Chutzpah redefined: A Newseum fundraising appeal

Following the news that Freedom Forum paid retired CEO Charles "Peanut" Overby $987,000 last year -- an average of $2,700 a day -- you'd think the non-profit's money-losing museum about news history would be reluctant to hit up potential donors for contributions.

But that's just what the Newseum is doing in a fundraising letter begging for gifts for the Chips Quinn Scholars program.

Retired Gannett editorial director John Quinn started the program when Freedom Forum was still known as the original Gannett Foundation to honor his late son Chips; it encourages minority students to enter journalism.

One thing's clear: Alongside Overby's compensation, the program's per-student cost -- about $2,500 -- is a bargain.

Pop Quiz | Gannett Foundation exec gifts 2012!

Illustrations hint at charities favored by top execs. See quiz, below.

Right in time for Thanksgiving, I've just obtained a copy of the Gannett Foundation's 2012 IRS tax return, the annual report that reveals the highs and lows of the company's philanthropic arm.

For Gannett Blog virgins, the foundation has a history of curious (ahem) contributions made to non-profit groups at the behest of current and retired executives. Their employee benefits include the right to earmark up to $15,000 annually for any of their favorite charities. But they're not required to pony up any of their own money to exercise that benefit. That's different than the employee GannettMatch program for all the little people, who must first make a contribution before the foundation will match it to a maximum $10,000 per year.

All the rest of the foundation's grants go to non-profits in communities where the nation's top newspaper publisher does business. As with many companies, that makes the foundation an extension of Gannett's public relations operation. (Indeed, the foundation's executive director is Debra Goetz, the company's vice president of marketing, according to the IRS return.)

Here's the fine print
The IRS tax returns are public documents under federal open-records laws. They're the most detailed reports charitable foundations must make public every year. For the Gannett Foundation, the documents only disclose names of executives under their special program. The returns don't identify individual employees using GannettMatch. (Read and download a free 116-page copy of the 2012 return.)

Payne

The exec-driven contributions open a rare window on their philanthropic priorities: for example, how closely they favor personal interests such as their alma maters (hi, retired CEO Doug McCorkindale!) or their dedication to actual journalism (Chief Digital Officer David Payne!).

This spreadsheet lists 43 contributions earmarked last year by 15 top executives totaling $215,000. (Chief Financial Officer Victoria Harker directed just $5,000; she came to Gannett only midway through the year.) Click on the "2011" tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet to see a list of the previous year's gifts.

Now for that pop quiz
Which executives chose which non-profits?

1. Center for Reproductive Rights: $1,000. (I sure didn't see this one coming: "Our groundbreaking cases before national courts, United Nations committees, and regional human rights bodies have expanded access to reproductive health care, including birth control, safe abortion, prenatal and obstetric care, and unbiased information.")
2. University of Texas Foundation for support of the College of Communications' Innovation Fund: $15,000. (Obvious hint: The university's other programs include the Craig A. & Denise W. Dubow Endowed Presidential Scholarship.)
3. Indiana University Clown Science Program: $7,500. ("Licensed clown science practitioners provide humor therapy in a variety of settings.")
4. Glimmerglass Opera: $1,500. (Show tunes! "The company’s mission is to produce new, little-known and familiar operas and works of music theater in innovative productions.")
5. Wellesley College: $10,000. (Longtime readers will say: "Duh!" For everyone else: "Wellesley is known for the thousands of accomplished, thoughtful women it has sent out into the world for over 100 years -- women who are committed to making a difference.")

(Answers are in the comments section, below.)

Earlier: Gannett Foundation gives $1,200 to Focus on the Family, founded by the conservative evangelical minister James Dobson.

This is now, that was then

The Gannett Foundation is actually the organization's second incarnation. The original was renamed Freedom Forum two decades ago when the late Gannett CEO Al Neuharth, facing the prospect of retirement spent riding an adult-sized tricycle in Cocoa Beach, Fla., got other ideas. (Way, way too complicated to explain here. But you can get a flavor of what's happened since then.)

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

As Freedom Forum posted another $48M deficit, non-profit paid retired CEO Overby nearly $1M; new documents disclose a comical money trail

A just-opened Newsroom exhibit tied to a new comedy stretches the free press mission.

Four months ago, Freedom Forum CEO James Duff raised hope for long-needed financial reform at the troubled charitable foundation after years of overspending on construction and sky-high salaries under predecessor Charles "Peanut" Overby, the chief executive for more than two decades.

Duff

There were ample reasons to move quickly. Freedom Forum's money-losing Newseum about news history in Washington had gnawed away at the foundation's crucial income-generating endowment. That spurred deep program cuts -- and an occasionally antic search for more revenue, like the museum's just-opened exhibit promoting Paramount's sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy.

Duff was named CEO two years ago -- only the second in the non-profit's history after Overby eased into retirement (or so it seemed) at age 65. He and Al Neuharth had turned the original Gannett Foundation into a refashioned Freedom Forum when the legendary jet-setting chairman retired from the Gannett Co. media giant in 1989. The move has cost Gannett communities nationwide hundreds of millions in lost charitable support, however.

In July, after another round of job cuts, Duff told the Associated Press: "We’ve certainly worked on tightening up on expenditures. I think we’re making good progress. And certainly our numbers are very, very encouraging."

But now, newly released public documents show foundation finances grew even more precarious last year after Overby got a 55% pay raise and Neuharth's compensation hit a record high, jaw-dropping expenditures even for Freedom Forum.

