Right-Wing Politics Hurt Komen Foundation Funding

Since its inception in 1982, the foundation called Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure) has raised funds through donations, corporate sponsorships, walks & races, and other activities to fund finding a cure for breast cancer. They fund both research and organizations dedicated to diagnosing and preventing that terrible disease. They had established a reputation envied by many other charitable organizations, and they were growing.

But then they decided to dip their toe into right-wing politics, and announced that as of January 2012 they would no longer provide funding for Planned Parenthood. Evidently this was because the organization leaders disapproved of Planned Parenthood's involvement in helping some women to get an abortion. This had nothing to do with breast cancer, and Planned Parenthood performed many other services (abortion being only a tiny percentage of their services). In fact, Planned Parenthood offered the only resource for many women in receiving diagnosis for breast cancer.

This ridiculous decision by Komen was met with a firestorm of disapproval in the general public. And after only a short time, Komen reversed its decision and said Planned Parenthood would be considered for donations in the future. The hope was that this reversal of policy would prevent a drop in revenue for the foundation. But those revenues dropped significantly anyway -- maybe not as much as if the decision had not been reversed, but still a significant drop nonetheless. The charts below show the drop in revenue report by Komen from 2012 to 2013.

Komen Still Hurting From Its Political Blunder

Last year, the Susan G. Komen Foundation revealed their true colors. They showed their ultra-right-wing politics by cutting off their grant funding for Planned Parenthood -- a move that went against their own charter by cutting hundreds of thousands of women off from receiving breast cancer screenings. They quickly reversed their position and said they would again consider Planned Parenthood for future grants (but refused to say those grants would actually be approved). However, the damage to their once-respected brand was done.

And it looks like they still haven't recovered from the self-inflicted damage. A few days ago (on April 15), their annual Race for the Cure was held in Fort Worth. Participation in the race was down by 23% -- and the fundraising was down by 21%. This is pretty much in line with what has been happening across the nation in these races. Participation has dropped by about 30%.

The question now is whether they can ever restore the trust they once had. Now that we know their right-wing political bent, how can we ever be sure they won't do something similar in the future -- just in a sneakier and more underhanded way?

Komen Still Hurting From Their Foray Into Right-Wing Politics

As you probably know by now, the Susan G. Komen Foundation recently exposed their right-wing political beliefs by announcing they would no longer provide funds to Planned Parenthood for their breast exam and mammogram program (a program that helped thousands of women who could not afford an alternative). That move resulted in a firestorm of protest directed against them.

They eventually apologized, and said they would consider giving grants to Planned Parenthood in the future -- although they made no promise to do so. I think they thought that would make everything OK. But personally, I no longer trust the Komen Foundation now that I know the nasty political leanings of the founder and the board of directors. And it looks like I'm not the only one who no longer trusts them.

The Komen Foundation has scheduled its Run For The Cure race in Fort Worth for April 14th. At this point last year, the early registration total for the race stood at 4,178 and eventually around 14,000 participated in the race. But this year the early registrations have been far less, only 2,125 have signed up so far. Race organizers say they're not sure the lag in registration is because of the Planned Parenthood debacle, and hope the registrations will pick up after summer vacation.

I think they are engaging in some wishful thinking. There are a whole lot of people who are still angry about the Komen Foundation entering right-wing political waters. Komen broke their trust, and trust is not something that can be cured in a short period of time with a half-hearted apology.

If I were in the Komen Foundation, I would be very worried. Texas is an ultra-conservative state, and if Komen support is down by 50% here you can imagine how badly they have been hurt in other areas.

More On The Komen Foundation

The above image was found on the blog Dammit Janet. There it was labeled the "new Komen logo". Considering the right-wing politics that has recently been exposed concerning the foundation's CEO (Nancy Brinker), vice-president (Karen Handel), and Board of Directors, the label has the ring of truth. They put their right-wing politics over the importance of poor and uninsured women being able to get early breast cancer screening -- and even though they have apologized for the announcement they made, they have not promised to continue future funding for these screenings at Planned Parenthood (or anywhere else).

The Komen Foundation's political attack has seriously damaged their image and it will probably take years for them to recover, if they ever do. And it has caused many people to look a lot more closely at the foundation and its actions -- and some of the things they are finding are not very pretty. For instance, the foundation spends over a $1 million a year (of charitable donations) to sue other charitable organizations for using the color pink or the words "for the cure" in their fund-raising efforts. Is this really a wise use of donated funds -- funds that were donated to fight breast cancer?

And that is not the only questionable use of donated funds. The CEO of the Komen Foundation receives an annual salary of $459,406.00 a year. That's more than the salary of the President of the United States. That bothers me. Should the head of a charitable organization, any charitable organization, be making nearly half a million dollars a year in salary?

