Susan G. Komen Foundation Drops Funding For Planned Parenthood

[Conan71]

SGK is coming under fire for cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening.  I had seen some activity on Facebook calling for people to quit sending contributions to SGKF as a result.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/susan-g-komens-funding-cut-to-planned-parenthood-only-latest-in-string-of-controversies/2012/02/01/gIQAeQlXhQ_blog.html?tid=pm_national_pop

Interesting story.  The funding doesn't seem to be a large amount, less than $700K per year but sounds like this could cost the Komen Foundation millions in contributions.

[nathanm]

Yeah, the "new" CEO is apparently a Bush-style (so-called) conservative with a very strong anti-choice PoV. However, the excuse is that PP is under "investigation" by Congress. Never mind that there aren't even any real accusations, just Congressional Republicans doing their usual dirt-digging on anyone and everyone they can think of that might possibly make the other side look bad. They learned well from Nixon on that count.

[Teatownclown]

SGK is coming under fire for cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening.  I had seen some activity on Facebook calling for people to quit sending contributions to SGKF as a result.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/susan-g-komens-funding-cut-to-planned-parenthood-only-latest-in-string-of-controversies/2012/02/01/gIQAeQlXhQ_blog.html?tid=pm_national_pop

Interesting story.  The funding doesn't seem to be a large amount, less than $700K per year but sounds like this could cost the Komen Foundation millions in contributions.

I'm yanking mine...

[AquaMan]

Please define what you're yanking.

[Hoss]

Please define what you're yanking.

Why did you ask him that?

[AquaMan]

Not clear if he is really excited to see the funding drop and is typing one handed or if he is pulling his donations because of the funding drop. Kids are reading these posts you know.

[we vs us]

Komen really stepped in it.  No one really buys the reasoning for the funding cut, and it's politicized enough now that it wouldn't matter even if that was the original motivation. As my brilliant spouse said to me tonight, the perceived statement was strong enough so that they can't reverse position.  And they can't go to much forward without actually endangering their core mission, which is breast cancer prevention. All in all -- in one fell swoop -- a terrible position for Komen to have put themselves in.

On a personal level, I can tell you that neither me nor my spouse will donate or run/walk in the Race for the Cure from here on out.  All of our time and money will now go directly to Planned Parenthood, an organization that provided us with crucial care during the decade when we didn't have health insurance.  And we were solid former Komen supporters -- donating and participating in their public outings (Race for the Cure was our first 5k after quitting smoking).  But we're done with all that, will donate solely to PP from here on out.

[Townsend]

Komen Founder: We Won't 'Bow Down'

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/02/02/komen-founder-we-won-t-bow-down.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure released a video Wednesday defending the cancer foundation's harshly criticized decision to stop raising money for Planned Parenthood. "We will never bow down to political pressure," Nancy Brinker said in the YouTube video. The foundation's website was hacked briefly at midnight Thursday, with hackers writing "help us run over poor women on our way to the bank." While the foundation has said the decision to stop granting funds was based on "eligibility" and "grant-strengthening," many have speculated it had to do with politics—especially since the organization's new senior vice-president is a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel who is anti-abortion and reportedly retweeted that it is "typical of an abortion group to turn a fundraising decision into a politicial bomb." The tweet has since been deleted. A top Komen official reportedly resigned immediately after the decision to cut funding was made.

[Teatownclown]

And I will no longer go into a Brinker chain restaurant .... I'm yanking them too.

[Conan71]

I heard a disturbing statistic this morning on the SGK story on CBS:

Over the last five years, Planned Parenthood has provided 130,000 mammograms which were funded by Komen.

Does that number seem pretty small to anyone else considering the earning power of the Komen foundation?  That works out to 26,000 mammograms a year for women who would be lower income or who do not have health insurance.  That's an average of 520 mammograms per state.  I'm curious if the mammogram services are simply underutilized by PP clients or due to limited funding by Komen over that five year period.

