Komen’s Crisis Came Not From Politics
but From Poor Management Decisions
IN THE WEEKS since the nation witnessed a public crisis at one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most revered charities, it has become abundantly
clear that the lessons from the
debacle at Susan G. Komen for
the Cure did not stem so much
from politics or culture wars but
from ill-advised management.
Regardless of one’s position
on the highly emotional issue
of abortion rights, Komen’s decision to end support for Planned
Parenthood’s breast-cancer
screening program was a textbook example of administrative
decision making gone wrong.
And the people who ended up
getting hurt the most were those
who were meant to be helped—
women in need of screenings
and care for breast cancer.
Now that some of the heat has
subsided, it’s time to focus on
the invaluable lessons the situation offers to scores of charities
as they chart their course in an
increasingly difficult time for
nonprofits. Among them:
Mission must trump every-
thing else. Komen lost its way
when it diverted from attend-
ing to the needs of the people
it serves and instead allowed
itself to become wrapped up in
the agenda of its leaders.
Komen lost its way
when it diverted
from attending to
the needs of
the people it serves.
is so important. Its ubiquitous
pink ribbons stand as an admirable reminder of the focus and
impact of its marketing and its
mission. But the decision to pull
money from Planned Parenthood appeared to stray from its
apolitical agenda.
Many years ago, Komen decided to support Planned Parenthood’s breast-cancer screenings, largely because of the organization’s ability to reach
a wide swath of the country’s
THE CHRONICLE OF
PHIL A NTHROP Y
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women in need. That is where
Komen’s attention originally
was directed. Sadly, that is not
where it stayed.
Never forget priorities of
your constituents. The uproar
over the decision to stop providing money to Planned Parenthood enraged Komen’s donors
and volunteers not so much because they did or did not support abortion rights but because
those people were loyal to a mission that focused on women with
cancer and those at risk of getting the disease, many of whom
could not otherwise afford lifesaving care. Those supporters
were not as concerned about
what was happening down the
hall at Planned Parenthood as
they were about the women who
have been saved from the ravages of breast cancer by dollars
from the Komen charity.
Political figures bring
good and bad baggage. Nonprofits that work closely with
particularly polarizing figures
in making closely watched policy decisions must recognize the
risks.
That is not to say that politicians cannot make fine nonprofit leaders. President Obama,
former Speaker Newt Gingrich,
and scores of other politicians
have successfully and forthrightly used their nonprofit interests to immerse themselves
in issues and causes they felt
were important.
Rather, nonprofits must be
cautious about ensuring that a
By offering questionable rationales, the
charity succeeded
only in infuriating
everyone.
politician so closely associated
with a hot-button issue is not
later perceived as exercising undue influence over the charity’s
decision-making process.
When Karen Handel joined
Komen as senior vice president for policy, she brought
with her a promise to end support to Planned Parenthood
because of the abortion services it provides. She made that
well-known pledge about government money when she ran
(unsuccessfully) to become the
Republican gubernatorial candidate in Georgia. As a result,
Komen’s decision to discontinue
paying for breast-cancer medical services at Planned Parenthood was cloaked in that very
public reasoning.
And that’s why Komen’s effort
to explain the merits of its decision was doomed to fail, because
the organization could not effectively disassociate itself from
THE CHRONICLE OF PHILAN THROP Y
MARK LI TZLER
“Boy meets donor. Boy loses donor to children’s hospital.
Boy goes back to his little black book of prospects.”
what was widely perceived as
Ms. Handel’s agenda. Her resignation a few days after the
scandal broke was further evidence of the problem.
A timely and forthright
public response to mistakes
is critical. Nonprofits are not
immune from the reality that
any less-than-candid response
is often more troubling than the
action or decision that preceded
it. When Komen’s decision about
Planned Parenthood became
public, which was inevitable,
the reactions of its leaders were
swift and poorly thought out.
They denied it had anything
to do with abortion politics. They
claimed it was because Planned
Parenthood was under “
investigation” by the House Oversight
and Investigations Subcommittee. Few people believed that.
Komen executives then squabbled over how the story became
public, they argued about who
had been involved in the decision, they did everything except
be upfront about their decision
making.
By offering questionable rationales, the organization succeeded only in infuriating everyone. Those who support
abortion rights were angry that
the issue would keep women
from securing medical treatment that could help them detect cancer early. Those who oppose abortion rights were angry
when the organization reversed
its decision.
Where it had once so masterfully turned breast-cancer awareness into a national
cause, Komen was now forced to
“apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast
doubt upon our commitment to
our mission.”
Social media’s speed and
reach have changed every-
thing. Just because nonprofits
have an admirable mission does
not mean they are immune to
the power and reach of social
media. After her departure from
Komen, just a few days after the
controversy erupted, Ms. Han-
del complained that Planned
Parenthood orchestrated a so-
cial-media campaign against
the organization, which “doesn’t
have the strength in the area of
social media.”
You Tube, Facebook, and mass
e-mail contributed mightily to
the uproar by quickly inform-
ing and galvanizing hundreds
of thousands of concerned indi-
viduals. Cyberspace proved to
be a tenuous place, even for the
dedicated. The need for chari-
ties to be media savvy was nev-
er more evident, never more on
display.
Nonprofit groups
that work with
polarizing political
figures must
recognize the risks.
foundation’s travails as an isolated occurrence in the nonprofit world.
Instead, the lessons from its
problems should serve as a clarion call to nonprofit organizations to take care how they try
to fulfill their public trust.
Daniel Grunfeld served as
chief executive of Public Counsel
and David Lash as CEO of Bet
Tzedek, two large charitable organizations that serve the poor
and disenfranchised. Currently,
they practice law in the Los Angeles offices of two international
law firms.
