Susan G. Komen for the Cure defunds Planned Parenthood
 

Susan G. Komen's decision to defund Planned Parenthood has left many upset leaving thousands of messages on their FB page declaring that they will no longer support this charity.

This story discusses the PR attempts to clean up their FB page after the announcement. http://jezebel.com/5881277/susan-g-k...nnedparenthood

I encourage you to also look at the video link at the bottom of the page for an upcoming movie discussing the corporatization of breast cancer. I actually had a breast cancer patient tell me this recently. "I'm not a pink ribbon."

I've had issue with SGK for a while now. I support the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer walk and am now a donor to PP thanks to this news. I have actually read mammograms referred from PP just like I would for patients referred from any other physician. They're a normal provider. This is a shame.

Wow. I have been somewhat anti-Susan G (as in, just personally deciding not to donate, get caught up in the hoopla, etc) since I saw on here and fb a while back about how they sue other philanthropy events doing "for the cure" activities. But after watching that youtube clip, I *really* want to watch the documentary (and then I'm sure the Susan G damage control piece that will follow) to know even more about the way the money has overtaken the philanthropy. Kind of disgusting, really.

That has been my problem with them, as well. Left a bad taste in my mouth, but I don't bad mouth them to others. This, however, is too much. Putting politics over the well being of low income women is too much for me to stomach.

:( What a shame, on both counts. It's a shame that politics got involved with a charity, and it's a shame people will stop donating to SGK as a result.

At least there are alternatives, like American Cancer Society and The Stephanie Spielman Fund.

You can certainly donate directly to Planned Parenthood.

In college, I worked summers in a research lab helping with gene therapy cancer research ... maybe half our time was spent doing grant proposals for breast cancer research, even though our lab's work would be much more useful for other forms of cancer (generally, less treatable/less easily targeted, albeit rarer, forms).

The corporatization of (specifically breast) cancer has created borderline monoliths, and they control the money, and thus help direct research. It's actually kind of awkward, having a corporate oligarchy for something like cancer research ... and while breast cancer obviously isn't completely solved, treatments are much more successful than many other cancers (even common ones).

It's not hyperbole to think that the actions of certain groups have pushed aside research attempts for other cancers. It's the cash reality.

Is Susan G. Komen still one of ZTA's national philanthropies? If so, I can imagine that there's an internal debate going on in ZTA about that relationship.

Both groups have their political turmoil brewing here. I can understand why people are withdrawing their money from SGKnow, but I can also understand why SGK made such a decision about Planned Parenthood. While I know about some of the really good things that Planned Parenthood has helped with in terms of access to health care and public health, I was recently accidentally at a big Planned Parenthood meeting because they were meeting in the same hotel I had some other business in. On the one hand, they were talking about encouraging and promoting health awareness, they were also training students about political activism (sort of a la the Occupy movement or the less friendly versions of the Tea Party), and they were promoting some causes that I was not comfortable with at all. :eek:

such as?

What just didn't seem right was some of the things they had about recruiting high school kids into working for their programs in particular in urban communities and how to go about raising money. I can't find any of the names of the seminars or the agenda online right now, but there was more to it than a public health awareness program or passing out condoms and Aids awareness literature to students. They had high school students who were there as an award for a high school program that were then invited to attend seminars on how to raise money for planned parenthood or help support political campaigns.

Seriously. My grandmother died of breast cancer, and my mom died of a ribbonless cancer, and I'm quite sure that neither of them would be in super impressed with SGK on this one. The pinkwashing and sexualization of breastcancer has been horrendous.

SGK still refuses to acknowledge that BPA has been linked with cancers - BPA that are used in the making of their pink goods.

I wasn't too impressed with SGK when my mother signed up to do their walk in Philadelphia. Apparently she had to raise $2,500 to even be a part of it. When she didn't raise the entire amount and she was about $500 short, SGK told her that she would have "make up the difference" out of her pocket since she had already signed on to particpate. Really? This woman just helped raise over $1,500 and that wasn't "good enough" to participate? After that, when people ask me to do a SGK walk, I turn the other way. No way would I EVER do a walk for SGK if that is how they conduct business. I'd rather just donate the amount I can and call it a day.

They have a partnership with them with race for the cure, but if I recall correctly, we had a discussion on here that their philanthropy is no longer SGK specifically but breast cancer research generically.

And so much word on the "pinkwashing." Talk about the lowest form of human involvement.

Planned Parenthood NEVER set out to be political. Others have made it so. They're only doing what they need to do to defend themselves from obliteration.

Agree 100%. I have been a fan of SGK for over 20 years and will continue to be one.

Why should that matter? It's her choice.

:confused:

I think she was just asking for clarification...

Absolutely. God bless Chris Spielman and his involvement.

SGK's decision is chickenfeathers. I have supported them in the past by participating in their Race for the Cure a number of years, and donations. No more. Will find other avenues.

