good/bad on controversial support

[cixelsyd]

16 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Disagree with nothing to see. If a donor gives to a good cause and also bad or hurtful causes should people only look at their group and not the big picture.

if you see no issue fine but know people who have been hurt by what this donor is pushing. 

I am confused, so please bear with me while I ask a few questions.

1.  How can a corps know what other causes any one of their donors has given to?  Is that information required to be made public?

2.  Should corps be checking that information proactively, if it is available?

3.  Who should decide which causes are bad or hurtful?

Edited January 15, 2023 by cixelsyd

[craiga]

Not only that, but many of the people at the helm of the organization are some of the most Progressive people I know. You can agree or disagree with their decision making, but NOBODY can accuse this group of financial ineptitude. 

 

[JimF-LowBari]

25 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

I am confused, so please bear with me while I ask a few questions.

1.  How can a corps know what other causes any one of their donors has given to?  Is that information required to be made public?

2.  Should corps be checking that information proactively, if it is available?

3.  Who should decide which causes are bad or hurtful?

If the corps doesn’t know about the controversial causes then you have a point. If it is known and donor doesn’t hide (or is proud of) they make those donations then the corps has to make some hard decisions.

As for 3. if the cause is to make it legal to discriminate (legal to fire, refuse housing, kick out of housing, etc). I’d say that’s a bad or hurtful cause. But me wanting to defend my long time lesbian friends makes me very biased on rights issues. That KKK vendor I posted about earlier had some nice stuff I could have used. It was still on the table when I left if you get my drift….

Edited January 15, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[scheherazadesghost]

29 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

1.  How can a corps know what other causes any one of their donors has given to?  Is that information required to be made public?

Donors, funders and sponsors often give money in very public ways. Part of the point is publicly associating your philanthropy with worthy causes and celebrating them. Some funders are private, but it behooves nonprofits to ask about funder portfolios to check for values alignment.

29 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

2.  Should corps be checking that information proactively, if it is available?

Yes. This is regular practice and upkeep in many nps.

29 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

3.  Who should decide which causes are bad or hurtful?

The board and leadership, grounded in their clear, intentional mission, vision and values.

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I literally said it's not black and white.

I'm only speaking in hypotheticals, although I'm aware of the situation and have been commenting on it in the other thread. With my history in this area of nps, I have opinions... but in this thread, I'm speaking broadly. There's no controversy here.

My understanding is that there are something like 50 shades of gray.  

[cixelsyd]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

As an extreme example, I worked for an youth dance education NP that had previously accepted donations from a gun shop in town. Opinions aside, they decided the following year to drop that funder because they accepted that their values weren't aligned. There was probably pushback from the board too. This kind of thing happens all the time.

Now I am even more confused, so bear with me while I ask questions.

1.  The OP who said "please no examples" liked this post.  Are examples okay now?

2.  What was the problem with the gun shop being a donor?

3.  What values were not aligned?

4.  Are we past the point where civil society understands the difference between accepting a charitable donation, and accepting every one of the personal views of the CEO of the donor org?

[scheherazadesghost]

14 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

My understanding is that there are something like 50 shades of gray.  

So I hear. But the gray area doesn't have to be shady if the NP has organization-wide mastery of the mission/vision/values. NPs just have to be ready to navigate their funders' interests: that's why the development/grantwriter role is so crucial in nearly every arts education NP out there that I've worked for. And the gray area can actually be conducive to funder and awardee building a trustworthy relationship, growing together, and continually improving how they apply said relationship toward affecting positive change... even if their values don't seem to strictly or directly align.

[JimF-LowBari]

4 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

 

1.  The OP who said "please no examples" liked this post.  Are examples okay now?

 

“No examples” meant let’s not get into a discussion about Crusaders donation instead of a general discussion. Figured less of a chance this thread would be closed.

Now if you’re playing “gotcha” I spent part of this afternoon visiting someone in a long term care rehab facility. So I don’t give a ####.

 

[Boss Anova]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

 

. If this continues on the path of discussing/defending BC and insulting those who disagree (“manufactured” outrage) I’ll have this closed .  

Sounds like a great suggestion to me . There was nothing “ generic “ about this . It was not even an oblique reference . You know what you were doing with this 2nd thread after your first one was deleted by the mods for community guideline violations . You also know what Corps this was basically referring to . 
 So yes , your suggestion to shut this 2nd topic down now makes sense , imo . 
 So just do it if that is your wish , and stop your threat to others of such . Do it if that’s your intention , and move on with it then for heavens sake , no big deal to me 👍

Edited January 15, 2023 by Boss Anova

[scheherazadesghost]

13 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

Now I am even more confused, so bear with me while I ask questions.

1.  The OP who said "please no examples" liked this post.  Are examples okay now?

I kept it generic knowing that no one on this forum knows who I've worked for in the past. None of my examples in this thread are referring to the drum corps community.

13 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

2.  What was the problem with the gun shop being a donor?

The gun shops values didn't align with the NP's mission according to the leadership of the NP. I didn't have a hand in the decision, it was made before I got there.

13 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

3.  What values were not aligned?

The org probably felt that a business selling guns probably doesn't reflect well on a youth non profit arts organization. Or perhaps other donors didn't want to be associated with gun sales. Perhaps a student or teacher didn't either. I wasn't there in the board meeting. What do you think? I don't often see gun retailers or manufacturers on the donor/funding lists of many small youth arts education NPs.

13 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

4.  Are we past the point where civil society understands the difference between accepting a charitable donation, and accepting every one of the personal views of the CEO of the donor org?

You're bucking commonplace practices in non profits that I've personally witnessed and that are written about in books and across the internet. My previous comment speaks to this gray area and how actually beneficial it can be for funders and recipients who don't align on the surface.