The Prostate Cancer Foundation, which funds prostate cancer research globally, recently returned donations totaling $8,000. The donations were raised in connection with a post that was set up on Reddit to disseminate and view hacked nude celebrity photos. Viewers were called to donate to the Foundation to atone for having viewed the photos.
In a statement, the Foundation said: “We would never condone raising funds for cancer research in this manner. Out of respect for everyone involved and in keeping with our own standards, we are returning all donations that resulted from this post.”
The “Subreddit” page where the fundraising took place has now been banned, but a Reddit user responded sarcastically to the rejected donations: “Guys, we’re literally worse than cancer.”
This $8,000 donation may have been easier to reject than the donations of millions of dollars from the Koch brothers colleges and universities thought about rejecting just a few months ago.
Is your organization ready to make tough decisions about accepting donations? Has the board adopted a gift acceptance policy or reviewed its existing policy recently? When it’s time to make tough decisions, a gift acceptance policy will help your board decide. It will also give the board a scapegoat on which to blame rejecting a donation.