5). The memo notes the integrated-auxiliary exception probably covers some related nonprofits (p. 2). |
| The staff recommended against requiring every church to file Form 990 and asked ECFA to lead a sector discussion; ECFA's 2012 commission later told Congress never to require churches to file. | Supported by the record | Memo p. 32: 'we do not recommend completely eliminating the church exception to the filing requirements, i.e., we do not recommend requiring every church to file a Form 990', citing section 7611 and the 2002 parsonage amendments as signs Congress expects 'minimal interference' from the IRS. Options discussed include an e-postcard, voting members and third-party oversight (pp. 32-33). The staff note that ECFA's 'Christian-centered approach may deter non-Christian churches' (p. 33). The 2012 report says Grassley 'specifically asked ECFA to seek solutions that rely on self-regulation and not on new burdensome legislation' (p. 5) and recommends 'Congress should never pass legislation requiring churches to file Form 990' (p. 31). ECFA is voluntary, applies a statement-of-faith standard and says it is not an auditor (exhibits Exhibit 429, Exhibit 430). |
| The IRS followed the review with an inquiry or examination of any of the six ministries. | Not in the record | No IRS church tax inquiry, examination, revocation or assessment against Copeland, Dollar, Long, White, Hinn or Meyer appears in the memo, the overviews, the Committee's releases or the ECFA report. John Copeland publicly asked the IRS in Dallas in April 2008 to open an inquiry (overview p. 1). The memo cites IRS correspondence to Grassley dated 21 February 2008 on church audits and section 4958 (memo p. 35 n. 119); it is not among the posted documents. The D. Minn. order of 30 January 2009 held that the IRS's Director of Exempt Organizations, Examination, was not an 'appropriate high-level Treasury official' under section 7611(h)(7), and the ECFA report (p. 34) says the IRS had not yet fixed that and cites a Bloomberg BNA report that church inquiries and examinations had stopped. Section 6103(a) makes returns and return information confidential, so a missing public record does not show that no inquiry occurred. |
What the record shows that it leaves out
- The 21 February 2008 IRS correspondence to Grassley on church audits and section 4958 is cited in the memo (p. 35 n. 119) and is not among the documents the Committee posted on 6 January 2011 (grassley.senate.gov release page, attachments list).
- The memo does not mention the 30 January 2009 order in United States v. Living Word Christian Center, which held that the official the IRS had designated for church tax inquiries did not meet section 7611(h)(7), although the memo's section 7611 discussion (pp. 33-35) is dated two years later. The ECFA report cites the case (p. 34). Source: https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/minnesota/mndce/0:2008mc00037/101893/26/0.pdf.
- The 7 July 2008 Committee memorandum states that responses to the letters 'will not be made available until after staff has completed its review'; the 2011 release does not post the ministries' substantive submissions (Hinn's 'nearly 5,000 pages', Meyer's package, White's audited statements, Copeland's 6 December 2007 package). Sources: exhibits Exhibit 442, Exhibit 448.
- The memo does not apply the section 6103(f) route that Copeland's counsel named, and records no request to the IRS for the four churches' related-entity returns beyond a search for Forms 990 (memo p. 2; Copeland overview pp. 1, 5).
- The Copeland overview quotes a 2004 draft letter from the ministry's former attorney, supplied by the Trinity Foundation, saying the ministry 'has taken great precautions to not have the necessity to file 990s and to keep compensation issues confidential' (overview p. 11). The memo's filing discussion (pp. 31-33) does not use it.
- The memo's 'other organizations referred to the Committee' (Scientology, Kabbalah Centres, Catholic and Baptist churches, a mosque, a voodoo church, mail-solicitation ministries) were not contacted; staff read news stories and Forms 990 only (memo pp. 2-3). The inquiry's findings therefore cover six Christian ministries and no other tradition.
Documented efforts and withheld records
Each item is a documented act, with its source: an act against the work, its author or its sources, or the withholding of records on its subject. The list states what was done and does not state why.
