By now, you are aware of the mess that occurred when the Susan G. Komen Foundation pulled funding from Planned Parenthood.
If you aren’t, a review of it can be found here.
Today, Komen’s vice president for public policy, Karen Handel, resigned, in light of the situation.
But her letter of resignation, highlighted here, she made a PR mistake. (You can read the full copy here)
The public has spoken and the vats majority of the nation disagreed with their decision to pull the funding. Planned Parenthood reportedly raised MILLIONS of dollars last week in support.
So what does Komen do?
According to Handel, she claimed that every level of the organization, including every single member of the board of directors, signed off on cutting the funding.
Say what?
When the organization should be trying to repair relationships, she has left them high and dry with a complete “screw off” to the public.
This sounds like, “we restored the funding, because silly people made a lot of noise, but, gosh, we don’t want to give money to Planned Parenthood.”
She cited “gross mischaracterization” of their strategy.
What she should have done was admit fault and misreading their donors. Say that they respect Planned Parenthood and look for ways to grow the partnership. Say that there was a giant miscalculation. Say that there is work to be done to restore public trust.
But don’t fight back against the public.
I found this letter combative and defensive, the last traits Komen should be displaying at this time.
They can stand by their decision, but the people who fund their organization weren’t on board with it. So which is more important – defending a hard-to-defend decision or repairing your relationship with your donor base?
Related: Komen is hiring!
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