Administrative Layers and Cost Ratios

Executive summary

The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates a unique five-layer governance structure — local church, conference, union, division, and General Conference — that draws persistent criticism for high administrative overhead. The General Conference operates on a 2% cap of global tithes, with 2020 expenses cut to $37.9 million from a $50 million budget. The GC Auditing Service alone consumes 6.7% of the GC budget (~$22.6 million/year) for 300 professionals across 45 countries. In North America, 59 confe...