I’ve gotten a few calls from people saying Focus on the Family is planning to announce layoffs, more than 100, on Friday.
I called Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger on Monday. He did not confirm or deny the rumors. Later he sent me a statement, which you can read below.
“We are still working out the details of fitting our FY ’11 budget to the figure our board of directors established,” Schneeberger wrote. “As soon as those decisions are final — we’re aiming for next week — we’ll share them with our ministry family first and then with our constituents and friends in the media.”
Focus has laid off hundreds of employees since 2002, when its workforce was about 1,400. Currently Focus has 860 employees. It’s latest round of layoffs was in September 2009, when 75 employees were let go.
In recent years, Focus has struggled to meet its budget. Even though the organization cut its budget from $160 million in fiscal 2008 to $138 million in fiscal 2009, it still suffered a $6 million shortfall. Schneeberger said last September that the deficit was largely due to the loss of donations from small- to medium-sized businesses. Donations from families has remained steady, he said.
Check back to www.gazette.com and this blog for updates.
hate to see more people lose their jobs.
I thought with daly’s new “focus” things would improve for the employees.
Hate and bigotry is not a sustainable business model.
I want to know what it is exactly they spend $138 million in fiscal 2009 on… I mean, what does a person who donates expect to get for their money?
hardly news, though…certainly we might stand to get some of the northern Colorado Springs stores back: Borders won’t be playing that awful Christian music at full blare, and the Panera Bread store won’t be full of praying people all day long.
Agree with several folks:
- Sad to see people lose jobs.
- Hate and bigotry is not a sustainable business model.
Hate and bigotry are not good under any circumstance. The ‘focus’ on homophobia has hurt them with moderates, who can get valid “family” guidance and resources from many other sources. People are voting with their feet, taking their money and donations elsewhere.
Politicking to the tune of spending $800k to stop the gay marriage proposition in California the other year hurt them too, even if that money came from a particular source and not general revenues. Who in their right minds would want to be associated with any effort to deny people their civil rights to marry and be happy.
IMO, FOTF is reaping what Dobson and others of his ilk have sown for years, i.e., sowing controversy for the sake of driving up donations.
Meanwhile, where’s the ‘focus’ on traditional marriage? The divorce rate exceeds 50% and millions of people no longer even bother to get married in recognition that divorce is their probable future.
Speaking of Panera, I’m not bothered by people praying over their meals, the food is safe ya know.
What bothers me are the clowns (always men) who take a table for four and spread out their notebook PCs and proceed to play office while folks who came there TO EAT can’t find a place to sit and partake of a meal. I haven’t eaten there in ages, not going to fight THAT level of stupidity.
that doesn’t just happen at Panera, though…Einstein and Stabucks are equally as guilty.
I thought with daly’s new “focus” things would improve for the employees
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icyhot my friend as you know I am not a fan of the new leaders. This does not shock me
You know, Jesus in the Bible says divorce is a sin. FoF says abortion is murder. I might have some respect for FoF if they advocated that churches kick out the divorced and demanded the death penalty for women who have abortions.
Their focus on homosexuals is just cafeteria hate mongering.
Gilber,t my friend the divorce is not the sin. The sin is what leads to the divorce.
Pastor, if you want to nit-pick I should have said divorce and re-marriage which Jesus says is adultery. (in Matthew 5:31-32, 19:3-9; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18).
So why doesn’t FoF concentrate on kicking remarried divorced people out of churches?
Hey, I hear South Carolina is inexpensive to live & work in…AND there are LOTS of folks there to support and believe in what Focus on the Family broadcasts. Do the Springs a favor and just GO!
The lack of knowledge of the Bible is staggering here! God’s word gives three reasons that a divorce would be considered acceptable. And it is only when you are outside of these reasons that if you remarry it is adultery. It also makes it very clear that homosexuality is never acceptable. BIG difference!
And really, the hate spread here by those like chuckles and csaction is wrong. I am glad we never see freaks like this out in public!
Simple fact is that Dobson has always BEEN Focus on the family, whereas focus without Dobson is full of compromise. Focus was as great as it was because they were never afraid to tell it like it is! They never backed down. When you give up the fight for what is good and right, you are doomed to failure.
Gilbert mt friend you may have miss read part here
Matthew 5:31-32 (New King James Version)
Marriage Is Sacred and Binding
31 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
the key part is “for any reason except sexual immorality” So there is a reason for divorce and remarry.
So Pastor, you are saying if two people get divorced, not for reason of the woman committing sexual immorality but because say she can’t stand being beaten by,her husband, and then the woman remarries she is committing adultery every time she has sex with her new husband.
That a Church should accept a remarried divorced woman as long as she was sexually immoral in her last marriage or has no sexual relations in her new marriage. Otherwise she should be shunned because she repeatedly commits the sin of adultery.
I could imagine a church accepting a man who sinned thorough hosexuality as long as admits it, asks forgiveness, and vows to stay away from that sin in the future.
But why should a church accept a woman who intends to repeatedly be adulterous?
The latest is that a number of employees arrived at work on Thursday morning to find a note stating that Thursday was their last day. Now that is the biblical way to communicate that their work, although much appreciated they are no longer needed. That saves on tears and hugs of sadness. A bet they were asked to leave quietly through the side doors and not tell anyone that they have been canned.
Also heard that when a number of people found the notes, others decided to screw it and leave as well. No need to hang around a business that would treat employees that way.
Well, that was my experience – told quietly leave, do not attend the open to the public event because someone might ask, do not call any one and tell them of this termination, they will find out soon enough – oh and since you were terminated and did not quit on your own, you cannot volunteer or attend any function sponsored by Focus on the Family.
To those terminated, welcome to the club and you will soon realize you will be treated with greater respect in the secular world.
“Focus” was all about Dr. Dobson…
If you think about it, its a true shame that it was every about anything other than the ministry of Jesus Christ.
When a “ministry” is a cult of personality and can’t sustain itself after that personality is gone, how anchored in Biblical Truth could it have been in the first place?
Maybe they should try a business model of peace and love?
Forgiveness, tolerance, humanity?
Anti war, pro environment and equality for all?
Naw, they’d be mistaken for Christians or CSaction and be CENSORED here.
The earlier poster hit the nail on the head: “Hate and bigotry is not a sustainable business model.”. It seems the Christian right NEEDS something or someone to rail against, and then use that to fleece the gullible. Eventually people catch on, however, and the donations begin to dry up. The National Organization for Marriage’s current 23-city hate tour is another prime example. Not only are the crowds for their hate rallies meager, but finances seem to also be a growing issue.
Perhaps FOF had a noble purpose at the beginning; working to help build stronger family units and to strengthen marriages. But they lost sight of that purpose and sought to demonize anyone who doesn’t march in lock-step with their beliefs. In it’s current state, FOF can’t go belly-up soon enough.
One wonders if they’ll file for that socialist entitlement program called unemployment benefits, or will they rely on God to provide for them?
The reason FOTF is hemorrhaging is that they are busy bodies telling other people how to live. No one has that right in America. We are not a theocracy. The younger generation actually believes in our Constitutioin and the right to privacy, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without interference from religious believers pursuing legislation that resembles sharia law. Maybe now that FOTF has to lay off more people, those laid off will actually have to find a real job instead of working to support religious interference in other people’s lives.
with the help of God maybe they can get ’round to laying off the rest of them; our country will be the richer for it!
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Just look at these comments. People gloating about people losing their jobs and gloating just because they are Christians? Wow, I never thought there were people this low and this sick here. And they claim the hate comes from Focus? They need to re evaluate themselves.