For the seventh consecutive year, Freedom Forum racked up another, enormous deficit: $48 million, according to its annual Internal Revenue Service tax return. Total overspending has now reached $410 million during 2006-2012 alone, the period when the museum moved to new quarters costing nearly twice initial estimates.

By the end of last year, the endowment's value dropped to $351 million, a record low, according to an examination of hundreds of pages of tax returns. In 2000, before the museum buildup, it topped $914 million -- $1.2 billion in today's dollars.

Overby

A contributing factor comes as a surprise. Although Overby ostensibly retired in 2011, the foundation paid him $987,000 in 2012 as chairman of the namesake Overby Center for Southern Journalism & Politics at his Ole Miss University alma mater -- a position previously undisclosed in tax returns. Last year's pay was way up from $638,000 in 2011.

Overby's pay, which included $480,000 in deferred retirement benefits and a $207,000 expense account, was his third highest on record, exceeded only in 2005, when the foundation paid him $1.3 million, and just barely in 2008, when he got $991,000, according to tax returns.

By contrast, the Knight journalism foundation's highest-paid employee in 2012 was CEO Alberto Ibarguen, who got $742,000. With $2.1 billion in assets, Knight is three times bigger than Freedom Forum, even when real estate is included. The Miami-based charity donated $25 million to help open the museum's new home. Ibarguen is a former museum trustee. Knight is now represented on the board by former Gannett executive Michael Maness.

Overby's total: $9.2M
Last year, Overby was once more Freedom Forum's highest-paid employee, bringing to $9.2 million his total compensation since 2000, tax returns show. But he certainly wasn't the only Freedom Forum employee pulling down big bucks in 2012:

Neuharth was paid $602,000 as founder, the most he's ever received in a single year. It included a record $303,000 expense account. Neuharth died last spring at age 89.

Ken Paulson, former CEO of the foundation's First Amendment Center, also got $602,000 -- a record for him, too. That included a $367,000 salary plus $186,000 for his retirement account. In July, he became dean at the College of Mass Communications at Middle Tennessee State University. A former top USA Today editor, Paulson had once been a sure bet to replace Overby.

Finally, Duff earned $514,000, most of which was his $445,000 salary. To be sure, that was far less than in 2011, when he got $1.6 million, almost entirely in deferred retirement pay.

Those fat paydays were followed by another round of cost-cutting early this year. Duff slashed dozens of foundation and museum jobs, sources told me, hitting the First Amendment Center and Diversity Institute in Nashville especially hard. Freedom Forum also canceled the Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, an annual event encouraging young Native Americans to enter the profession.

Whether Duff has made more progress stabilizing the foundation this year likely won't become clear until late 2014, when the foundation files its next tax return. I obtained a copy of the most recent one on Friday under open records law. They're the only comprehensive source of financial information non-profits are required to make public.

Neuharth

Neuharth's compensation and duties remain a mystery. Freedom Forum has repeatedly refused to detail his job responsibilities whenever I've asked. The tax return only says the late octogenarian media mogul averaged 40 hours a week in his role as founder -- an average $289 an hour.

His $303,000 expense account suggests he traveled a lot, two years after double knee replacement surgery left him riding an adult-sized tricycle near his seaside estate in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He died in April after sustaining injuries following a fall at home.

His 12-page will signed in 2009 included detailed plans for three memorial services, but no bequests to Freedom Forum or the museum. However, he did order their names chiseled on his headstone. And the Neuharth family is listed among donors of $100,000 or more to the museum.

Meet the boss: his daughter
Freedom Forum's latest deficit came during Neuharth daughter Jan Neuharth's first full year chairing the 11-member board of trustees. She replaced Overby. The foundation paid her $50,000 last year.

Jan Neuharth

There is considerable overlap between Freedom Forum's trustees and the museum's, which is a legally separate entity. Many are long-time close associates of Al Neuharth.

Duff is on both boards. So is Neuharth's Cocoa Beach attorney, Malcolm Kirschenbaum, and the former Gannett newspaper publisher Mike Coleman. One of the more high-profile trustees is PBS NewsHour co-anchor Judy Woodruff.

Over the years, Freedom Forum and the museum have become a popular way station to retirement for many other top Gannett executives, including Peter Prichard, chairman of the museum board and another editor of the paper Neuharth founded, USA Today. As a Freedom Forum trustee, Prichard was paid $44,000 last year.

That the foundation and museum have been run by former newspaper editors, rather than trained professionals with experience in the field, suggests a major reason why both entities have become such financial boondoggles.

Duff, 60, is an attorney who came to his job without any discernible experience in museum or foundation work. He was chief administrator of the sprawling U.S. court system, with 35,000 employees and a $7 billion budget. Before that, he was managing partner of the Washington office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

The office, which did legal work for the foundation, was founded by Howard Baker Jr., former majority leader of the U.S. Senate for Tennessee. Freedom Forum's tax return says he's a trustee and secretary, but the foundation's website says only that he's trustee emeritus. Overby, Paulson and the foundation also have deep Tennessee ties.

Overby lives in upscale Franklin, Tenn., which draws country music stars from nearby Nashville. In addition to his Freedom Forum pay last year, he also earned $200,000 as a director at for-profit prison operator Corrections Corp. of America in Nashville. He's been on the board 12 years, piling up 89,000 CCA shares, mostly options, with a gross value of $3.2 million, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Screenshot from retirement video.