My peeve- There is a SGK Three Day Walk here in DC in October. I swear, ads for this already are on the radio and local tv channels 752 times a day. It's early February, for Christ's sake. i wonder what the percentage of funds raised by these walks actually go to research-that ad budget must chip away at a nice chunk of it. In addition, there is an Avon Three Day walk in May. They advertise 389 times a day. You can't get away from it.

I doubt either group set out to be political.

Amen.

I did some research on PP yesterday as part of a discussion I was having on FB. In 2010, PP performed 11,003,366 services. Less than 3% of those services were abortions. The other more than 97% is STD testing, various forms of birth control (including vasectomy), cancer screening and prevention (including paps and colopscopy procedures), pregnancy tests, adoption counseling, etc.

I think that gets lost on a lot of people who are focusing solely on a single, politically charged issue.

Yes, and you can break that down further, as some of those "abortions" are really post-miscarriage care.

I would think that most of those are PSAs - public service announcements, which are run free by the station. Running free ads for non-profit-type orgs adds to their goodwill, which is weighed during their FCC license renewal hearings.
And they fill time.
If you complain about them, or their frequency, to the station, be sure to copy the FCC.

33 is correct. Several years ago, ZTA changed our phil. to Breast Cancer research and education because we partner with the NFL, Yoplait, local college teams and other local events to promote breast cancer awareness, research and education.

. We sponsor the Survivor Tents(with food and drink for the survivors and their families) and usually provide goodie bags, hats, t-shirts and (sometimes) pink boas for the survivors participating in the race at Race for the Cure.

Well, that's a shame, considering my chapter just started an annual boxer run for SGK. I'm not in charge of it, but hopefully we can find a new organization to donate to next year.

Disclosure: I am a former board member for a local SGK affiliate. That was 6 years ago in a former city. I have not had any involvement since that time except to participate in the local Race For The Cure.

SGK nationally, as well as the local affiliates, must abide by a very strict limit of 75% of funds raised must go directly to research, education, screening or treatment. As someone else mentioned, those spots are donated. However, since it is a 3 day event that they are advertising for, this is probably about the right time. The people who participate in 3 days are often a very different segment than those who do the RFTC. Many women have to train to be able to walk 12 hours a day for 3 days. The lead time gives women the time to truly think about the event, decide if they can commit to that kind of exercise, and then begin training. Yes, walks of that distance do require training, especially given that many of the women doing them many not be regular exercisers.

And now just general comments re: this thread, not specifically directed to SouthbyMidwest:

Back to the 75% ratio- I was a Race Chair for one of the RFTCs. There are many elements of the Race that can be donated, but some absolutely cannot. Examples: police/security along route (you must have cops at all road crossings), ambulance/EMTs (we could often get a doctor to donate time but the on duty EMTs and the ambulance was $$), road barricades, port-o-potties, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. In other words, those of us who have planned those types of events must be very, very careful with our spending, because we absolutely could not go over the 25%. My team worked and worked and worked, and our ratio was 8%. That means that AFTER we paid all our bills, we were still able to donate 92% of all the money raised directly to breast cancer causes. That particular Race yielded over $800,000, so 92% stayed in our local community.

To address als463: I have never, ever heard of an affiliate requiring a specific donation amount. In fact, the RFTC concept is typically the opposite- pampering the survivors. I am sorry this happened to your mom and would be interested to learn more about the situation. Not saying this is the case with your mom, but we fielded all kinds of angry calls about "our" event, however, upon more questioning we learned that the angry callers had attended a different breast cancer walk in town and not the RFTC. This is likely (speculation here, no first hand knowledge) why they are so careful with their trademark. There are already several other breast cancer walks, and again, there is much confusion at least in my former city.

Finally, addressing the main point of the thread, boy facebook has been blowing up for several weeks on both sides of this issue, many of the comments in my feed lacking the full story. First, again in full disclosure, I am probably one of the few people on the planet that is politically neutral on PP. Therefore, I approach PP without any sort of political leanings or agenda.

Komen HQs has never given money directly to PP. However, the local affiliates are free to grant their money (brought in from RFTC or any other local fundraising efforts) however they see fit. PP has applied for grants in through some affiliates, but this has not been a widespread situation. Any local entity that can demonstrate a need in delivering research, education, screening or treatment for breast cancer is invited to submit a grant proposal. These come from a wide range of community entities- hospitals/clinics, mobile mammography, as well as other non-profits. Komen HQ and many local affiliates (mine included) even fund the American Cancer Society, Y-Me and other breast cancer non-profits. Effort is given on the parts of the affiliates to fund underserved populations, as well as ethnic minority groups that demonstrate disproportionally high diagnosis and mortality rates.

My particular affiliate funded numerous organizations that provided free/reduced cost mammograms, with PP never applying in my city. Komen HQ and the local affiliate will continue to fund non-profits, and this money will continue to go to fund mammograms. That part hasn't changed. Those women who previously received a mammogram via PP would likely have other non-profit avenues within their community to continue receiving this life saving service. Obviously this would require some social work involvement to get them plugged in correctly. Not being a SWer, and no longer working in the medical community, I want to be careful not to speculate too much. However, any money that previously was given to PP would still be used in the local community and would now go to a different non-profit.

