Wednesday, June 5, 2013

We knew this would happen

Not to make light of an other's misfortunes but I think that we knew this would happen. Komen (for the Cure) has clearly been on a downturn since the mishandling of the Planned Parenthood epic in 2012. One of their main fundraising efforts has been their three day walks. There used to be 14 around the country. Starting in 2014, there will be 7.

The Three Days are cancelled in Boston, Arizona, Cleveland, Chicago, Tampa, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. This will leave only Atlanta, Dallas/Ft Worth, Michigan, San Diego, Twin Cities, and Seattle.

And example of their recent numbers is here:

"On May 11, thousands of breast cancer survivors and their supporters gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for the annual Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure, but attendance at the charity’s signature fund-raising event was down for a second consecutive year.

About 21,000 people registered for that race, down from 27,000 last year and nearly 40,000 in 2011. Fund-raising has also been down: The race generated $5 million in donations in 2011, according to Komen spokeswoman Andrea Rader, but generated $2 million last year."

What does this tell us? Large non profits are increasingly scrutinized by the American public on many levels - what they do with their money, what they support, and the amount paid to their executives.

If I was a leader at Komen I would clearly be taking steps to save the organization as they have clearly been forced to cut their fundraising activities in half. I hope they see what last year's mistake has cost them.

1 comment:

Holly Kay Sparkman said...

We are still having a Race for the Cure in the Quad Cities, but I am not running this year.

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