Summary
Founded in 1977 by Don Wildmon, the American Family Association, Inc. ("AFA") focuses its efforts on bolstering traditional family values and decreasing the deleterious influence of television and other media - including pornography - on our society. AFA believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of the values that are the bedrock of our country and that maintain strong, healthy families. AFA believes in holding the companies that sponsor programs attacking traditional family values accountable. AFA also believes in commending those companies that act responsibly regarding programs they support. AFA supporters receive a monthly letter about a specific issue with a recommended action such as sending a postcard or making a phone call. This organization is a nonprofit. Contributions to it are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. It is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Contact Information: [ Back to top ]
| Mailing Address: | PO Box 2440 107 Parkgate
Tupelo, MS
38803-2440 |
| Website: | www.afa.net |
| Phone: | (662) 844-5036, |
| Email: | You need to enable javascript to see the email |
Organization Details [ Back to top ]
EIN: 640607275
| CEO/President: |
Mr. Tim Wildmon |
Tax Deductible: |
Yes |
| Chairman: |
Dr. Don Wildmon |
Fiscal Year End: |
June 30 |
| Board Size: |
10 |
Financial info from: |
990 |
| Founder: |
Dr. Don Wildmon |
Member of ECFA: |
Yes |
| Year Founded: |
1977 |
Member of ECFA since: |
1988 |
Founded in 1977 by Don Wildmon, the American Family Association, Inc. ("AFA") focuses its efforts on bolstering traditional family values and decreasing the deleterious influence of television and other media - including pornography - on our society. AFA believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of the values that are the bedrock of our country and that maintain strong, healthy families. Over the last 20 years, the entertainment industry has normalized and glorified premarital sex, and teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions have become normal.
AFA believes in holding the companies that sponsor programs attacking traditional family values accountable. AFA also believes in commending those companies that act responsibly regarding programs they support. AFA supporters receive a monthly letter about a specific issue with a recommended action such as sending a postcard or making a phone call. In addition, supporters receive the AFA Journal with news on various moral and family issues.
This organization is a nonprofit. Contributions to it are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. It is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
American Family Association uses the following to express its mission:
The American Family Association exists to motivate and equip citizens to change the culture to reflect Biblical truth.
Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]
- AFA has built and maintains a nationwide Christian radio network. The network provides Christian programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Included in this programming is a five-minute, around the clock, newscast provided by the American Family Radio (AFR) radio news staff.
- AFA publishes the AFA Journal with an average circulation of almost 200,000, making it one of the most widely circulated publications of its kind in America. The journal contains addresses, phone numbers, etc, and is filled with vital information and action suggestions.
- AFA continues efforts to end television?s exploitation of sex, violence, profanity, and anti-Christian bigotry.
- AFA provides free legal help to Christians in defending their First Amendment rights and help prosecutors in obscenity trials through the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy (CLP). The CLP has four full-time attorneys fighting in the courtrooms for the rights of Christians.
- In 2003, the CLP helped hundreds of individuals via phone calls and letters, and was involved in many cases defending the First Amendment rights of Christians.
- AFA is involved with promotion of the annual, national Pornography Awareness Week by supplying resources to pastors and churches.
- AFA also sponsors and promotes the national ?Meet at City Hall? project on the national Day of Prayer.
Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]
The American Family Association uses the following to communicate its faith:
The American Family Association believes that God has communicated absolute truth to man through the Bible, and that all men everywhere at all times are subject to the authority of God's Word. Therefore, a culture based on Biblical truth best serves the well being of our country, in accordance with the vision of our founding fathers.
Donald E. Wildmon, an ordained United Methodist minister who earned his Master of Divinity from Emory College in 1965, founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977. The National Federation for Decency became the American Family Association (AFA) in 1988.
Since Don and his wife Lynda have four children and five grandchildren, they know first-hand the battle parents face in teaching their families traditional moral values. Don tells in his own words how AFA was founded:
"One evening in 1977 I sat down with my family to watch TV. On one channel was adultery, on another cursing, on another a man beating another over the head with a hammer. I asked the children to turn off the TV. I sat there, got angry, and said, 'If they're going to bring this into my home, I'm going to do all I can to change it."
"I brooded for a while and then came up with a plan for our church to turn off the TV for a week. I sent out a press release and the national media picked up on it.
Through that 'Turn off the TV Week' I learned there were literally millions of other people around the country who felt the same way I did. That was the beginning of the American Family Association."
The American Family Association requests the following:
(1) Pray daily for their ministry and our country.
(2) Get informed. Sign up to their mailing list (e-mail and regular). AFA will keep you become informed on the battles going on, as well as how you can help.
(3) Consider starting a local AFA Affiliate to "fight the good fight" in your own back yard. AFA will help you to be effective on the local level.
(4) Consider making a financial gift.
Research Analysis
Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]
| Transparency Grade of : A |
| Criteria category | Grade | Other Comments |
| Timeliness: | 100 | |
| Financial Information: | 100 | |
| Foundational Clarity: | | |
| Level of Cooperation: | | |
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MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]
| Ranking Category | Rating | Overall Rank | Advocacy Sector |
|---|
| Overall Efficiency Rating |  | 141 of 352 | 8 of 21 |
| Fund Acquisition Decision |  | 122 of 352 | 6 of 21 |
| Resource Allocation Decision | | 65 of 352 | 3 of 21 |
| Asset Utilization Decision | | 288 of 352 | 20 of 21 |
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MinistryWatch.com?s Take
January 2003
By Sarah Barrick, Research Fellow; Michele C. Prince, Research Fellow
Media Concerns
The American Family Association began in 1977 when Donald E. Wildmon and his family were sitting down to watch TV. There was nothing wholesome to watch. In his anger and frustration, Mr. Wildmon, a minister, decided to have his congregation join with his family in a ?turn off the TV week?. He sent out a press release and the national media picked up on it.