(In court, CCA is at odds with Freedom Forum's free press and free speech mission. It has unsuccessfully opposed Tennessee open-records laws, arguing it shouldn't be required to disclose public documents about lawsuits against the company. CCA is a major government contractor. Overby has contributed $25,000 to its political action committee since 2009, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.)

From Franklin, it's a four-hour drive to the Ole Miss campus' Overby journalism center. The center got its name after Freedom Forum donated $5 million to the school, one of a slew of eyebrow-raising grants. It's unclear whether it will continue paying him a six-figure salary as the center's chairman. On his retirement as foundation CEO, the university hosted a testimonial dinner that included a breathtakingly hagiographic video called Charles Overby: A Journey of Courage. It describes the $450 million museum as his "bold idea."

$27 million for museum
Whatever Duff accomplishes in belt-tightening, he won't immediately escape Freedom Forum's biggest ongoing obligation: the museum, which had 374 employees and a $68 million budget last year. The foundation gave the museum $27 million vs. $30 million in 2011. Freedom Forum's total 2012 spending last year was $56 million vs. $55 million. It generated only $8 million in revenue, producing the enormous deficit. The largest operating expenditures were employee pensions, salaries and wages.

The museum has fought for a Washington audience where many must-see attractions are free. It charges $22 for adults, although tickets are sometimes discounted. Admission revenue has barely budged since it opened in 2008. Last year's $7 million was virtually unchanged from 2011.

Newseum's Washington exterior.

As with many cultural institutions, it derives most of its revenue from contributions, facilities rental and concessions: $13 million in 2012, according to the tax return.

Its collection is eclectic, reflecting the breadth of its First Amendment mission: three-ton chunks of the Berlin Wall, newspaper comics and cartoons, and perhaps its most visible exhibit, an online collection of newspaper front pages from around the world.

But as the news industry grows more diffuse in the Twitter age, the museum has stretched the bounds of what might advance the foundation's free press ideals. The newest display -- Anchorman: The Exhibit -- is as much a promotion for Paramount's latest comedy as it is about journalism. The museum says the exhibit explores sexism in 1970s newsrooms. Its perhaps unintentionally arch Twitter hashtag: #stayclassynewseum.

Presley got star treatment in 2010.

The exhibit includes props, costumes and footage from 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, starring Will Ferrell. Organized with Paramount, it opened Thursday, ahead of Dec. 20's debut of the sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The foundation's website features a trailer for the movie. Paramount didn't make any payments to the museum, according to The New York Times.

To be sure, the exhibit isn't the first devoted to an entertainer; in 2010 the subject was Tennessee's adopted son, Elvis Presley.

A $650 million start
Neuharth, after retiring as Gannett's controversial CEO and chairman, held onto the company's philanthropic arm and installed Overby as chief executive. Founder Frank E. Gannett originally established the Gannett Foundation in 1935 for the benefit of Red Cross chapters and other needy causes in communities where the newspaper publisher did business.

Frank Gannett

Neuharth pressured Gannett to buy back $650 million in company stock that was the entirety of the foundation's endowment, then gave it a new name and mission, transforming it into a global journalism charity.

But in 2000, he and Overby shifted gears, focusing the foundation's money on one project: the museum. A promoter of the First Amendment, the museum also was to be a lasting physical legacy of Neuharth's life and career. Housed in a mammoth 643,000-square foot complex on a $100 million Pennsylvania Avenue parcel in Washington, it also is home to Freedom Forum's headquarters.

Opened years late for a whopping $450 million -- nearly twice initial estimates -- the museum now accounts for virtually all the foundation's annual gifts to non-profits. It wasn't Freedom Forum's first experience with runaway construction spending, however.

In 1994, Overby negotiated a 17-page settlement with New York's attorney general when the foundation was still incorporated in New York. Overby and Neuharth agreed to curtail what the attorney general called excessive spending on Freedom Forum's first headquarters, such as a $40,000 desk for Neuharth's office. Its provisions effectively remained in force only three years, however.

Neuharth and the other trustees paid $175,000 in restitution to the foundation. He later called the payments "utter nonsense," made simply to avoid a costly court case, according to Editor & Publisher. "Darts and arrows like this go with the territory for any action-oriented organization," he said.

A "font-tastic" t-shirt.

Under the settlement, Neuharth gave the Gannett Foundation name back to the company, which launched a new one under the same name. It has never returned to its former financial clout. Its most recently released tax return, for 2011, says it made $5.4 million in grants. Administrative overhead totaled only $194,000, however.

Where the original Gannett foundation supported untold numbers of community groups, Freedom Forum is spending down its endowment while the museum's gift shop sells $20 gag t-shirts and bangle bracelets. The foundation's administrative costs hit $28 million last year -- not including another $28 million for the museum.

But what about Elmira?
The museum's website features a by-the-numbers breakdown of its operations, such as the weight in pounds of the artifacts moved in for the 2008 reopening (145,460), the height in feet of the building's tallest point (137) and the number of TV studios (2).

Here are some numbers for last year that didn't get mentioned:

• The museum's operating expenses: $185,850 per day.
• Admissions revenue: $19,672 per day.
• Foundation grants to the U.S. Equestrian Team (Jan Neuharth is a horse enthusiast): $1,000.
• Overby's compensation: $475 per hour.
• Grants to non-profit groups in Elmira, N.Y., where in 1906 Frank Gannett started his company: $0.

