The Church of Scientology has sent its followers a survey asking for feedback on their international events hosted by David Miscavige, amid falling attendance numbers and rising speculation their overall membership is dwindling. Is this a sign we’re about to see change?
The short answer is no. Surveys are often carried out after Scientology’s big international events that result in only minor tweaks to the way they are run.. and although something feels different about this particular survey, it is unlikely we are about to see a complete overhaul in Scientology’s events strategy. However, the questions alone paint a picture of what’s going on inside the bubble and suggests falling statistics are becoming a concern for senior executives.
For context, huge galas and fancy charity concerts are the brainchild of Captain David Miscavige, who took control after the death of L. Ron Hubbard in 1986. They quickly became an important part of Scientology’s global propaganda machine and continue to serve as an integral fundraising strategy for the struggling Church.
Although the Mormon Church has an estimated net worth of $265 billion USD, divide that by the number of parishioners (an estimated 17.25 million as of 2023) and you get a per capita net worth of around $15,326.
10 years ago, Jeffrey Augustine of The Scientology Money Project estimated Scientology’s book value to be around $1.75 billion ($2.35 billion in today’s money, adjusted for inflation). Although their membership numbers are not published, it is widely accepted there are in the region of 25-30,000 active Scientologists in the world who regularly participate in Scientology courses and auditing. That gives Scientology a net worth of $78,333 per parishioner – making it more than 5 times wealthier than the LDS Church (per capita).
As well as paying for auditing and materials, Scientologists are expected to donate to a variety of programs throughout the course of the year. First, there’s the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) which forms the official membership organisation of the Church and requires an annual donation of $250 or $5,000 for a one-off lifetime subscription. In addition to membership fees, the IAS has a tiered donation scheme, with parishioners receiving certificates, awards and trophies according to the value of their lifetime contributions. Donating $1.25 million earns you the title “Gold Meritorious with Honours”, with a number of other titles leading up to “Platinum Patron of Legend with Honors”, which is held by Kennedy Center board member Trish Duggan and family, who have donated more than $360 million to the IAS, according to journalist Tony Ortega.
Then there’s the Ideal Org Program, a real estate scheme through which Scientology purchases 30,000 square ft+ historic buildings in major cities and refurbishes them into lavish Churches known as ‘Ideal Orgs’. These buildings often cost tens of millions of dollars, with several million more being spent on renovations. Donations also come with titles and awards similar to the IAS, with lists published frequently by each city to celebrate the top donors.
Events themselves also provide an opportunity to raise funds, with ticket sales for the annual IAS Patron’s Ball alone generating an estimated $1.25 million. The luxury gala dinner takes place during a weekend of activities Scientology host every October at their UK headquarters near East Grinstead known as the IAS event.
Historically, these events have involved lengthy speeches from leader David Miscavige followed by high pressure sales tactics known as ‘regging’. As a result, they play a central role in Scientology’s fundraising strategy and so with dwindling attendance it’s no surprise management have issued an international survey to establish ways to improve their events.
Questions asked include “What, if anything, could be done to help you invite more people to International Scientology events?” and “When there is an international event in your Org, on what day would you like to have the event?”
We asked Mark Fisher, who previously worked alongside David Miscavige as his assistant, what he thought of the survey. “They want to find out what is going on as to why they’re having low attendance at the International events.” However, he notes “just because they’re surveying it doesn’t mean that they will make any changes.”
“I would imagine the number one reason why people don’t go to the events is because of all of the attempts to registrar the people for donations and take all their money. But I doubt active Scientologists are going to say that for fear of ending up with the ethics officer. This seems like the type of survey that gets done, but when the actual results are shown to Miscavige he will reject them and throw a huge tantrum.”
Katherine Olson, who worked in upper management and has first-hand experience collecting and analysing data sent in from Scientology Orgs around the world, told us “they are definitely trying to get more people to attend. This is a constant headache for management – getting all of the public to attend. They compare attendance figures to the numbers of ‘active Scientologists’ in their Central Filing system and there is always a huge gap which is always a problem for management and people are always in trouble over it because ‘COB goes to so much trouble to make the events and all management has to do is to get the public to attend.'” COB referring to Miscavige, whose official title is ‘Chairman Of the Board, Religious Technology Center’.
And so, although it is unlikely we will see any major changes to Scientology’s international events program, this survey alone hints at the internal struggles to boost audience numbers amid growing criticism of the group that refers to themselves as ‘the fastest growing religion on planet Earth’.
The next international event we can expect will be a celebration of the March 13th birthday of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who died 39 years ago. Traditionally this event is held at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida which has a seated capacity of 2,180, and was attended last year by Elisabeth Moss and John Travolta. We can also expect a significant amount of fanfare in the Spring – May 9th will be the 75th anniversary of the publication of Dianetics. But whether these events will attract a full house remains to be seen.