I tend to be skeptical of larger foundations like Komen or Livestrong as I believe they can get too big to serve their mission and they become a place for a chosen lucky few to make a huge salary while the focus seems to become more constant shilling for money rather than distributing money in a meaningful manner.

Here's a copy of Komen financials.  They do pay out quite a bit toward their mission compared to administrative costs but the breakdown on expenditures seems to have skewed priorities to me.

Out of $439 million total revenue for FY 2011:

"Supporting Services" takes about $75 mm
Education: $181mm
Research: $75mm
Health Screening: $54mm
Treatment Services: $23mm

Education eats up about $25mm in salaries and benefits.  Not sure why the emphasis seems to be on education instead of treatment, screening, and research.  Anyone else want to take a swing at that.

http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/Content/AboutUs/Financial/2011%20Komen%20Financial%20Statements%20FINAL(3).pdf

I'm not saying foundations like this one are inherently bad, I simply think they can become too politically-driven and either wittingly or unwittingly become political tools.  I personally quit contributing to Livestrong when they came out strongly in favor of Obamacare and I question their priorities.  They also list "education" as a primary expense over research or treatment grants and spend a fair amount of their budget on "government relations".  I still wear a Livestrong bracelet for cancer awareness, but don't participate in Livestrong events, fundraising, nor personal contributions.

[Conan71]

And I will no longer go into a Brinker chain restaurant .... I'm yanking them too.

Eat local anyhow, it's a good practice.

Aren't they down to Chili's and Maggianos now and just a minority stake in Romano's?  They are full of "meh" anyhow.

[AquaMan]

I'm irritated by their move, but I'm surprised by the outcry. Pleased, but surprised.

They won't budge till fundraising actually drops enough to make up for the grants they will now receive from their new friends. The best thing to happen would be for a competitive foundation to spring up that would actually be non political.

[Townsend]

Top Susan G. Komen Official Resigned Over Planned Parenthood Cave-In


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/top-susan-g-komen-official-resigned-over-planned-parenthood-cave-in/252405/

[nathanm]

I heard a disturbing statistic this morning on the SGK story on CBS:

Over the last five years, Planned Parenthood has provided 130,000 mammograms which were funded by Komen.

Does that number seem pretty small to anyone else considering the earning power of the Komen foundation?  That works out to 26,000 mammograms a year for women who would be lower income or who do not have health insurance.  That's an average of 520 mammograms per state.  I'm curious if the mammogram services are simply underutilized by PP clients or due to limited funding by Komen over that five year period.

PP does a whole lot more breast exams than that, but only this relatively small fraction were funded by Komen. (although I thought it was 33,000 a year with the Komen money) Nonetheless, it surely isn't going to help. I think we all agree that preventative screenings are one of the easiest things we can do to keep healthcare costs down. Treating diseases, even cancer, early not only usually results in a better prognosis, but often lessens the amount of intervention necessary.

It annoys me to no end that people feel the need to play politics with women's health like this.

[Townsend]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/02/146297351/wave-of-donations-help-planned-parenthood-make-up-most-of-komens-funding?ft=1&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

New Donations Help Planned Parenthood Make Up Most Of Komen's Funding

Planned Parenthood says a flurry of new donations over the past couple of days has essentially made up the funding gap left by Susan G. Komen for the Cure's decision to discontinue funding for the organization.

Bloomberg reports that as of Wednesday afternoon, Planned Parenthood had received $400,000 in pledges from 6,000 donors. Planned Parenthood also said that an emergency fund was started with a $250,000 gift from the foundation of Texas oil baron Lee Fikes and his wife, Amy.

That totals $650,000, which is not far from the $680,000 that Komen gave Planned Parenthood last year.

"People respond powerfully when they see politics interfering with women's health," a spokesman for Planned Parenthood told the AFP. "That's why we've seen a tremendous outpouring of support."

As our friends over at Shots told us this morning, Komen said efficiency and not politics led to its decision to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides both breast screenings and abortions. But the decision from the country's leading breast cancer charity, which was announced on Tuesday night, unleashed strong feelings on both sides of the abortion debate.