It shows Freedom Forum gave a combined $25,000 that year to a Florida non-profit, Babies Up For Adoption Agency Inc., owned by the wife of foundation founder Al Neuharth (left). Freedom Forum gave another $40,700 to the agency through the end of 2007. The gifts were among hundreds of grants from 2000-2007 to non-profits that seem to share little in common with the foundation's mission.The adoption agency is now called Home At Last International. Click on the image for a bigger view:
Overby gets the buyline
Freedom Forum's other noteworthy gifts from 2000-2007 included at least $5 million to establish a journalism center at the University of Mississippi, public documents show. But the center does not honor Gannett, which was the source of Freedom Forum's wealth -- or even the foundation itself. It was named for the foundation’s chairman and CEO, Charles Overby, an Ole Miss grad, and long-time Neuharth aide.
It must be nice for Overby to realize that he has a building named for him at Ole Miss but that he didn't even have the decency to come up with the funds on his own. Nothing like largess-by-proxy.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think that directing funds to the wife's charity could be a sweet way of washing a little ready cash (especially considering how it gets doled out in small chunks -- just enough to pay, say, the cleaning help). OTOH, this sum of money isn't even folding change to Neuharth.
ReplyDeleteOMFG! "Overby Center"?
ReplyDeleteJim, you just earned my Q1 subscription donation, plus another $5. I'll support this kind of investigative work as long as I remain employed. Nice job!
Did anyone else pull up the 990s for the adoption agency? Interesting. Very interesting.
ReplyDelete