- after 5 November 2007 (the overview gives no date). Copeland overview: attorneys for Eagle Mountain International Church / Kenneth Copeland Ministries contacted former employees after the Committee investigation began and reminded them that they had signed confidentiality agreements; several former employees told staff they feared being sued. Senate Finance Committee minority staff overview of EMIC/KCM, p. 2 (informants unnamed)
- 2008 to 2010 (the overview gives no date). White overview: Without Walls International Church requires employees to sign a confidentiality agreement; at least one former employee received a letter from the church's attorneys reminding them of it; several former staff who wanted to talk to staff were afraid of being sued. Senate Finance Committee minority staff overview of Without Walls International Church, p. 1
- 7 July 2008 (Q&A); 6 January 2011 (memo). Committee memo and Q&A: some of the four churches warned informants that they would be sued if they breached confidentiality agreements, some informants were too frightened to speak even anonymously, and former employees received phone calls reminding them of their agreements and threatening suits; staff decided against subpoenaing informants for that reason. Committee memorandum with Background Questions and Answers, 'Whistleblower Intimidation'; staff memo p. 1
- filings of 1996 to 1997; exception undated; aircraft denial 2008. Copeland overview: Eagle Mountain International Church filed the property-tax-exemption list of salaries and board payments with Tarrant County until the church, according to the overview, 'convinced a former Tarrant County appraiser' that it need not; the former appraiser told staff he made that decision. The salary list is no longer public. The church's 2008 aircraft exemption claim was denied for incomplete information and the county settled the suit in March of the year of the overview. Senate Finance Committee minority staff overview of EMIC/KCM, pp. 15-16
- undated (statements completed April 2007). White overview: the consolidated audited financial statements of Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries for 2004 to 2006 were submitted to the Committee and 'at one time' posted on the ministries' websites; the overview says they are 'no longer publicly available'. Senate Finance Committee minority staff overview of Without Walls International Church, p. 2
- 6 December 2007; 5 June 2008. Counsel for World Changers Church International told the Committee the church would not provide information voluntarily and raised a subpoena (letter to Grassley and Baucus on or before 6 December 2007); counsel's later letter of 5 June 2008 recorded the Committee's position on First Amendment rights. Committee memorandum 6 December 2007; Caplin & Drysdale letter 5 June 2008 (exhibits Exhibit 440, Exhibit 450)
- May 2008. The Alliance Defense Fund organized a May 2008 meeting with Grassley attended by representatives of the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and National Religious Broadcasters; staff report the group raised concerns including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and describe 'a very high level of distrust' between churches and the government. Staff memo, Appendix C(1), p. 10
Published responses
- Eagle Mountain International Church / Kenneth Copeland Ministries: Counsel's 6 December 2007 submission declined the detailed accounting on 'privacy and confidentiality concerns' and named the IRS church tax inquiry and section 6103(f) as the route. In April 2008 John Copeland asked the IRS office in Dallas, on camera for CBS News, to open an inquiry. The overview quotes his statement that the ministry 'fully complies with all of its legal obligations'.
- World Changers Church International (Creflo and Taffi Dollar), through Caplin & Drysdale: Told the Committee it did not intend to provide information voluntarily and raised a subpoena; counsel Marcus Owens wrote on 5 June 2008 recording the Committee's stated position on the First Amendment; Grassley replied on 2 July 2008.
- Benny Hinn Ministries: Letter of 9 September 2008 stating 'nearly 5,000 pages of production' and listing reforms; the memo commends the reforms and closes the review of Hinn on that basis (memo p. 1).
- Joyce Meyer Ministries: Letter of 10 December 2008 listing audits since 1995, an independent compensation committee since 2005 and a majority-independent board; the ministry joined ECFA in March 2009 (memo p. 1).
- Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA): ECFA's board chair wrote to Grassley on 21 April 2009 opposing any annual filing by churches; after Grassley's 5 January 2011 request ECFA formed a Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations and reported in December 2012.
- Eddie Long, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church: Said he was 'relieved' the inquiry was over and that the church had operated with integrity (Associated Press, 7 January 2011). The AP report says representatives of Copeland, Dollar and the Whites did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
- The Committee and its staff: No correction, retraction or withdrawal of the memo or overviews, and no suit by a ministry against the Committee or its staff, is recorded in the Committee site, the Grassley site, the ECFA report or the press reports searched.
Where it connects
- Ministry as Business: The Committee's own record of six media ministries: who answered, who refused, what the four non-responding churches' related entities, aircraft and parsonages looked like from public records, and the outcome.
- Untaxed and Unaudited: Documents the church exception to Form 990 and Form 1023 under 26 U.S.C. 6033 and 508, the section 7611 limits on IRS inquiries, and the Living Word order that left the IRS without a valid designated official.