The way a cult organises itself isn't unlike a business. Often, there is a business front to a cult, whether they are selling a product, service, or their lifestyle brand. "Common symbols, common culture, common vocabulary, common rituals, and a common hero icon. Am I talking about a cult or a brand? I’m talking about all of them," said Prince Ghuman, a researcher and professor of neuro-marketing at Hult International Business School to Refinery29.
Cults can't just survive on good feelings alone. After all, all organisations need a way to sustain themselves. So how do cults make money? Unsurprisingly, no two cults are exactly the same, though there are some persisting organisational structures prevalent throughout cults as a whole. Some cults subsist on donations from their followers, several institute membership fees, and others start businesses of their own. Frequently, it is a combination of some or all of these approaches.
How they choose to spend their money is another thing entirely. Cult leaders such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Herbert W. Armstrong spent the money on dozens of Rolls Royces and private jets. Others keep their overhead low, like The Brethren who have been given the name "The Garbage Eaters" for their practice of "freeganism" – a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan" – which involves collecting discarded food to eat. The money they can make is no joke though: The Rajneeshees, brought back into the cultural zeitgeist with Netflix's multipart documentary, Wild Wild Country, brought in an estimated $130 million to their ranch in central Oregon between 1981 and 1985.
Ahead, we break down cults into three common business models to better understand how they can afford to disseminate their lifestyle and message, whatever it might be. Read on to find out just a few of the ways that cults keep the commune lights on.
A classic business model is providing a product or service, an easy way for cults to cement their staying power, exercise influence, and recruit more followers.
The Rajneeshees took advantage of this model, but instead of a product, they sold their lifestyle and the idea of "spiritual healing." One of their largest revenue streams – diversified by consistent income from followers selling their possessions to support the ranch – was from their annual World Festival which charged for admission, accommodation, and classes, not to mention souvenirs. These classes, which ranged from beginning courses to movement therapy and rebalancing, cost anywhere from $2,100 to $7,500. Their 1984 World Festival had an estimated 15,000 attendees. Suddenly, how the Bhagwan could afford 90 or more Rolls Royces starts to make a lot more sense.
The Worldwide Church of God, founded by former ad man Herbert W. Armstrong, used a mandatory donation of 30% of its followers income to start a media powerhouse. Armstrong ran an international radio, TV network, and publishing business all promulgating the strict, conservative views of the movement in order to bring in more members. The various outlets would discuss topics such as prophecy, the apocalypse, and the paradox of progress and evil.
For many cults, their revenue streams are kept overflowing through the use of subscriptions and memberships. In business terms, it is similar to a multi-level marketing scheme: each level comes with its own rewards, each more enticing than the one before, but you must spend money or complete certain courses in order to get to the next level.
In the case of NXIVM, under the guidance of Keith Raniere, his organisation began offering self-help workshops out of Albany, NY in 1998 under the name Executive Success Programs. People came from around the world to take these classes which promised to help them become the best version of themselves. Their intensive, multi-day workshops allegedly cost up to £5,500, according to Rolling Stone. As followers become more involved, they are encouraged to cut ties with their friends and families on the outside, becoming increasingly isolated, believing the members of NXIVM are the only people they can trust.
Perhaps one of NXIVMs most loyal, and certainly highest spending, members is multi-millionaire heiress, Clare Bronfman who allegedly lavished an astounding $65 million on Raniere and his following over the course of 20 years. In her eyes, nothing was too good for Raniere including money for private jets, meetings with the Dalai Lama, and a private island in Fiji for retreats.
What devoted followers and occasional enthusiasts didn't know was that at the highest and most committed levels of NXIVM was an elite "sorority" of women who were forcibly branded and coerced into being sex slaves to Raniere, or so the recent lawsuits that have Raniere and his associates awaiting trial for identity theft, extortion, forced labor, sex trafficking, money laundering, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice would allege.
One day, you are going about your life as an independently thinking person. The next, you are selling off everything you own and donating the money to a cult. It may not happen that fast, but cults have thrived for decades off followers and the concept of "brand loyalty."
Followers of Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church were indoctrinated through subtle brainwashing into leaving their lives, possessions, and families under the belief that the cult was their true family and a third World War as imminent.
"Before we talk about loyalty and cults, we first have to understand how human empathy works. Human connection is based on empathy, and empathy doesn’t quite scale. We are social creatures. Oxytocin is what gets social bonding going. The more you love your tribe, in this case a cult, the more oxytocin is released," explained Ghuman. "The more oxytocin is released, what’s kind of crazy is, the more you hate the other group. How this plays out with empathy and social groups as far as cults, people see the cult as an extension of themselves. You have a massive sense of identity attached."
The Rajneeshees also fall into this category in addition to providing a product. Many followers of the Bhagwan, known sannyasins, were all-too-willing to selling everything they owned in the name of supporting the ranch. This likely came after followers were already committed to the movement after taking a class or attending the World Festival. Once brand loyalty is established, the movement becomes inextricably tied to the person's perception of their identity. This steady inflow of cash was then strategically channeled through the Rajneesh Investment Corp. From there the money was invested in buying property, publishing books and videos, and funding restaurants and nightclubs. The return on their investments soared due to their largely "voluntary" workforce. Followers not only donated their personal finances, but their time as well.
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