Mr. Wildmon learned that he was not the only one who felt the same way he did. Millions of people were just as disgusted with the moral decline of our culture so proudly broadcasted through the images on television.
And AFA was born out of the need to do something about it.
The positive impact AFA has had on our culture is a tribute to the power of collective prayer, concern, and action. AFA enables Christians to participate in the restoring of our nation to the biblical truths held so dear by our founding fathers by using our resources wisely, using our voice collectively, and reaching out to those in need of salvation.
Mr. Wildmon is the founder and president of AFA. He was ordained a United Methodist minister, having earned his MDiv. from Emory College in 1965. After serving in the U.S. Army?s Special Services, he pastored churches from 1965 until he founded National Federation for Decency in 1977. NFD became American Family Association in 1988. Their website is www.afa.net and has provided the information contained in this analysis.
Has AFA Made an Impact?
The impact of AFA is recognized nationwide. Don Wildmon and other AFA personnel have appeared on programs such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, MacNeill Lehrer Report, Nightline, The 700 Club, Meet the Press, Crossfire, and Focus on the Family. AFA is a long-time member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Examples of AFA?s impact on our culture are as follows:
- Disney/ABC cancels the pro-homosexual show Ellen, for "lack of ratings." AFA led the campaign to encourage responsible advertisers to drop from the show.
- AFA and other pro-family groups sponsored a rally in support of Judge Roy Moore of Alabama who refused to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom.
- AFA leads the effort to clean up Howard Stern Radio Show. To date, over 2/3rds of all advertisers dropped from the show in monitored areas.
- AFA promotes Pornography Awareness Week
- AFA distributes 400,000 copies of the "Fight Back Book," a comprehensive resource guide of TV advertisers, products and addresses.
- AFA supports and promotes Shatter the Silence, a national observance to bring attention to religious persecution throughout the world.
- AFA leads efforts to expose abuses of tax dollars by National Endowment for the Arts.
- The 43 Federal prisons removed porn magazines from their commissaries after efforts by AFA supporters.
- The Southland Corporation, owners and franchisers of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, along with 30,000 other convenience stores, pulled porn magazines from shelves after intensive boycotting and picketing by AFA.
- In 1994, AFA launched a "war on divorce," by helping develop and distribute the Marriage Savers video series.
- AFA has promoted successful boycotts of several national advertisers because they were leading sponsors of TV sex, violence and profanity. Because of the boycotts, some companies - including Burger King, Clorox and S. C. Johnson - have changed their advertising policies.
Battlefields in the Culture War
The American Family Association sees the culture fighting over:
- Preservation of the Marriage and Family
- Decency and Morality
- Sanctity of Human Life
- Stewardship
- Media Integrity
AFA?s web site is an excellent source of information about concerns all Christians share. The articles available detail problems such as pornography and violence in the entertainment industry, pre-marital sex among our teenagers, the power of the homosexual agenda, the pro-abortion movement, and concerns within the church, just to name a few. For those concerned about pornography on the Internet, AFA offers a filter at a minimal cost.
With every concern outlined, AFA offers information about what one person can do. The belief that God can use
even one, if we make ourselves available to Him, is manifested in the results that a ministry such as AFA achieves. Mr. Wildmon?s remarks concerning activism by Christians can be summed up by a call to pray, to be concerned, and to stay informed.
One of the most hotly contested issues the Church faces today is that of homosexuality. Many professed homosexuals in need of redemption feel that the last place they are welcomed is the Church. On the contrary, AFA wants to reach out to those burdened by homosexuality. The issue editor for AFA on Homosexuality/Homosexual Agenda is Stephen Bennett.
In a newsletter he wrote to introduce himself, Mr. Bennett writes, ?As a man who once lived the homosexual lifestyle until I was 28 years old, with well over 100 men sexually (many whom are dead today from AIDS), my heart's desire and passion is to reach the homosexual man and woman for Jesus Christ with the truth in love: that
no one is born homosexual, and
complete change is completely possible through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!... Friend, God loves the sinner - yet He hates the sin. We need to reach out to the homosexual man and woman in love with the only thing that can set them free - the Truth - the Gospel of Jesus Christ?.
To further emphasize AFA?s heart concerning the homosexual, the following question and answer appears in their ?about us? section of their web site.
?Does AFA Hate Homosexuals?
Absolutely Not! The same Holy Bible that calls us to reject sin, calls us to love our neighbor. It is that love that motivates us to expose the misrepresentation of the radical homosexual agenda and stop its spread though our culture. AFA has sponsored several events reaching out to homosexuals and letting them know there is love and healing at the Cross of Christ?.
To address concerns that the public might have concerning censorship, AFA offers this question and answer.
?Does AFA Support Censorship?
AFA does not support "censorship". Censorship, by definition, is government imposed. What AFA does support is responsibility. Producers and advertisers alike realize that what people see and hear does affect them. (If this were not true, they would not pay the astronomical fees for advertising.) Our belief is that if we can encourage advertisers to sponsor only quality programming, then networks and producers will not have the financial encouragement to produce shows diametrically opposed to the traditional family.?
AFA is a ministry that gives Christians a voice by informing them and introducing them to ways they can participate to positively influence our nation?s culture.
This organization has not offered MinistryWatch.com with an official statement or response for their profile. This area is meant as a mechanism for the profiled ministry to communicate anything they may choose. It is open ended as to the topic, issues, facts or news to address. It is not negative if there is no official statement as many don’t have anything to add than what is already on the profile. This section is not tied to transparency or to communication in general. Many very open and talkative ministries with us choose not to post an official statement. This section is just an open ended offering to the profiled ministry for anything extra to say as they may choose.