The Foundation for Better Life?

[dalej42]

Who is behind this group?

Here is the FAQ from their website

I’m thinking the Mormon church as the commercials seem very similar to Mormon commercials I’ve seen in the past.

[Q.E.D]

http://www.forbetterlife.org/about_us/faq.asp

Q: Are you affiliated with any religion?
A: The Foundation for a Better Life is not affiliated with any religion. We hope the values we share transcend any particular religion or nationality.

Q: Are you affiliated with any other organizations?
A: We have a sister foundation, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. It is also privately funded by the same source. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is the only organization with which we are affiliated.

[dalej42]

Yeah, I saw that in the FAQ. Still doesn’t tell me who is behind it. With the amount of money required to buy television advertising and produce professional commercials, they’ve got to be funded with some big bucks.

[Q.E.D]

No, but it would exclude the Mormons, being a religion and all.

[dalej42]

But it wouldn’t exclude a group of wealthy Mormons getting together to fund the group. Just like the Swift Boat group had *nothing *to do with the Republican party.

Anyway, I’m not sure that it is affiliated with the Mormons. I just noticed the resemblance to the commercials that the Mormons used to run.

[Yorikke]

This should help - seems to be privately funded by this guy and his family…

Joe

[MsRobyn]

I did some digging and found the FFABL’s form 990, which is the tax return required by the IRS for 501 (c) (3) charitable organizations. It appears to be funded entirely by an outfit called the Anschutz Foundation.

Philip Anschutz, the Foundation’s eponymous founder (and probable benefactor), owns a bunch of stuff, including sports teams and such. He’s a conservative Christian, so make of that what you will. I took a look at the Anschutz Foundation’s 990, but it’s from 2007, so for all I know, all that money isn’t there anymore.

Between the fact that FFABL has a very generic name and the fact that Anschutz is financing all of it, I’m going to make a guess and say that it’s just a way for Anschutz to make vague public statements in a way that doesn’t hurt his reputation for serious conservatism, nor piss people off in a way that will hurt his business. It’s all above board as far as the IRS is concerned, so there’s no real skullduggery going on.

Robin

[chorpler]

I wondered this as well, after noticing the similary mentioned on the wiki:

Some have noticed a stylistic similarity between free Mormon Bible adds on television in the 1980s and Anschutz’s messages. The president of the foundation, Gary Dixon, is a Brigham Young University alumnus. [2]

So the similarity may come from the fact that the foundation’s president is a Mormon.

[hajario]

@dalej42

Anyway, I’m not sure that it is affiliated with the Mormons. I just noticed the resemblance to the commercials that the Mormons used to run.

As it turns out, you are quite astute.

Philip_F._Anschutz funds both this group and The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. From my cite,

Some have noticed a stylistic similarity between free Mormon Bible adds on television in the 1980s and Anschutz’s messages. The president of the foundation, Gary Dixon, is a Brigham Young University alumnus.

[Q.E.D]

@chorpler

So the similarity may come from the fact that the foundation’s president is a Mormon.

One need not be LDS to attend BYU.

[chorpler]

@Q.E.D

One need not be LDS to attend BYU.

Indeed. But the vast majority of BYU graduates are LDS, so it’s a pretty safe assumption that if somebody is a BYU alumnus, they’re Mormon.

ETA: Holy cow, non-Mormons pay twice as much to attend BYU? Yipe.

[chorpler]

According to this Daily Herald article from December 2006, about 98% of BYU students are Mormon, and this Desert News article from April 2008 says it’s 98.5%. So yeah … pretty safe bet.

[hajario]

From here:

The Better Life campaigns closely resemble the Mormon church’s public service advertisements, emphasizing family values. In fact, FBL president Gary Dixon used to work on the Mormon ads.

Whether or not he is a Mormon, this same guy worked on the Mormon ads from the 80’s as well as these ads. I think that this answers the OP.

Now I am only an amateur at Google but I was able to find this as well as a bunch of articles about the guy in LDS newsletters and on the BYU alumni page. It’s a safe bet that he is a member of the LDS church.