Related: Read and download Freedom Forum's 2012 tax return and the Newseum's. Plus: See this spreadsheet showing foundation financial data for 2000-2012. And: Can Ron Burgandy save the Newseum?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Salisbury | Most self-serving story of the week

USA Weekend started the annual volunteer event Make A Difference Day 21 years ago, and if it's had any lasting impact in Salisbury, Md., there are by now dozens of employee groups planning to participate this year on Oct. 26.

So, which of those many employers did The Daily Times spotlight in a story this morning? Why, the Times itself, of course, with a nod to Gannett and the Gannett Foundation, too. The only thing that could have made the 363-word story more blatantly self-serving would be if it included a quote from General Manager Thomas Claybaugh.

Sadder still, this is only the second year the Times has bothered to field a group of volunteers.

But there's a silver lining for other area employers. Now, all year long, when other employee groups volunteer in Salisbury, they can ring up the Times and get the same news coverage, right?

Earlier: CEO Gracia Martore visits nameless orphans in Washington.

How is your site covering the event? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot.com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

Your $450 million in Gannett charity bucks at work

Remember the Newseum, that financial black hole bankrolled with $450 million in onetime Gannett stock in the original Gannett Foundation, earmarked for soup kitchens and other charities where the company does business?

Well, in the latest bid to advance its mission -- "champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment" -- the struggling Washington museum is now pimping for Paramount studio's follow-up to the 2004 comedy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

This is no joke. (Unfortunately.) In a news release today, the museum's highly paid administrators announced they had unveiled the design and props for a new show, "Anchorman: The Exhibit."

In fact, this is actually a follow-up news release to one issued in June, when administrators first announced their plans. I missed that one because I was writing about journalism at the time.

The exhibit will feature props, costumes and footage from the 2004 movie, according to the release, which notes it was "created in partnership" with Paramount. The show will open Nov. 14, "just weeks before the film's highly anticipated sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, hits theaters on Dec. 20."

It's not entirely clear who's doing that high anticipating, other than the studio's publicists, of course.

'Iconic' burgundy suit
So, what in the world does any of this have to do with the First Amendment? To get to that, we must first wade through the following:

"Entering the exhibit, visitors will be greeted by a giant display case featuring the iconic burgundy business suit worn by fictional newscaster Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell. Towering more than eight feet tall, the revolving display will provide a fitting entry point for this one-of-a-kind exhibit. Throughout the exhibit, visitors will see other reminders of Ron's reporting prowess and personal style, including his license plate, which reads "IM #1," three local Emmy awards for excellence in news reporting, his mustache brush, jazz flute and other classic props used in the hit movie. Props from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will be added to the exhibit shortly before the sequel's Dec. 20 release."

I imagine we can look forward to yet another press release when those props are added.

But, really, what's this have to do with the First Amendment?! Turns out, not much:

"The exhibit also will explore the reality behind the film's humor. Local TV news promotional ads from the 1970s will be on display along with photos of popular news teams of the day. Before today's 24/7 news cycle, local TV anchors ruled the airwaves, and the anchor chair was for men only. But dramatic changes hit local TV news in the 1970s when women stepped up to the anchor desk, and news teams took over."

Still, further advancing Paramont's -- err, the First Amendment's interests, the museum helpfully includes on its website the trailer to the new movie.

All in all, makes that Elvis exhibit look downright relevant.

But maybe this new show really is a joke, where administrators are actually making fun of themselves. After all, consider the Twitter hashtag they've created to promote the exhibit: #stayclassynewseum.

Freedom Forum: 'We're making good progress'

Freedom Forum CEO James Duff says the struggling foundation is making headway in shoring up its finances after a fourth round of layoffs earlier this year.

Duff

“We’ve certainly worked on tightening up on expenditures. We certainly are going to be working on additional fundraising initiatives,” Duff told the Associated Press in an interview. “I think we’re making good progress. And certainly our numbers are very, very encouraging.

But Duff and other officials at the non-profit -- which is the original Gannett Foundation -- declined to give details of Freedom Forum's current financial status, referring the AP to its most recent IRS tax return, which only covers 2011.

That return shows Freedom Forum continues to eat into its income-producing endowment to prop up its major beneficiary: the Newseum, a museum about news history in Washington that reopened in new $450 million quarters in 2008, years late and at nearly double its original cost estimate.

“That I would consider a red flag because they are basically using the principal of the endowment, to some degree, to pay for operations,” consultant David Ellis told the AP. Ellis is a past president of the Museum of Science in Boston and of Lafayette College. “To be sustainable, it’s crucial that the draw on the endowment, the amount that is spent . . . needs to be realistic in terms of the endowment maintaining its purchasing power.”

The value of the endowment's portfolio of stocks and other investment plunged to $368 million by the end of 2011 vs. $706 million in 2006, when Freedom Forum started spending more than it earned.

Duff was named chief executive in 2011 to replace longtime chief Charles Overby. As I reported in January, during his first four months on the job, Duff was paid $1.6 million -- extending a pattern of very generous compensation to the foundation's top brass.

Earlier: In death, foundation founder Neuharth really did have it his way.

Big Al | In death, a businessman to the very end

[Neuharth's gravestone, which he erected prior to his death]

Former Gannett Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth, who died April 19 at age 89, will be buried in a public ceremony in his hometown on May 18 at South Dakota's Eureka Cemetery, alongside his parents, brother and sister-in-law.

