Focusing on layoffs - Focus on the Family at Bene Diction Blogs On

Focusing on layoffs - Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family laid off 46 people a few months ago, went and spent $539,000 in cash and another $83,000 in none monetary support for California’s Proposition 8. That political contribution would pay the salary 19 people for a year. Donations are the primary revenue for FotF, making up 96% of their revenue.

I’ve never been shy about my contempt for this company, over 1/2 million dollars on a political campaign is warped stewardship. I would assume donors would have specified they wanted their money going to the proposition campaigns, however, I’m not clear, it may have come out of the general budget. If that’s true, people would have given money to strip others of their rights.

If they need to shut the Canadian operation down, I’ll help them pack.
Like any company the layoffs will have an impact in the wider community - food banks, tax rolls, health care, homelessness, churches.

I suspect they’ll lose a few upper management to stress, because more pink slips will be coming down as supporters lose their discretionary spending.
There are 53 jobs that are ‘vacant’, 149 being phased out over Christmas to February.

These losses and 46 layoffs announced by the ministry in October will bring its staff size to about 950, down from about 1,200 last year, said Focus chief operating officer Glenn Williams.

“These are not just numbers for us but friends and colleagues,” Williams said.

The 32-year-old Christian ministry founded by psychologist James Dobson provides family-rearing advice and public-policy guidance to a worldwide audience via radio programming, telephone, website, magazines and other publications.

Focus on the Family’s Oct.1-Sept. 30, 2009, budget is $138 million, compared with $160 million for fiscal year 2008, when the ministry received record donations — its prime revenue generator.

Donations were down in October, and expenses have been climbing, said Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger.

“Economic realities absolutely played a major role,” Schneeberger said. “People still crave and appreciate the things we do to help families thrive.”

This is the third year in a row there have been layoffs, at it’s peak the company employed 1500 people. There have been prior layoffs and budget shortfalls in the past, but there hasn’t been this level of public interest.

Oh.
FotF has started their ‘war on Christmas.’

via: Culture Choc

When God desires to destroy a thing, he entrusts its destruction to the thing itself. Every bad institution of this world ends by suicide. Victor Hugo

Published 1 month, 3 weeks ago

4 Responses to “Focusing on layoffs - Focus on the Family”

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1 Monk-in-Training on Nov 18th, 2008 at 3:21 am

One wonders if the culture warriors are beginning to loose relevance, as the children they sent to Christian schools actually read the Gospels and found a Christ there they did not see in the political organizations of their parents.
2 Torontonian on Nov 18th, 2008 at 5:16 am

I’ve said for a long time that many of these
organisations seem to focus more on money
than ministry.

Moreover, they are a world closed in on themselves.
Their children must wonder about the contradictions
of their own education and those of their neighbours.
The young people must wonder why they are so
“different” and that they shouldn’t consort with
the rest of the neighbourhood kids. The element of
“otherness” among young people can be devastating.

Moreover, there is the inernet and the larger electronic
community which the adults have a harder time grasping
and using effectively.

There’s nothing wrong with social change, but it shouldn’t
be forced on those who don’t want it and churches should
lead by setting the example of encouraging independent
thought rather than slavish conformity to one person’s
limited view imposed on the community.

What happens to Focus on the Family is symptomatic
of a greater turning away from mega churches and
a return to smaller communities where individuals matter
more than the size of their plate offerings.

Threre is a religious broadcaster near me and it is
having a difficult time filling its broadcast day and it
often has to resort to repeat programs and self-produced
programs and mindless family programming that should
have been erased long ago.

Stick to your knitting and do it well. Diversify at your
peril. Learn to respect the differences of others and
learn from them also.
3 Bene D on Nov 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am

Indeed. Dan Gilgoff’s The Jesus Machine is an interesting read.

Dobson lost his way a long time ago, power, influence and his upbringing along with the quirks of his will and personality all contributed to him veering off whatever track he was supposed to have been on.

I don’t think most people who worked for FotF grasped the harm they’ve done, I doubt many ever will. I think they believe with every fiber of their being they were doing God’s work. How sad and how frightening.

What option do they have? To begin to understand the world outside their bubble is a disconnect many will not and cannot face.

I hope some find their way and stop trying to make God fit.
He’s too big and too loving and too merciful.

I hope the US and the rest of us get to catch our breath if even for a moment in time from the relentless onslaught of the machine they contributed to.

Mega churches and media ‘ministries’ are going to go down in this economic upheavel and none too soon.

Welcome to our boat.:^)