Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Who Is The Foundation For A Better Life?

Anybody else out there wondering who is behind the Foundation for a Better Life? 

They seem to have stepped up their advertising significantly during the college bowl season. I think I've seen two or three of their ads during every bowl game we've watched. I started noticing because we have had the tv on much more than usual lately because El Jefe is an avid college football fan.

Some of them are memorable--like the one about the girl with Down's Syndrome who was elected homecoming queen at her high school (a true story, I remember reading about it because it happened at a Texas high school). Some are heart-wrenching--like the video shown to the tune of "You Can Let Go Now Daddy". And several that I have seen are meh--like the one that seems like the old Coke commercial "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." It's called We Shall Be Free.

That costs a LOT of money. Made me start wondering where the funding is coming from. The website for the organization is values.com. I went through it but can't find any information about the funding, so I went to Wikipedia and found that it is solely funded by Philip Anschutz, who is identified as an  the 34th "richest person" in the US and a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Wikipedia reports that he donated more than 23 million dollars to the Foundation for a Better Life and the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

He is also a major supporter of the filming of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and owns a large entertainment company.

Just thought you'd like to know, in case you were wondering, like me!

3 comments:

Mary Beth said...

I have, indeed, been wondering! thanks.

Anonymous said...

http://www.forbes.com/static/bill2005/LIRDSAK.html?passListId=10&passYear=2005&passListType=Person&uniqueId=DSAK&datatype=Person



dph

Alan said...

Apparently he also owns Regal Cinemas and a few soccer teams.

Peace,
Alan