Elevation Church collects over $100M in tithes, offerings in 2023 as attendance soars

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Elevation Church leader Steven Furtick delivers a sermon to congregants. | Screengrab/YouTube/Elevation Church

Pastor Steven Furtick’s multi-campus Elevation Church, headquartered in North Carolina, collected more than $108 million in tithes and offerings in 2023, as in-person church attendance soared to more than 17,000 worshipers weekly with three new campuses, according to the megachurch’s 2023 annual report.

The church, which withdrew its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention last summer, after more than 20 years of cooperation with the nation's largest Protestant denomination, reported a 21% year over year increase in in-person church attendance and hundreds of thousands more from the U.S. and around the world tuning in online via the church’s website or social media such as YouTube.

Elevation Church noted that they added permanent church campuses in Belmont, North Carolina, and Orlando, Florida, as well as a second campus in Toronto, Canada. At the end of 2021, Elevation Church reported that they had 19 physical locations spread across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Eight of those locations were reported as owned by the church, while 11 of the locations are leased.

The church’s 2023 annual report shows that $108.4 million in tithes and offerings was collected. A sum of $97.28 million was reported as tithes and offerings, while an additional $11.12 million was reported in what the church calls a year-end offering, which is an offering worshipers are challenged to give “above and beyond the tithe,” according to an explanation shared by the church on their Facebook page.

“We end every year with an appreciation for what God has done and expectations for what He’s going to do. Our year-end offering season is a tradition for our church,” Elevation officials explained. “If you’re tithing, this is an offering above and beyond the tithe. Or maybe this is the season when you take the step to begin giving.”

Combined revenue from tithes and offerings plus year-end offering in 2023 was $3,774,459 more than the $104,625,541 collected by the church in 2022, according to audited financial statements released by the church for that year. This report showed that in 2022, Elevation Church also received more than $14 million in additional financial donations that were restricted or given to the church for a specific purpose. Some $12,918,224 of that amount was collected as tithes and offerings, while an additional $1,349,213 came from year-end offerings.

According to FOARD accounting, which conducted the 2022 audits, Elevation Church, which was incorporated in June 2005, also operates two not-for-profit limited liability subsidiaries that were organized in 2019 in North Carolina. One is known as EC Winston LLC, while the other is Million Little Miracles, LLC. Elevation Church also owns a for-profit company called EC Property Corp.

In 2022, Elevation Church advanced $3,163,465 to ECW. The subsidiary then used those funds to buy a building that was owned by the Winston Salem YWCA. A portion of the building is currently used as the permanent location for the church’s Winston Salem campus while the YWCA is now a long-term tenant of the church.

Million Little Miracles was formed to allow licensed church staff to serve as the general contractor on internal construction projects with a budget of $500,000 or less. Elevation Church advanced $500,000 to the company in 2022 to meet the state of North Carolina licensing requirements, according to FOARD.

In 2022, Elevation Church invested $1,500,000 for 1,000 shares of the common stock of EC Property Corp. The church also advanced an additional $1,000,000 for operating cash needs. The company, in turn, invested $1,500,000 for a 50% ownership stake in Concord Retail Investment Group, LLC, which is a joint venture between ECP and MPV Properties LLC. The group invested $3,000,000 to purchase a shopping center in downtown Concord, North Carolina, the 2022 auditor’s report said.

Much of Elevation Church’s popularity is connected to the church’s Elevation Worship Records which produces songs written by Furtick and staff members of the music ministry. It was unclear how much income this ministry generates, but more than 2 billion streams of the ministry’s music were made across all platforms in 2023 and 179,887 people bought tickets to attend in person concerts across the country.

About a week ago, just before sharing his sermon at the church, Furtick highlighted how important Elevation Worship has been to the church’s ministry as he promoted their latest album, When Wind Meets Fire.

“It is an amazing church to be a part of that releases songs into the world. Have you thought about the fact that the songs we release from this place might end up helping somebody in the most difficult season of their life? Maybe a year from now, maybe in several years, they'll need those words at just the right time. That is what I love about Elevation Church,” he said.

“Our partnership in the Gospel enables us to take our ministry places we may never physically go, but the Word of God goes. And when God sends His Word, healing always follows. So, we do pray that these songs, the new album. … I'm not so much doing a promotion … just making sure you are aware that you can worship God anywhere,” he added.

According to FOARD, if Furtick were to be removed as leader of the church, donations would likely suffer, at least in the short term.

“Contributions could be impacted, especially in the short-term, if the Church’s leadership were unable to perform their duties,” the 2022 report said.