In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the Komen Foundation reported the following expenses:
$140.8 million (39.1%) was spent on public education
$75.4 million (20.9%) was spent on research
$46.9 million (13.0%) was spent on health screenings
$20.1 million (5.6%) was spent on treatment services
$36.1 million (10.0%) was spent on fund-raising expenses
$40.6 million (11.3%) for general and administrative expenses
TOTAL EXPENSES = $359.9 million

That makes it look like they are spending 78.7% of all donations to actually fight breast cancer in some way. But that is not quite true. While the expenses for the year was $359.9 million, the Komen Foundation actually had an income for the year of about $400 million. What happened to the other $40.1 million (about 10% of their income)? Did you know the foundation plays the stock market? Since all other expenses are accounted for, this obviously is money they use to play the stock market. I think most people who donate to the Komen Foundation are unaware that 10% of the foundation's income goes into the stock market, and I doubt they would approve of it. Their money was donated to be used in the fight against breast cancer -- not gambled in the stock market.

When you consider the actual income of the foundation (instead of just expenses), the percentages change:
35.2% was spent on public education
18.85% was spent on research
11.7% was spent on health screenings
5.0% was spent on treatment services

That means that only 70.8% of their income was spent on cancer related expenses (not 78.7%). Which of course means that 29.2% of their income goes to non-cancer related things. I wonder if the contributors know that only 7 out of 10 dollars goes to the purpose for which the foundation claims it was created to do?

And then you have the issue of "pink-washing". The Komen Foundation receives about $55 million a year from corporations -- and in return, these corporations get the Komen Foundation's seal of approval by allowing them to use the foundation's name and pink ribbon logo. It creates the perception that these companies only produce safe products that can be counted on to not harm consumers. Sadly, that is not necessarily true -- and some of those products actually contain cancer-causing chemicals.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think the Komen Foundation is a nest of vipers -- who care more for their income and politics than they do the health of women. I'm not at all sure I can ever trust them again. There are many other organizations that raise money for breast cancer research and treatment, and you can go to this website to find them. Donating to defeat breast cancer is a good thing. Donating to the Komen Foundation is not.

Komen - It's A Matter Of Trust Now

Yesterday I joined many other bloggers, individuals, and organizations in condemning the Komen Foundation for their putting right-wing ideology over the early detection of breast cancer among poor women -- a mean-spirited move that could have cost the lives of some women. They did this by cutting off funds for the breast cancer screening program of Planned Parenthood.

Fortunately many individuals stepped up to the plate and donated over $650,000 to Planned Parenthood to save the early screening program (even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his politics aside and donated $250,000). But these donations from other Americans don't mitigate the action of the Komen Foundation. Their move to put politics over saving lives was despicable.

For a couple of days the leaders of the Komen Foundation tried to quell the backlash to their action by claiming they were receiving overwhelming support for their political move. That was laughable. A perusal of their own website showed most commenters were angry, not supportive. When the backlash continued to grow, the Komen Foundation finally realized what a mess they had created for themselves. Personally, I think they finally woke up to the financial reality of the situation (some sources were predicting their contributions could be cut in half). They have now apologized, saying:

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. [...]

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.

I guess they are now hoping everyone will forgive them and forget their action and everything will go back to the way it was before. Unfortunately it's just not that simple. The Komen Foundation has seriously damaged the trust they had built up over the years. Do they really mean what they say now? Or are they just trying to save themselves and their financial prospects? I have to admit that I don't trust them right now. Consider the following:

* The only promise the organization made in its apology was to "continue to fund existing grants". Those were never in question, since it was future grants that they were going to cut off for Planned Parenthood.

* They assured everyone that Planned Parenthood is eligible to apply for future grants. The problem is that being eligible to apply is a long way from having an application approved for a grant. They could cut off future funds for Planned Parenthood and still be living up to their above statement (since all they promised is to let them apply).

* Even if some future funds are approved for Planned Parenthood, how can we know those funds won't be cut each year until they no longer exist? That would be an "under-the-radar" way to cut off the funds without incurring the bad publicity and huge backlash.

* The right-wing nut-job who instituted the cut-off of funds for Planned Parenthood, Karen Handel (Senior Vice-President of Public Policy), is still employed by the Komen Foundation. She has not apologized or said she would follow a different policy than the one she announced. How can we trust the Komen Foundation as long as she retains a position of power within that organization?

The apology was a good thing, but it was only a very tiny baby-step toward making things right again. Words are nice, but concrete actions are necessary. Trust can be restored, but it won't be easy or fast.

Komen Foundation Has Abandoned Its Principles For Its New Political Ideology

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few days, you already know about the mess the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation has created for itself. The Komen Foundation was created to raise funds to fight breast cancer -- a laudable goal since breast cancer claims the lives of far too many women in this country. And to further that goal, they have in the past been giving a grant to Planned Parenthood. Now they have cut off all Funding for Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood never misused the funds they received from the Komen Foundation. Since 2005, they have used those funds to do 170,000 breast exams and over 6,400 mammogram referrals -- undoubtably saving the lives of many women who could not afford to go elsewhere and pay for those exams and mammograms.

