Attacks from the Right
Through highly organized efforts, conservative groups
are persuading corporate foundations and other large charitable
organizations, such as the United Way, to stop funding progressive
programs - particularly those supporting women's reproductive
rights.
In 1989 the Roman Catholic Diocese in Spokane, Washington,
asked the United Way to halt its support of Planned Parenthood
clinics that provided abortions. When the United Way refused,
the diocese organized a boycott of the United Way campaign
in that area.
Similar efforts were launched in Hawaii, where the United
Way agreed to stop funding Planned Parenthood clinics, in
Sarasota, Florida, where the United Way withdrew support
from all but Planned Parenthood's educational services,
and in Wichita, Kansas, where the United Way stopped funding
the YWCA.
While the amount of money that the United Way gives to
Planned Parenthood is very small (2.7 million dollars -
less than .12% of the total amount distributed by United
Way in 1990), the right-wing onslaught has forced Planned
Parenthood to increase its fundraising efforts. Meanwhile,
Catholic Charities received 47 million dollars and other
Catholic family services agencies received 37 million dollars
from the United Way in 1990.
Anti-abortion groups have also promoted boycotts of 17
corporate sponsors of Planned Parenthood, as well as the
corporate supporters of other charities supporting a feminist
agenda. The nonprofits under attack include the Children's
Defense Fund, the Ms. Foundation, the NOW Legal Defense
and Education Fund, and People for the American Way. The
right-wing groups are encouraging corporations to fund a
variety of conservative projects instead.
According to Robert Bothwell, Director of the National
Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, "Scuttlebutt indicates
that some corporations are rewriting their grantmaking guidelines
to more easily allow them to say no to women's rights and
other progressive nonprofits:'
Cuts in Public Programs
Donations to non-profits have become particularly important
with recent cutbacks in state and federal aid to human services.
According to Lester Salamon, an expert on non-profit finance,
a significant portion of non-profit groups are experiencing
serious strains that threaten their long-run viability.
The cutbacks in federal support of non-profits have forced
many groups to charge higher fees for services. A subtle
shift in the basic structure of the private non-profit sector
may therefore be under way, Salamon says. Agencies in the
health, arts and educational areas - which can appeal to
paying customers - are gaining ground, while non-profits
providing social services, advocacy and aid to the poor
are falling behind.
In 1988, Catholic Charities - the fifth largest non-profit
in the United States - received 396 million dollars in federal
governmental funding while Planned Parenthood received only
106 million federal dollars. Public family planning funding
has not kept apace with inflation in the past ten years,
let alone increased to meet the escalating needs caused
by growing poverty.
|