As for the commercialization of breast cancer, I can't agree more. It turns my stomach to see how corporations play into the disease to make a sale., and I despise any shopping during October. However, I can at least say that SGK gives 75%, at minimum, of the money that they make off these products away. Other organizations that are also lending their name to toilet plungers, kitty litter and who knows what, well, there may not be that level of financial commitment. I saw some bracelets last year where the fine print indicated they "give up to 10% of proceeds."

Sorry for the novel, but this thread obviously struck a chord and I hope to have cleared up some misconceptions that may be out there. Again, it's been 6 years since I have had direct involvement with SGK, so there is no current "dog in the fight." Just wanted to pull the curtain back as to how the organization operates.

The SGK 3-day walk does have a minimum donation/fundraising requirement before one can participate. It is around $3,500, I think.

Oh, and I would much rather give to my local cancer center's grant funds for treatment, or BCRF, Y-Me or Living Beyond Breast Cancer than SGK. I guess I'd just rather give directly to the organizations who are doing the research and treatment, and providing support services, than a fundraising organzation.

For comparison purposes, this about the same amount of PP's funds that go to providing healthcare services. I think it's reasonable for most charities to have about 20-25% G&A.

Thanks for the informative post, Blondie93. While I don't agree with SGK's politically-fueled decision to stop contributing funds to PP, it's nice to know the reasoning behind some of their practices.

I know that some people are simply poor representatives of whatever groups they belong to, so it's hard to hold SGK responsible for the attitudes I've fielded from some of their folks. I've lost family members to breast cancer and bone cancer, and have watched some of my family members successfully battle breast and thyroid cancers. I appreciate that the mission of SGK is specifically related to breast cancer, but to diminish other cancers the way I've seen some representatives do just seems so heartless. I've witnessed an SGK representative tell a thyroid cancer survivor that she could not accompany her breast cancer survivor sister in a walk. I didn't see the logic, and felt like goodwill completely went out the window there.

Perhaps I should just accept that SGK is a business and will operate as such, instead of hoping that it's on a philanthropic mission to better the lives of people struggling with something terrible.

I love Kevin's post, btw.

I thought this was an interesting article about this issue

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor...ok_slimy_.html

Planned Parenthood to keep O.C. Komen dollars

Planned Parenthood in Orange County will be able to continue providing mammograms and breast health education this year with $120,000 in local Susan G. Komen for the Cure funds, despite a national flap tied to abortion.

You may want to contact your local public health office (run by the state or county government) or a hospital to see if there is a fund or program where you can directly donate funds to provide or offset the price of mammograms or other breast cancer related costs.

YES! There are MANY organizations out there that perform research, or treat or provide support services DIRECTLY to patients...and Komen wasn't one of them. Komen was just a middle man - you can give those dollars directly to the organizations and facilities doing the hard work to cure and treat cancer.

Don't most (if not all) Planned Parenthood clinics refer their clients elsewhere for mammograms? If my information is correct and that is the fact, the solution would be to support the clinics doing the actual mammograms. Here in Houston we have The Rose - http://www.the-rose.org/

It is very rare for clinics to have their own mammogram equipment. Clinics that support low income communities would have a hard time affording mammogram equipment, a mammography tech, the tracking software and radiologists salary to do mammography on site. Patients can't just go to a mammography clinic directly either. You have to have a primary physician. The VAST majority of services for low income women, ie. Health Units, Well Woman, PP, etc send out referrals just like your regular doctor would. They then pay the bill to the mammography center. Mostly these groups have contracts with mammography groups to care for their patients. My group sees all of Pinal County and Maricopa County Health Unit patients in Arizona. The Health Unit doesn't have it's own mammo business. BTW, there are NO free mammogram clinics in the Phoenix area. Even with the services we have, there are thousands of women who cannot get coverage for mammograms in this area.

Again, I draw your attention to the example of The Rose, where patients can be seem without a referral, as an example of how it can work. My mother, who has insurance, has hers at The Rose because the insured patients help support services for the uninsured. My point is that those (including SGK) who are interested in providing services to low income or uninsured women should direct their money to making that type of program more accessible. If the Planned Parenthood clinics have been making referrals to existing clinics then other organizations now need to step forward to either 1.) enable women to be referred or 2.) enable women to get screening mammograms without a referral. I think it is incumbent on SGK to step up and insure that the women who were being served by Planned Parenthood are not left without access to screenings. I am gobsmacked that an area as large as Phoenix is without free services.

List of grantees from SGK Phoenix:

http://www.komenphoenix.org/grants/c...nt-recipients/

There are quite a few to organizations that provide mammograms to uninsured and under-insured women. For example, this is the very first grantee listed:

There are many others listed.

Oh, and psst Belle- it's SGK, not SBK. Susan B was Anthony! ;)

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...nationform.jpg

This is damn funny.

Whoops! Here's what is now running through my head - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaBCw...eature=related