Monday, February 25, 2013

By the numbers | Freedom Forum diversity cuts

The financially troubled Freedom Forum foundation has canceled its Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, an annual event meant to encourage Native Americans to enter journalism. Jack Marsh, president of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, told the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.: "The responsible thing to do was not to proceed since we couldn’t balance our budget."

He continued: "Fundraising is a challenge, and it’s a fairly expensive workshop to put on because we covered all the expenses for the students and most of their teachers who serve as chaperones. We looked at ways we could reduce our costs, which we had planned to do, but we just couldn’t raise enough money to cover the full costs."

The Washington-based non-profit is the original Gannett Foundation. Budget woes have grown dramatically as spending surged in recent years for its Newseum, a museum about news history that recently laid off staff again.

Key numbers on spending for the Crazy Horse workshop, and on Freedom Forum executive compensation in 2011, the most recent year available:

$35,000
total cost for workshop


$525,000
wages and benefits for foundation founder Al Neuharth


$1.6 million
wages and benefits for foundation CEO James Duff

7 comments:

  1. It is difficult to find words too mean to describe Al Neuharth.

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  2. Richard Prince got good details. Jack Marsh is going be allowed to retire early next year.

    http://mije.org/richardprince/constance-white-2nd-essence-editor-out#FreedomForum

    This program and staff did not cost much. At least not compared to the black hole otherwise known as the Nashville office.

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  3. This is a victory for Tribal America. Why would they want to jump into a business dominated by bitters, petulant kiddies, and the like?

    It's 1876 all over again!

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  4. The museum pays for the car he doesn't drive in Flirida but they can't fund this long time program? These guys are in big trouble. Don't forget Al is from South Dakota. This was a pet program.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Al could easily write a check for the whole thing. Tax writeoff, good PR. And yet . . .

      As Billie Holiday once sang:

      Them that's got shall get
      Them that's not shall lose
      So the Bible said and it still is news

      Delete
  5. You can be that when Big Al passes on, every penny will go to his multiple children. He already took care of his loyalists with high paying Freedom Forum jobs and most have retired or will retire in the next year or two. Newseum is hubris. It will not be around in any meaningful way in a decade.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 5:17, you're giving it a decade? How about before the end of the year?

    ReplyDelete

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