His gravestone, which he bought and had placed alongside his family's graves, lists as his accomplishments the businesses he founded: USA Today, the Freedom Forum foundation, Florida Today in Brevard and the Newseum in Washington, according to the Aberdeen American News. He poked fun at himself by also engraving "SoDak Sports 1952 (failed 1954)," for his first media venture.

Neuharth was born in Eureka March 24, 1924, the youngest of two brothers.

Arrangements were made with Lien-Straub Funeral Chapel of Eureka.

[Photo: American News]

In Gannett jet use, a perk that's literally priceless

Las Vegas casino kingpin Steve Wynn enjoyed more than a million dollars' worth of personal travel last year on his company's private jet, The New York Times reports today, in its annual survey of executive pay across Corporate America.

Wynn

Wynn may have been one of the heaviest users of that sky-high executive perk, but he was by no means the only one, according to the NYT.

For years, Gannett's top brass also has gotten occasional personal use of the company's aircraft. But its exact dollar value last year wasn't spelled out when the company reported executive pay figures for 2012 in last month's annual proxy report to shareholders.

The aircraft perk is disclosed in a footnote to the "all other compensation" column in the report's summary compensation table. The table breaks down how much the highest-earning executives got in salary, bonuses and other benefits.

Although the footnote details some of the all-other, much is not revealed. For example, CEO Gracia Martore got $117,283. But less than half is spelled out, and most of it is a $31,000 company paid life-insurance premium.

Hidden within $63K?
So, to the extent that Martore used the jet, its value is buried in the more than $63,000 that isn't detailed. Also included in that $63K would be the value of her company car, plus supplemental medical coverage, and legal and financial advice.

Her total 2012 pay, including an increase in the value of her pension account: $8.5 million.

Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. newspaper division, got $125,612 in all-other compensation. But, like Martore, nearly $63,000 went unexplained in the proxy report. His total 2012 pay: $3.8 million.

Across corporations, executive perks draw shareholder fire when they appear excessive or come despite poor financial performance of the company itself. For the 100 highest-paid CEOs among American companies with revenue of more than $5 billion, the typical 2012 perks package was worth $320,635, according to an analysis by Equilar for the NYT.

In Gannett's case, Martore has sought to limit some perks in order to project a more egalitarian, everyone-share-the-pain image as the company in recent years held down wage increases and laid off tens of thousands of workers. Soon after she was promoted to CEO in October 2011, she eliminated reserved parking for the top brass in the garage adjoining Corporate's headquarters in McLean, Va.

Starting last year, company cars are no longer provided to new senior executives. And, starting this year, the Gannett Foundation will no longer earmark up to $15,000 in grants to favored charities of newly hired top execs, according to the proxy report.

Urgent: Martore got $3M in stock, $1.6M bonus in 2012, according to new exec compensation report

The figures for CEO Gracia Martore and Gannett's other highest-paid executives last year were disclosed moments ago in the annual shareholder's proxy report.

Combined with a substantial increase in the value of her pension, Martore's total compensation jumped to $8.5 million from $4.7 million in 2011.

In another noteworthy disclosure, the report for the first time revealed Chief Digital Officer David Payne's annual pay: $1.8 million last year. That was up from $1.7 million in 2011.

The report showed big jumps in the value of Gannett stock awards from 2011 -- increases that were due to a one-time calendar change in when shares were handed out. The change gave an extra boost to stock compensation last year after depressing it in 2011.

This table shows a breakdown of last year's compensation for Martore and six of the other highest-paid executives. Among them:

• Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. newspaper division: $3.8 million vs. $2.7 million in 2011
• Dave Lougee, president of the broadcasting division: $2.1 million vs. $1.7 million
• Victoria Harker, chief financial officer: $1.5 million. Harker was named CFO in July, so her pay was for only half a year. (As well, there is no comparable figure for 2011.)
• Paul Saleh, Harker's predecessor: $1.4 million vs. $2.2 million

The report covers a year when the company's finances grew more stable, and its share price jumped. Annual revenue last year rose 2.2% to $5.4 billion, the first annual increase since 2006.

GCI's stock soared 35%, to $18.01 at Dec. 31. Shares have continued climbing since then, closing this afternoon at $21.65.

The proxy report, issued ever spring, gives shareholders the most detailed overview of one of the more hot-button issues in Corporate America -- executive pay. It also lays out a few housekeeping items, including the agenda for the annual meeting, which this year is set for May 7 at Corporate's headquarters in McLean, Va.

Ordinarily, proxy reports show compensation for only the five highest paid executives, known as "named executive officers" or NEOs. This year's report included seven NEOs, because of management changes including Saleh's departure.

On the other hand, several high-profile names didn't appear in the NEOs list, because they weren't paid enough to meet the pay disclosure rules set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Among them: Paul Davidson, president of the U.K. newspaper division, Newsquest; Maryam Banikarim, chief marketing officer, and Larry Kramer, publisher of the flagship, USA Today.

Interesting footnotes
Starting last year, newly hired senior executives no longer get a company-paid automobile, according to the new proxy report. Those hired earlier presumably get to keep theirs.

Also, starting this year, new senior executives will no longer be able to earmark up to $15,000 in annual Gannett Foundation grants to their favorite charities. Under Martore's predecessor, Craig Dubow, that practice had generated considerable bad publicity. [Updated at 11:25 March 23 ET to clarify that this benefit was ended only for newly hired top execs.]

