Blank foundation, business cut back

The sagging economy and stock market losses are taking a toll on Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s foundation and his main business unit.

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and AMB Group —- parent of the Falcons and Blank’s other business interests —- laid off seven staff members last week, or about 10 percent of the combined work force, a company official confirmed Saturday.

The foundation also plans to cut charitable giving about 20 percent in 2009, said Kim Shreckengost, executive vice president and chief of staff at AMB Group. Last year, the foundation granted about $15 million, and past recipients include numerous community services, and education and arts organizations.

“We’re not immune to what’s going on in the economy and the stock market,” Shreckengost said. “We’re doing what every business in the United States is doing today: reviewing budgets, looking for areas we can cut and becoming more efficient.”

She said the cuts largely will not affect the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Force, Blank’s football teams.

The staff cuts are the second this year at the foundation. Shreckengost said it was a difficult decision for Blank.

“We made it very clear that this was financially and not performance-driven and that they’ll always be a part of our family,” she said of the departing employees.

“Every foundation is rethinking its grants budget right now,” she added.

Among those laid off were Brian Farley, vice president of communications and public affairs at AMB Group; and LaRhonda Jackson, communications manager for community relations at the Falcons and the Falcons Youth Foundation. Jackson’s dad, Larron Jackson, played for the Falcons in 1974 and 1975. LaRhonda Jackson couldn’t be reached for comment.

Farley has already started a business as a public relations consultant and said AMB Group will be a client.

Blank, a co-founder of Home Depot, left the retail giant in 2001 and has since focused on the Falcons and the Force and other interests including the foundation, Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana and the Atlanta Falcons Physical Therapy Centers. The physical therapy clinics recently expanded to four locations, and Shreckengost said the cutbacks will not affect the chain’s growth.

At least some of Blank’s fortune is still in Home Depot stock, which is down close to 30 percent in this fall’s market dive. Shreckengost would not say how much Home Depot stock Blank holds, adding that his investments are “diversified.”

In 2008, Blank was the 377th wealthiest American, according to Forbes magazine. He is on the boards of the office supply chain Staples and Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, parent company of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.