But the Komen Foundation has found something they think is more important than saving the lives of poor women by the early detection of breast cancer -- their new right-wing ideology. After hiring Karen Handel, a right-wing anti-choice activist from Georgia, the Komen Foundation decided that they would no longer fund the breast cancer screenings done by Planned Parenthood. Although they are now trying to deny it, the once non-partisan cancer foundation has put themselves squarely in the political arena and decided that denying cancer screenings to poor women is the politically-correct thing to do.

Like many others, I am shocked by this obviously political power-play by the Komen Foundation. My own mother was a victim of breast cancer and had a double-mastectomy. In the past, I have supported the Komen Foundation because I believed their goal was worthy. I now have serious doubts about the organization, and I will no longer support their efforts. I still think the fight against breast cancer is a very worthy fight and I hope it can soon be won. But the Komen Foundation is far from the only organization waging that fight. For those of you who agree, here is a website of organizations involved in this effort, and most or all of them try to avoid the politics now being engaged in by the Komen Foundation.

There are also a lot of corporate entities that support the Komen Foundation. They need to be encouraged to change that support to a non-partisan breast cancer group. This can be done by writing to these companies and by boycotting their products until they do so. They can be easily identified, because they all have a pick ribbon on their products. I urge you to do this. Cancer prevention, treatment, and cure is too important to be the plaything of any political ideology.

(Graphic above is from the excellent blog What Would Jack Do?)

Lies From The Fundie Right-Wing

The billboard pictured above is in Waco, Texas. It's a prime example of the ridiculous lengths that the right-wing fundamentalists will go to, all to try and push their anti-abortion views. I wouldn't have a problem with the billboard except for two things -- it's a lie and it's slanderous.

Let's talk about the slander first. The billboard is obviously putting forth an anti-abortion point of view, and by linking Planned Parenthood to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation on this kind of billboard gives the impression that the Komen Foundation is linked to abortions. This is absolutely not true.

The Komen Foundation has never supported abortion in any way. Their only purpose is fighting breast cancer. They have donated over $1 billion for education and research regarding breast cancer.They do have a connection with Planned Parenthood, but it has nothing to do with abortion.

They have given Planned Parenthood some funds to do breast exams and educate women about breast cancer. The billboard slanders the Komen Foundation because it intentionally gives viewers the wrong impression -- it implies that they are funding abortions. Personally, I think the Komen Foundation should turn some attorneys loose on them.

The billboard also is telling viewers that there is a connection between breast cancer and abortion. It comes right out and says that abortion increases the risk of getting breast cancer. That is a lie! They are relying on inaccurate and poorly done studies.

The truth is that all of the biggest, newest and most reliable studies have concluded that there is absolutely no connection. There is NO increased risk of getting breast cancer after getting an abortion!

These people have the right to oppose abortion. However, they don't have the right to slander innocent organizations and tell lies to support their views.

Little Rock Catholic Diocese Backs Down

A little over a week ago, I told you about how Monsignor Hebert of the Catholic Church's Little Rock diocese was trying to get his parishoners to stop helping to fund the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. He was upset because the Komen Foundation had partnered with Planned Parenthood to give breast exams and educate women about breast cancer.

Ignoring the fact that the Komen Foundation has nothing to do with abortion and has given over $1 billion for cancer research, Hebert heard the words "Planned Parenthood" and evidently lost his mind.

Well, it looks like someone has shaken some sense into the religious idiot. Yesterday, he said he was mistaken, and apologized to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. The Komen Foundation has accepted his apology.

I guess the Monsignor's ridiculous stance generated a bit too much heat. I suspect his superiors in the church were not happy about this kind of negative publicity.

Church Opposes Breast Cancer Foundation

Sometimes religious nuts go off the deep end in their zeal to further their own political beliefs. That's what I believe is happening here. It just makes no sense to me that a church would come out in opposition to funding breast cancer research.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation is a leading voice in the search for a cure to a devastating disease -- breast cancer. The foundation has invested $1 billion in cancer research and outreach. A reasonable person would think this is a good thing and applaud them for their wonderful work.

But not Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert of the Catholic Church's Little Rock diocese. He has sent a letter to the parishes and schools in the diocese asking them not to support or donate to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. He is an anti-abortion nut (who evidently thinks he should have more say over a woman's body than the woman).

Hebert is angry because the Komen Foundation teamed up with Planned Parenthood to give breast exams and educate women about breast cancer. This partnership has nothing to do with abortion in any form, but has the exclusive purpose of fighting breast cancer and saving women's lives.

But rational thinking is obviously not in Hebert's repertoire. He heard the words "Planned Parenthood", and his Pavlovian response was to go off the deep end and try to hurt the Komen Foundation.

He should be ashamed of himself.