The easing of both benefits is in keeping with Martore's efforts to make the company appear  more egalitarian since she was made chief executive in October 2011. (Earlier, for example, she eliminated reserved parking spaces for the top brass in the McLean parking garage.)

Martore continued to take a voluntary reduction of her base salary last year ($900,000, instead of the $950,000 approved by the board of directors, the report says. Although the board's executive compensation committee approved an increase in her base salary this year (from $950,000 to $1 million), she continues to take a reduced base salary of $900,000.

All the executives named in the report agreed to forgo base salary increases last year. Also, Martore and Dickey gave up a week's pay amid one-week furloughs they ordered for thousands of U.S. newspaper division employees.

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

At Knight, Lehrer wasn't only one getting big bucks

After the Knight Foundation last night said it regretted paying disgraced journalist Jonah Lehrer a $20,000 speaking fee, I wondered how much the journalism philanthropy paid its own officers.

Answer: plenty.

Ibarguen

CEO Alberto Ibarguen got $734,815 in 2011, according to the Miami non-profit's IRS tax return for that year, the latest available. That was up $67,000 from the year before. His 2011 pay included a $649,000 salary plus $86,000 in benefits.

But one officer's pay will be of particular interest to Gannett Blog readers: Michael Maness, who joined the foundation in 2011 as vice president for journalism and media innovation after running Gannett's innovation and design efforts.

Maness

He was paid $360,906 during his first year on the job -- making him the foundation's second-highest paid officer overall. (Maness' Gannett pay isn't public because he wasn't among the five-highest compensated employees, a group whose compensation must be disclosed under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules.)

Knight said it was considering Lehrer, 31, as a speaker before he was exposed last year as a plagiarist. Tuesday, speaking to Knight's community foundation conference, Lehrer discussed the scandal in a speech for the first time in public. Ibarguen then led a Q&A with him.

This spreadsheet shows 2011 pay to all the foundation's nine officers.

Earlier: Freedom Forum paid new CEO $1.6 million in 2011. Plus: Gannett reveals dramatic 2011 pay cuts for Martore, others.

Freedom Forum confirms layoffs -- to a degree

In what can most charitably be described as a carefully worded statement, Freedom Forum has confirmed that its Washington museum about news laid off employees yesterday. The statement, made to the Poynter Institute, says:

"We are restructuring some departments within the Newseum and increasing emphasis in key areas to allow us to better execute our mission of educating the nation and the world about the First Amendment and the need for a free and fair press. Once the changes are complete, and new positions have been filled, the Newseum will retain the same number of associates as before. Since opening to the public five years ago, the Newseum has experienced an increase in visitors each year. We will continue to welcome guests from around the world and to provide a forum for exploration of issues ranging from press freedom to American politics to news literacy for the 21st century."

The statement from the non-profit foundation doesn't give any specifics, however. And it fails to note that yesterday's 30 job cuts out of about 150 total weren't solely at the Newseum. For example, seven of the 11 positions at the foundation's First Amendment Center in Nashville were wiped out, according to one of my readers. And, four of five positions at its Diversity Institute, also in Nashville, were eliminated.

Now, it's possible those jobs are considered part of the Newseum; I don't have an organizational chart, so can't be certain. Freedom Forum didn't respond to my questions yesterday about the layoffs.

It's also worth noting that the museum says it's seen an increase in visitors each year, but doesn't give hard numbers. The museum's annual IRS tax returns on admissions revenue show a less clear-cut trend, however:

• 2009: $6,943,599
• 2010: $6,510,368
• 2011: $7,140,652

Freedom Forum paid new CEO Duff $1.6M in 2011, documents show, amid signs of more fiscal distress

The financially troubled non-profit foundation paid CEO James Duff $1.6 million during his first four months on the job in 2011, a year when the Newseum's operator ran a $47 million deficit, newly released public documents show.

Duff

The disclosure comes with fresh warnings of financial trouble. Today, Freedom Forum laid off 20% of approximately 150 employees at the Washington museum and other programs financed by the foundation. These are just the latest cuts since the museum opened in new quarters in 2008 that cost nearly double the original $250 million construction estimate.

Foundation officials have not responded to my questions about the layoffs, which I confirmed through sources.

Even by the standards of his well-compensated predecessor, Duff's pay is a jaw dropper. Since 2000, when spending went into overdrive, the foundation never paid retired CEO Charles Overby that much in a single year.

Most of Duff's pay, $1.4 million, came as a contribution to his employee benefit plan. Just $182,000 was direct compensation, according to the foundation's 2011 IRS tax return, which I received from the organization under federal open records laws. It is the most recent return on file.

The return reveals a sixth consecutive year of staggering deficit spending, as Freedom Forum continued pumping money into the museum about news history that moved to its new home on Pennsylvania Avenue more than four years ago. The foundation is housed there as well.

Endowment plunges again
Combined, the foundation's annual deficits have now reached $361 million for 2006-2011 alone, tax returns show. To cover that, administrators have dipped into an endowment of stocks, bonds and other savings that should be Freedom Forum’s chief income source. As a result, the endowment's value plunged to $368 million by the end of 2011 vs. $706 million in 2006, according to the returns. (Read the foundation's full 52-page tax return for 2011.)

Neuharth

Freedom Forum is the original Gannett Foundation, renamed and given a new mission in 1991 under the leadership of retired Gannett Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth. Gannett launched a new foundation hewing to the original mission: supporting communities where the company does business. But its spending has never approached what it once was.

