There’s the third way and then there’s the thirty pieces way
Americans United notes that measuring money reveals a Religious Right media situation:
* James Dobson’s Focus on the Family took in $142.2 million in 2006, a $4.4 million increase over the previous year. (In addition, Dobson’s Focus on the Family Action took in $14.6 million in 2006.)
* Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council took in $10.3 million in 2006, an increase of over $900,000 over the previous year. (FRC Action, an affiliated group, took in $1.1 million in 2006.)
* Don Wildmon’s American Family Association took in $16.9 million in 2006.
* Alan Sears’ Alliance Defense Fund took in $26.1 million in 2006, an increase of $4.1 million over last year.
* TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network took in $236.3 million in 2005, a $49.8 million increase over the previous year.
Perhaps at some point those donors will want to know what all that support is accomplishing?
What do folks think the implications of these numbers are for the debate over the status of the religious right? There’s certainly evidence of waning influence – this October 1 news piece gave a telling snapshot of that: The religious right’s political power ebbs (http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/content/news/2007/10/the_religious_rights_political.html) … and none of the leading Republican candidates showed up at the “Values Voters Debate” in Florida last month… On the other hand, they are all speaking at the Washington Briefing Values Voters summit end of this week. I guess this all speaks to a state of flux… what will determine whether these organizations’ power ebbs… or flows?
Good question! The numbers remind me once again of the infrastructure the Christian Right built over three decades that reaches pretty far into the grassroots. A good percentage of this money is raised through small, individual contributions (not just the big donors). That’s impressive. It’s not likely to implode any time soon though it will wax an wane. Yet I know many of the people who get FRC and Focus on the Family emails (I grew up in Atlanta). They don’t buy all of the stuff Dobson does and says- especially the political and intolerant parts of his message, and they want an alternative. I think we can erode his base by offering alternatives. We also need to build our own grassroots. Of course, we (progressive faith leaders) can do that faster with a little more start up capital– all of our organizations are doing alot with very little. I’m curious about people’s thoughts on where the funding is for progressive faith? Why don’t our own faithful constituencies give more to their own cause? How do we make the case that reclaiming their faith voice is worth their financial investment?
Just fyi, this study seems to ignore the fact that Focus on the Family failed to meet its annual budget targets, and thus has to lay off staff. See http://www.gazette.com/articles/focus_27140___article.html/million_organization.html. Still serious money, no doubt, but both Focus layoffs and the closing of Florida’s Center for Reclaiming America are signs of institutional weakness. Inevitable that this will continue? Not at all. But it’s still important to note. Not to be hopelessly cynical, but AU has its own reasons for building up the religious right bad guys…
Well, I’m going to jump in with the old “studies have shown” and not quote a source, but I’m pretty sure I recently saw some research that said conservatives are more likely to donate to charities than progressives. I think discovering why will be very important (of course, “charity” can be your local church or the Met, so it might be hard to track this). Are attitudes toward government partially responsible? Are liberals more likely to live in high-tax areas and so give less? Would be interesting to find out.
One reason religious right organizations are able to raise so much money so steadily is because they tap into and cultivate a sense of persecution and siege. I think a better measure of their power is their ability to influence national politics.