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Up until last week, when most people, especially breast cancer survivors, thought of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, they thought of a non-profit organization unshakably dedicated to women’s health care and the fight against breast cancer. After Komen’s epic screw-up in attempting to defund Planned Parenthood many are taking a much closer look- and not particularly liking they’re seeing. What Americans have discovered is an organization riven by corruption, distracted by a loss of focus, and an expensive, top-heavy layer of management that spends millions on bloated salaries, travel, and other non-mission-related expenditures.
The reality is that, while Komen may have been a noble idea that was started 30 years ago by Nancy Brinker to honor her late sister, it long ago ceased being the organization leading the fight against breast cancer. For Komen, breast cancer is no longer a cause. It’s business- BIG business.
DALLAS - Nancy Brinker, founder and chief executive of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, took home $417,000 in salary in 2010 and paid 50 top executives more than $100,000 each.
The Dallas-based foundation spent lavishly on staff and administrative expenses, including $20 million for advertising and promotion, $14 million for “office expenses” and more than $14 million for consulting and professional services. Another $7 million was spent on contract labor and $3 million for travel.
Brinker, who also serves as chairman of Komen’s board of directors, traveled first class on airlines with the explicit permission of the board she chairs.
I used to work for a sizable non-profit organization that has numerous overseas operations in place, so I think I know of which I speak. No non-profit with its eye on the ball allows its executives to travel first class. Nor would it pay so many executives so much. Lavish spending would be kept to an absolute minimum, if it’s allowed at all.
Why would a non-profit with its eye on the ball do these things? Because they understand that donors expect their money to go to programs, NOT first-class tickets, fine restaurants, consultants, and/or high-priced executives.
What make Komen’s initial decision to defund Planned Parenthood so laughable was that
Brinker insisted Komen, which she founded in her sister’s memory 30 years ago, was merely trying to be a good financial steward
I’m sorry, but “being a good financial steward” doesn’t mean running your non-profit as if it’s a Fortune 500 company. It doesn’t mean spending large amounts of donor money on non-program-related expenses. Being a good financial steward means understanding that you have a responsibility to your donors. That means pinching pennies wherever and whenever possible. It means flying coach. It means eating at Applebee’s instead of a four- or five-star restaurant. It means staying in inexpensive hotels. It means creating a management structure that requires an absolute minimum of people, and whose compensation structure is fair while also recognizing the mission you exist to carry out. It certainly doesn’t mean spending $1 million on litigation, as Komen did in 2011.
The latest available figures (the fiscal year ending March, 2010) indicates that Komen’s revenues totaled $311,855,544. Of that, $254,840,077 went to cover program expenses. Put more simply, only 81.7% of the money Komen took in actually went to programs. A lean, efficient, well-run non-profit organization generally will be able to translate 90-93% of revenues to programs.
If you think this means I’m saying that Komen is bloated, inefficient, and wasting donor money, you’re spot on. That’s exactly what I’m saying. And it’s a big reason why I believe that you’re wasting your money if you’re donating to Komen.
Komen’s problem is that, after 30 years of brilliant fundraising, programming, and public relations, they took their eye off the ball. They got soft. They became spoiled and complacent. They lost sight of their mission. Worst of all, Komen became political. Brinker and Senior VP of Public Policy Karen Handel (who did the honorable thing and resigned yesterday) became victims of their own hubris, thinking that no one would have a problem with defunding Planned Parenthood. Both committed, Conservative Republicans, Brinker and Handel decided to take Komen in a direction which many Americans rightfully interpreted as caving in to the Right-wing war against women.
Nancy Brinker is ultimately responsible for this fiasco. Though she initially claimed that the decision was not political, it quickly became clear that, not only was she lying about the motives behind the decision to defund Planned Parenthood, she couldn’t grasp or accept why so many became so furious so quickly.
Contrary to what Brinker and Handel may have initially believed (and may still believe), the backlash against their decision was not orchestrated by rabble-rousers on the Left. Yes, Progressives like myself care deeply about Planned Parenthood, an organization that touches the lives of one of every five American women. Those upset about PP providing abortion services would do well to remember that only 3% of what PP does is abortion-related. The other 97% involves things like breast cancer screenings, prenatal care, and other health services. Despite what Conservatives would have us believe, Planned Parenthood is not an abortion mill dedicated to killing babies.
Of course, if you listen to Fox & Friends, you can get a breast exam and a pap smear at your local Walgreens…so why do we need Planned Parenthood?
Komen has proven itself to be corrupt, inefficient, and more concerned with ideology and the business aspect of its mission than the mission itself. Komen’s lost sight of why it came into being in the first place. What’s worse is that the organization that Nancy Brinker started in order to honor her late sister has now sullied her name beyond repair.
If you donate to Komen, I’d like to ask that you seriously reconsider. There are so many more places where your money could do so much more good. Komen has proved that it’s really no longer about breast cancer; it’s about the BUSINESS of breast cancer. For that reason alone, Komen should be punished for taking their eye off the ball and forced to go the way of the buffalo.