Duff, who is 58 years old, took over in the fall of 2011 when Overby retired as Freedom Forum's first chief executive. In his final year as CEO, the foundation paid Overby $638,000. That included $383,000 in salary, $131,000 for his benefit plan, and $125,000 in expenses.

It's unclear why Duff received such a large payment for only four months' work. Freedom Forum declined to answer any questions I posed about the tax return, including about Duff's compensation. Indeed, for five years now, foundation officials have turned aside all my questions other than to acknowledge receiving them.

In addition to leading Freedom Forum, Duff is CEO of the Newseum and the foundation’s Diversity Institute.

Overby

Pay beats Gates Foundation
The most Overby was ever paid in a single year was in 2005, when he got $1.3 million. That included a one-time $785,000 distribution from a supplemental retirement plan that had been discontinued, according to that year’s IRS tax return.

Duff’s $1.6 million dwarfed that of the CEO at one of the world’s biggest philanthropies: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with about $35 billion in total assets. Named for Microsoft’s co-founder, the Seattle-based foundation focused on health care paid chief executive Jeffrey Raikes $975,000 plus $80,000 in expenses in 2011, according to its IRS tax return.

To be sure, Duff and Overby weren't the only administrators paid richly by the foundation, which has a long-standing reputation as a haven for retired Gannett executives.

Neuharth, who is 88 years old, got $525,000 as the foundation's founder, roughly the same as the year before. That included a $225,000 salary and $290,000 for expenses. As in the past, the tax return said he worked an average 40 hours a week. It did not spell out his duties.

Ken Paulson, who was briefly in line to succeed Overby until a management shake-up two years ago, was paid $368,000 in salary and $118,000 in benefits and expenses as CEO of the First Amendment Center in Nashville. That was 10% less than in 2010. Paulson was USA Today's top editor before joining the foundation in 2008.

John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, got $200,000, plus another $93,000 for expenses and benefits. He is USAT's first editorial director and a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville.

And John Quinn got $150,000, plus $121,000 for expenses, as advisor to the foundation. He leads a scholarship program for minority students financed by the foundation. Quinn was editor of USAT and retired as head of Gannett's News Department.

A financial black hole
Neuharth retained control of the original Gannett Foundation even after retiring from the media giant. He pressured Gannett to buy back some $650 million in company stock that was the entirety of the foundation's endowment, then gave it a new name and mission to transform it into a global journalism philanthropy.

Exterior of Newseum

But in 2000, he and Overby shifted gears, focusing the entire foundation's philanthropy on one project: the Newseum. As much as a promoter of the First Amendment, the museum is meant to be a lasting physical legacy of Neuharth's life and career.

Opened years late and at a cost of $450 million, the museum now accounts for virtually all the foundation's annual gifts to non-profits.

In 2011, the foundation gave $30 million to the museum out of a total $32 million in contributions. It spent another $23 million on expenses that included among the largest categories: salaries, wages and benefits ($7.2 million), professional fees ($5.5 million) and depreciation ($4.4 million).

Overall, spending dropped 17% from $66 million in 2010. And that lowered the annual deficit to $46.8 million from $55 million the year before.

But the endowment once more heaved. By 2011's end, the value of the foundation's stocks, bonds and other non-real estate assets fell 13% to $368 million. That was in a year when the overall stock market was unchanged, based on the widely followed S&P 500 index.

The endowment's present value isn't public; the 2012 tax return won't be filed until well into next year. (This spreadsheet shows selected financial data for Freedom Forum for 2000, plus 2006-2011.)

The Newseum has struggled to find its place in a city bursting with tourist attractions. Many of Washington's museums, such as the better-known Smithsonian, offer free admission. In contrast, the Newseum's regular adult tickets are $21.95. Admissions generated just $7.1 million in 2011 vs. $6.5 million the year before. Meanwhile, expenses totaled $71 million in 2011.

Still, it's not unusual for cultural institutions to get only a fraction of their revenue from admissions, relying instead on donations and fees as special event venues. For example, the Newseum has sold out its $100 admission packages for the Jan. 21 presidential inauguration parade, which will be staged outside along Pennsylvania Avenue.

A shift in fundraising
In a sign Duff is concerned about finances, the foundation in July hired a new senior vice president of development: Courtney Surls. She had been a development vice president at the University of Southern California, where she worked on the school's $6 billion fundraising campaign.

Today, my tipster tells me Surls has been given an aggressive fundraising target that, even if successful, won’t erase the deficit spending without further cutbacks in overhead. That includes today’s reported 20% workforce reduction.

When it opened, the museum alone had 300 workers. After a second layoff, in 2009, the figure had fallen to about 180. It is a legally separate entity from Freedom Forum, but there is considerable overlap between the museum's trustees and those overseeing the foundation. One of the most high-profile joint trustees is PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff.

Jan Neuharth

Since Duff's arrival, the foundation has shown little signs of governance reform. A year ago, the board of trustees elected Neuharth's daughter, Jan Neuharth, as chairman to replace Overby -- continuing her family's control over what's supposed to be a guardian of money for the broader public good. The insular 12-person board still includes Overby, plus Duff and several other long-time retainers of the elder Neuharth.

Jan Neuharth was paid $51,000 in 2011. She wasn't elected chairman until December of that year, so it's unclear whether any of her compensation reflected her expanded responsibilities.

Duff, a former attorney, came to Freedom Forum with little experience in philanthropy or museum administration. He had previously directed administrative operations for the U.S. federal courts from July 2006 until September 2011, when he took over as the Freedom Forum's CEO.

