The ACS has been stung by accusations of anti-atheist bigotry in its fundraising. Is it making things worse by trying to cover its tracks?
“What really hurts in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong. What really hurts is if you try to cover it up.” — President Richard M. Nixon, August 29, 1972
The problem is this: The facts don’t match their story.
Actually, the facts strongly suggest a cover-up. An online trail clearly shows non-profit organizations with national teams in the Relay for Life, and shows the ACS actively soliciting non-commercial organizations to participate in the program — right up until the original AlterNet article about the FBB controversy appeared. At which point, the national teams of these non-profits abruptly had their status changed to “Youth Affiliates.” And the online trail clearly shows that several non-profits are still participating as Youth Affiliates with national teams in the Relay for Life — a form of participation that is still being denied to the Foundation Beyond Belief, with no explanation from the ACS. (Supporting documents for this story are available on the author’s personal blog.)
What’s more, the American Cancer Society’s attempts at damage control have included contradictions, distortions, deceptions, and flat-out misinformation: about the Foundation Beyond Belief, about Todd Stiefel (the atheist philanthropist whose family offered the $250,000 matching offer in the first place), even about AlterNet. And their attempts at damage control have turned into an ugly attempt to blame Stiefel and the Foundation Beyond Belief for raising the issue in the first place.
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Thus begins my latest piece for AlterNet, Has the American Cancer Society Been Caught Covering Up a Rejection of Atheist Money?. To read more of this follow-up on the ongoing controversy — with serious concerns about the ACS’s actions in the wake of the story, and their baffling refusal to respond to direct questions about it — read the rest of the piece. Enjoy!
Just finished reading it. This was very thorough, well-explained, and well-documented.
I also like that you took the time to point out that, the ACS isn’t necessarily averse to receiving atheist money(because after all, beggars can’t be choosers), it just doesn’t want to admit that they take atheist money, or to allow us to openly participate in fundraising and public awareness events.
Yeah, they’ll churlishly take our money, then tell us to piss off.
Also, the ACS has recently decided to start deleting wall posts related to this controversy, opting, instead, to confine the entire conversation to this page.
So they’re trying to coverup the coverup. I predict metastasis will foil their efforts.
According to a comment directed at someone on their page, the reason FBB can’t partner as a youth affiliate is because its a reward for past participation and since only one group participated last year they don’t qualify. Obviously if this is true, than its understandable but why didn’t they just say that from the beginning? It would have saved them a ton of hassle.
I’m starting to think Hanlon’s Razor (never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity) applies here and they just have major organizational and public relations FAIL.
Either way, I have no interest in working with ACS in the future. Are there any plans for FBB and Stiefel to partner with another charity?
I recently attended (well, actually I was working the event) a charity auction for the ACS. I was struck by how much religiosity was imbued throughout the event. I was disgusted enough when they started things off by having everyone stand and sing God Bless America (I f***ing hate that song!). But then throughout the night they were saying prayers and quoting berbble passages.
In light of the whole situation with FBB, I’m really starting to think that the ACS is a religious organization, much like the Boy Scouts.
Apparently the ACS is discovering that “any publicity is good publicity” isn’t true.
I’m starting to think Hanlon’s Razor (never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity) applies here
Clarke’s Correlary to Hanlon’s Razor is that any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.
I am encouraged by the fact that the internet is making it very difficult for dishonest folk to hide their dishonesty. Once upon a time, liars could rely upon censorship to hide their misdemeanors. The internet is pretty much impossible to censor, in fact, attempts to censor it almost always backfire so badly that those who attempt it end up wishing that they hadn’t. Their issue would hardly have been noticed had they not attempted to hide it, instead it went viral.
It should be obvious that lying about a mistake or misdeed only makes things worse when the lies are uncovered. But this lesson never seems to be grasped.
Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we study macrame.
If this is all ‘just a misunderstanding’, that means that the ACS is so bad at communication that they should not receive the money on the grounds of sheer incompetence.
This exchange appeared on ACS’s FB site (link in your article, above):
quote
Paul Prescod So just to clarify this situation: If a national atheist student organization partners with Todd’s organization, you’ll take the money and treat them the same as any other student organization? (assuming Todd’s organization wishes to work in this way)
Sunday at 10:14am · Like · 2
American Cancer Society Hi Paul, our Relay Youth Partners/Affiliates are partnerships that we have negotiated over time with organizations that have proven themselves in Relay and through supporting other areas of ACS. Recognition as a Youth Partner is a reward for prior participation. We have several ways that Youth teams can get started with Relay. http://bit.ly/sdIJKl
Sunday at 10:40am · Like
end quote
So, you can only be a Relay Youth Partner if you have “proven” yourself as a previous Relay participant, but FBB isn’t allow to participate in the Relay because the Relay for Life suddenly became the Youth Affiliates program right after FBB applied, so FBB can never “prove[]” itself, hence it can never be a Youth Affiliate.
Greta, you were right and I was wrong.
K
I really enjoyed the article. I was having trouble explaining the situation to my mother and the article laid it all out quite nicely. Thanks!
ACS has always been good at doublespeak, being an operator in Washington. The Daily Show hit them up recently for being two faced liars
[…] You'll recall that I wrote something about the American Cancer Society and fundraising a few weeks ago (here). That was a response to something Greta Christina wrote, and now, Greta has updated us on the situation and has this post that you must read: Has the American Cancer Society Been Caught Covering Up a Rejection of Atheist Money? […]
[…] You’ll recall that I wrote something about the American Cancer Society and fundraising a few weeks ago (here). That was a response to something Greta Christina wrote, and now, Greta has updated us on the situation and has this post that you must read: Has the American Cancer Society Been Caught Covering Up a Rejection of Atheist Money? […]