Which family does Gannett's foundation favor?

[James Dobson: founder, Focus on the Family]

This is a story about the politics of religion, a church soup kitchen, a former Gannett chief financial officer -- and another set of grants that seem far from the Gannett Foundation's mission: helping communities where the company does business.

First, the rules. The foundation's guidelines for the general public and for average employees are clear: They discourage giving to non-profit groups that mostly promote religion, or that push partisan politics. For the public, and for average employees using the GannettMatch program, that means no "political action or legislative advocacy groups." No wiggle room there.

On religion, the guidelines for the public ban programs or initiatives "where the primary purpose is the promotion of religious doctrine or tenets." Average employees get a little more leeway: "Gifts to sectarian organizations may be matched at the Foundation's discretion, if the organization uses the funds primarily to benefit the community. For example, gifts to a church soup kitchen that serves the general public will be considered for matching, while gifts to a church building fund will not."

Now, consider the following donations, disclosed in the foundation's public tax returns -- and then see why even small amounts still count.

• $1,200 to Focus on the Family of Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2000. Conservative evangelical minister James Dobson founded it in 1977. And he's about as apolitical as the former presidential candidate, Rev. Al Sharpton of New York. These days, for example, the influential Dobson is fighting to keep Sen. John McCain from reaching the White House. On Friday, the Denver Post wrote that Dobson "still stands by a statement that he would not vote for McCain under any circumstances. Dobson, who has said he was speaking on behalf of himself, not his Colorado Springs ministry, is upset that McCain, among other things, did not support a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and has backed embryonic-stem-cell research."
• A combined $3,200 to The Family Foundation in Richmond, Va., in 2004-2006. On its website, the group says, its goals at the Virginia state capitol are to "advocate pro-family issues in the General Assembly. Strategize with elected officials. Testify in legislative committee meetings. Produce issue briefs and policy papers. Host pro-family lobby day at the state capitol." Also, the Family Foundation's short list of "partners" includes Dobson's Focus on the Family, and its affiliate, Dobson's Family Research Council.

I'll anticipate my critics: The Gannett Foundation donates millions annually -- $9.2 million in 2006 alone, according to its tax return. This is just $4,400; who cares? Well, I've now heard from what appear to be two different groups of Gannett employees who say they've failed to persuade the company's charitable arm to support critically ill co-workers. "The Gannett Foundation won't let employees who are being paid less annually than Craig Dubow makes weekly pool their donations to make a matching-gift contribution to the American Cancer Society to honor a co-worker who is fighting cancer,'' one reader told me. "The foundation's response: Pooled donations are not allowed under our rules."

Dobson's ministry and the Virginia group say they're non-profits under Internal Revenue Service guidelines, so they meet one key foundation eligibility test. Still, why would the foundation make these $4,400 in donations, when it apparently won't bend its rules to help ill employees in Gannett communities -- places making the foundation's giving possible in the first place?

The foundation's tax returns don't explain the Dobson donation (pictured, above, in a detail from the document). The $3,200 to The Family Foundation, however, came at the direction of retired Gannett Chief Financial Officer Larry Miller, the returns show, under a special benefit available only to the company's highest-paid insiders.

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