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| Path: Main Street : NewsWeek : Op/Ed : Audience Opinions |
Give us your opinion about whether or not to accept the following gifts: Should MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) accept charitable contributions from, say, Seagrams? Should the American Cancer Society accept money from tobacco companies? What about their subsidiaries in other lines of business (e.g. banking)? Should a hospital keep charitable funds that were given by donors who were subsequently determined to have embezzled it? Should a university accept funds from a known "underworld" figure, and name a building after him? Where should charities draw the line for accepting or rejecting gifts?
I think we live in a hypocritical world and for MADD to accept a donation from Seagrams, or The American Cancer Society to take money from a tobacco company is just another mixed message for our children to hear about or read about in the newspapers.I truly believe that we need to start walking and talking in a more consistent manner. If I'm damn MADD because a drunk driver has taken the life of one of my loved ones (and I have lost many loved ones to drunk driving) , I best be damned MADD enough to find an alternate source of funding to get my message across, particularly to the youth of this country.
I smoke cigarettes and I don't tell my kids not to. I tell them that I'm a damn fool for doing it. I personally need to get honest with my kids and other people. The biggest mistake I think any of us can make is to sell out on ourselves and our value systems for a buck. If getting my message across trashes my integrity and costs me my credibility, then it wasn't much of a message to begin with.
--- Ellen Hartman
I believe that these organizations should not be accepting funding from their own source of problem. How can you accept money from one source that you try to fight?. Cancer Society is fighting tobacco.Yet if they accept funding from a tobacco company why are they fighting against tobacco. They indirectly say that those company have a heart after all and they are concerned about cancer. These company are out there to make money. If they would care about the damages that their product is doing they would not exist. Here is a strong example:If a Church would need money that bad would it accept it from the Devil himself? Everyone know that it would not happen. When you support and give funding to an organization you do it because you CARE. Everyone involved in a non-profit organization care about it and they have a mission, a reason to be involved.The funding should come from the ones who cares and who is READY to help fight the disease or the problem, not the one that help create it!!!Chantal Demers, Toronto.
Should MADD accept charitable donations from liquor and beer companies, and the Cancer Society accept donations from tobacco companies? Absolutely!!!! But only if there are no 'strings' attached. After all, shouldn't these companies accept at least a small amount of responsibility for why these charitable organizations exist in the first place? I certainly think so.However, in my opinion, the example of the university naming a building after an underworld figure in exchage for a donation, or the hospital keeping funds that were embezzled are crossing the line into unethical practices. Why? Because then it changes the dynamic of the transaction into one where the recipient accepts what is essentially a bribe in the case of the university, and in the case of the hospital, knowingly keeping 'dirty money'. Different circumstances indeed.
-- Moira McIntyre, Toronto, Ont.,
This is a very interesting topic you propose. Our organization once named a man as our "Child Advocate of the Year" - a very prestigious honor - only to have him indicted several months later on fraud charges. It turns out he had swindled many folks out of millions of dollars. He came to our small community to 'hide out' and start a new life. He spent so much of the money he swindled on philanthropic causes that when he was finally caught, his victim's attorneys did not pursue trying to collect the over $300K he gave to area charities. It was a serious ethical issue for all involved - but he came to a depressed area - with tremendous needs - and gave to charities that did not have much - so one, two and three years later - none had the resources to pay back the victims (of the crimes)- we all felt like victims as well. Consequently - all gifts over $1000 are approved by our Board of Directors - and we learned to not always trust the 'new kid in town.' Be advised that businesses and industries that are courting your community to locate their business there may also offer large gifts to local orgs to win community support - BUT if that organization is not supported by folks who ARE already supporting your organization - accepting their gifts can REALLY HURT more than they help. For example - if a hog farm contributes $25K to your org and you take it, only to find out that the company has a horrific environmental history and two lawsuits involving folks on your board, you are screwed. We almost accepted a $50K grant from a corporation that wanted to locate in our community - but the majority of the community didn't want them. We refused the $50K (even though the community in question would never have been able to match even 10% of that amount.).-- John & Lori Bates
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