Susan G. Komen reverses decision - Will continue to fund PP

MrsAJL · February 2012

I don't know if anyone was following the Susan G. Komen for the Cure decision to defund Planned Parenthood. It caused an enormous stir up with accusations that SGK's move was political and not really about safeguarding donor funds (as per SGK's original statement.)

I guess the social media, press, and general pressure of dissent got to them. SGK is reinstating funds to PP.

From the Susan G. Komen for the Cure blog, a statement from Nancy Brinker and the board of SGK

https://blog.komen.org/?p=994

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women?s lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics ? anyone?s politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public?s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.

MrsMillerTime · February 2012

backpedal, backpedal, backpedal

Ruby44 · February 2012

wow... crisis communications/PR nightmare!

MrsAJL · February 2012

SGK has pissed off everyone now. People who dropped support when the defunded PP are not coming back. People who upped their support when they defunded PP are going to leave.

It's going to be a long time before SGK can recover from this press and publicity nightmare.

What I think is interesting is this statement:

We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.

I hope Penn State comes out of their investigation unscathed or they stand to lose $7.5 million from SGK.

MrsAJL · February 2012

They remind me a little bit of this:

Taytee · February 2012

The only part of all of this that I hate is seems like people feel there is a due dilgence or owed charity. I do not believe that one life is more important than another. However, I believe that organizations reserve the right to place their money where they see fit based upon the goals they are trying to achieve. There is no obligation to keep giving just because you always have. And if you want to take your money and put it somewhere else, you're allowed to do that!

I got flammed hard core on the knot many moons ago for admitting that I had pink ribbon burnout. I guess the rest of society is just a little late to catch up.

mrs.wildman · February 2012

MrsMillerTime:
backpedal, backpedal, backpedal

Yup. Not sure I'll ever donate to the organization again. I'll be giving my money to PP and the American Cancer Society. What's hard is that I don't want to support my friends who do walks, but I'll really have to think about where I'm giving money moving forward.

MrsAJL · February 2012

Taytee:
The only part of all of this that I hate is seems like people feel there is a due dilgence or owed charity. I do not believe that one life is more important than another. However, I believe that organizations reserve the right to place their money where they see fit based upon the goals they are trying to achieve. There is no obligation to keep giving just because you always have. And if you want to take your money and put it somewhere else, you're allowed to do that!

I got flammed hard core on the knot many moons ago for admitting that I had pink ribbon burnout. I guess the rest of society is just a little late to catch up.

But that's not why people were upset with the decision. If SGK said, "We will no longer fund Planned Parenthood because we are not comfortable being in a partnership with an organization that provides abortion services" then I think while people would still be upset, there was no deceit or run around.

But SGK dropped PP on a technicality. They dropped them because SGK changed their grantee eligibilty to reject any organization that was under current federal investigation. This change came AFTER Planned Parenthood's investigation was opened by Rep. Stearns.

If that's the case, then SGK should have also dropped Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Penn State Hershey has a $7.5 million grant. The university is under federal investigation for the Sandusky/Paterno child molestation situation.

So the whole move looked to be that SGK was just finding a reason to dump Planned Parenthood.

I don't begrudge anybody the right to stop funding whatever they want, but be honest about your reasons. If not, in the this social media and digital press age, you're going to get it right up the keester.

AustinBride06 · February 2012

I just read an article in the Wash Post this AM... interview w/ a komen exec... and she said that she wasn't really knowledgeable about the investigations and that to her knowledge, the funding was cut because PP was mostly farming out exams to a third party. They actually didn't cut funding to 3-4 PP's, including the one in Waco, TX, because those are the only breast care providers in their areas.

Here's the link to the WaPo thing... Chrome won't let me make it clicky, sorry:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/komen-speaks/2012/02/02/gIQArKI9kQ_blog.html

PS. I'm glad that this situation has gotten PP a lot more attention and donations.

Ruby44 · February 2012

MrsAJL:
Taytee:
The only part of all of this that I hate is seems like people feel there is a due dilgence or owed charity. I do not believe that one life is more important than another. However, I believe that organizations reserve the right to place their money where they see fit based upon the goals they are trying to achieve. There is no obligation to keep giving just because you always have. And if you want to take your money and put it somewhere else, you're allowed to do that!

I got flammed hard core on the knot many moons ago for admitting that I had pink ribbon burnout. I guess the rest of society is just a little late to catch up.
But that's not why people were upset with the decision. If SGK said, "We will no longer fund Planned Parenthood because we are not comfortable being in a partnership with an organization that provides abortion services" then I think while people would still be upset, there was no deceit or run around.
But SGK dropped PP on a technicality. They dropped them because SGK changed their grantee eligibilty to reject any organization that was under current federal investigation. This change came AFTER Planned Parenthood's investigation was opened by Rep. Stearns.
If that's the case, then SGK should have also dropped Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Penn State Hershey has a $7.5 million grant. The university is under federal investigation for the Sandusky/Paterno child molestation situation.
So the whole move looked to be that SGK was just finding a reason to dump Planned Parenthood.
I don't begrudge anybody the right to stop funding whatever they want, but be honest about your reasons. If not, in the this social media and digital press age, you're going to get it right up the keester.

I totally agree. Their communication to the public during this whole fiasco was absolutely horrendous. Here's a good article about that.

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Susan G. Komen reverses decision - Will continue to fund PP

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