At the time, the foundation said in a news release that it conducted a nationwide search before choosing him. His qualifications appear to have been his role as legal counsel and secretary to Freedom Forum and the Newseum, when he was a partner at the Washington firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

The foundation's 2011 tax return doesn't identify its law firm. However, former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker, who is senior counsel at Baker Donelson, is Freedom Forum's secretary, according to the return.

It's noteworthy that, while Freedom Forum's overall spending fell in 2011, legal costs soared to $871,000 from $284,000 in 2010. No explanation was provided, however, and the foundation declined my request for more details.

I've just received the Gannett Foundation's annual IRS tax report for 2011, and it's kind of interesting

Here's a list of $285,000 in foundation donations that current and former top executives directed to their favorite charities during 2011, the most recent year available. I received a copy of the IRS report yesterday following a request to Gannett's charitable arm under federal open-records laws.

In a separate post in the next day or so, I'll add a few more details.

Related: This spreadsheet shows all the executive-driven donations in 2010. And here's the list from 2009.

USAT, Pizza Hut parent link on hunger contest

USA Today said this morning that it's joining the fast food parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in what appears to be a newspaper-in-education contest that will award up to $500,000 to U.S. hunger-relief charities.

I read the press release three times to understand USAT's role, which is coming through the paper's charitable foundation. (Yes: USAT has its own foundation, separate from the Gannett Foundation). The direct benefit to USAT -- increased circulation? a boost to advertising? -- isn't spelled out.

But the big philanthropy-as-public-relations winner is certainly David Novak, CEO of 38,000-restaurant giant Yum Brands in Louisville, Ky.

The contest is called the "Lead2Feed-World Hunger Leadership Challenge." In it, the USAT Charitable Foundation and Yum's foundation will encourage middle and high school students to develop leadership skills through projects on solving hunger, locally or globally, the news release says. More than 1,000 schools are expected to participate. Yum will provide the up to $500,000 in prize money.

Novak

Students in the contest will use principles from Novak's book, TAKING PEOPLE WITH YOU: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen and the USA Today Education program's Lead2Feed curriculum.

As it turns out, the Lead2Feed curriculum also is based on Novak's book. The 256-pager was published in January by a Penguin imprint. Although today's news release says it's a best seller, Amazon ranks it No. 4,846 on its overall sales list, and No. 76 in the leadership subject category.

Today's announcement came the same day that USAT reported Pizza Hut's latest PR stunt -- one involving the presidential race -- had blown up. (The timing was surely serendipitous, however.) The paper writes a lot of stories about fast food companies.

About Novak
Last year, Yum valued Novak's annual compensation at $20.4 million, including stock awards, a $4.5 million cash bonus and $214,000 for personal use of the company plane, according to regulatory documents. Novak, 59, also is board chairman.

But investors probably think he's worth it. Under his leadership over the past 12 years, Yum's stock has soared more than 600% vs. a 1% decline in the S&P 500, according to Google Finance.

Freedom Forum | Following the Libor money

The debt-heavy non-profit foundation best known for its Newseum in Washington got dropped into a story yesterday about the mushrooming scandal over Libor. That's the London Interbank Offered Rate, an average interest rate widely used to set trillions of dollars in mortgages and other loans. (Some of Gannett's debt is tied to Libor.) The scandal concerns whether global banks manipulated the interest rates used to determine Libor.

The museum appeared briefly in this Fiscal Times story: The managing director of the Swap Financial Group discussed ruinous losses incurred by cities that issued bonds tied to Libor. Swap Financial's clients include the Newseum, according to the story. But that's as far as the account goes.

In fact, I think it's actually Freedom Forum that could be at least indirectly caught in the scandal -- although it's unclear what that might mean for the foundation's finances.

In 2002, the D.C. government issued up to $300 million in revenue bonds on behalf of the foundation to finance construction of the Newseum and the adjoining apartment tower on Pennsylvania Avenue. Freedom Forum -- which is the original Gannett Foundation -- was to repay the bonds over 35 years from its endowment and museum revenue.

Indeed, the foundation's most recent public IRS tax return shows Freedom Forum owed $365.2 million at the end of 2010. The return describes the debt only as "bonds & notes payable." It doesn't identify the lender, and doesn't disclose the terms.

Questions, questions, questions
Is the interest rate on that debt 100% fixed? Might the D.C. government stick the foundation with any additional costs if the 2002 bond issue was, indeed, tied to Libor in a now-detrimental way? The tax return doesn't say.

What we do know is that Freedom Forum and Newseum interest costs have see-sawed wildly in recent years, contributing to dramatically higher operating expenses that have strained its finances.

I won't even try to seek answers from Freedom Forum; it hasn't responded to any of my questions since I first began reporting on its finances in 2008.

But perhaps some of the smarter finance types reading this blog can suss out the truth.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Big Al | A financial disclosure you don't see here

Testing the bounds of journalism ethics, retired Gannett Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth praises one of his current employers in his weekly USA Today column this morning -- without disclosing that relationship. Freedom Forum and its Newseum have become "a favorite gathering place" in Washington, he says.

Last year, Freedom Forum paid Neuharth, 88, $225,000 in wages plus $286,003 for expenses -- more than in any other year since 2000, according to public IRS tax returns.

Freedom Forum is the original Gannett Foundation.

Related: Gannett's ethics policy. Plus: The newspaper division's policy.