The Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation (I think that's its current legal name) took a beating today in the court of public opinion after it told its local affiliates that it would prohibit its local affiliates from issuing grants to Planned Parenthood to conduct breast cancer screenings. The stated reason is that the national organization has adopted a policy under which neither it nor its local affiliates may give money to any organization that is under federal, state, or local investigation.
I noted earlier today, not too explicitly, that in 2009-2010 the Komen Foundation gave substantial sums to other organizations that are under federal, state, or local investigation. It occurred to me that the trustees of the Komen Foundation may need a helping hand to be sure that they don't inadvertently fund an organization that's being investigated by the authorities; they fund so many groups, and there are so many law enforcement authorities, that the trustees may be funding targets without realizing it.
Won't you help them out and play the Laquedem Get What's Komen To You Game? It's easy. Here's what you do. First, pull up the Komen Foundation's latest Form 990. That's the tax return that the Komen Foundation, and other tax-exempt organizations, have to file every year. In it they list their grants of $5,000 or more. Here's a link to the return for the year ending March 31, 2011. Go to pages 47 to 59, labeled "Schedule I." These pages list the organizations to whom the Komen Foundation gave $5,000 or more. Pick three of them, and Google them (or Bing them, if you're Microsoft-inclined) together with the words "federal investigation" or "state investigation." See if anyone's investigating the three organizations you picked.
Did you get lucky and find three that are all under investigation? Congratulations! You're a winner. Even if you found only two, you've done well.
Now the next step: Let the Komen Foundation know that it's promised to cut off funds to those groups until the authorities clear them of wrongdoing, and give them the names of the organizations that their new policy now prohibits them from supporting. Here's the contact page.
Sorry, Yale University; no funds this year from the Komen Foundation, not until the feds finish their investigation. Even Komen's hometown university, the University of Texas, may be off the grant list; the IRS was investigating the salaries it paid to some of its top officials.
Play now! It's fun! It's easy! And it's for a good cause. Help the Komen Foundation keep its grantees honest.
