Hi there. I can't help but notice that you've gone and gotten yourself into a little situation, there. I've got a few thoughts I'd like to share with you on this. Important thoughts you might want to think long and hard about.
You see, your problem is you've lost your way. Now, maybe this is something that happened sort of gradual-like: like a lot of organizations, you started out with the best of intentions, and then with time and the heady whiff of success, you started to stray from the mission. Or, maybe one day some time back you all just decided to go a little crazy.
So let's start basic, here: Your Mission. Last time I checked, your mission was to seek a cure for breast cancer, along with a healthy dose of public education and support for breast cancer detection. Those are all pretty good goals to have. You can be proud of the fact that there are a lot of women still walking the Earth today that wouldn't be if your organization wasn't around.
But you've lost your way. Somewhere along the line, you folks decided to stray from the mission. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's the power. I don't know, and I don't care. But frankly, your whiny excuses irritate me. Let's face it -- bottom line, you got political when you didn't need to be, you did it with malice aforethought, you ignored your own subcommittee's recommendations, and you ignored your own employees resigning over your decision. That doesn't inspire confidence in me, and if I'm not confident in a charity, that charity isn't going to get my money.
And a lot of people feel the same. People who feel betrayed. People who walked miles for you, wrote checks to you, thinking you were really all about the breast cancer. And now they're finding out that you were planning a politically motivated stealth attack on another organization that a lot of people appreciate and believe in, because it helps people. A politically motivated stealth attack that actually flew directly in the face of your mission, because your attack would mean fewer breast exams for people who are least able to afford going to a doctor. Your attack would mean more women dying of the very disease your organization claims its mission is to cure.
Now, I don't dispute that you have the right to decide where your money goes. Nope, no problem at all with that. Let's make that perfectly clear. With one caveat, though: your money was donated, and your donors deserve transparency in how the money they give you is used, and how you make decisions on how that money is used. So, use your funds how you like, but damn you to Hell if you use it under false pretenses.
And let's also be clear on one other thing: as I said, you have the right to decide where your money goes. BUT (and this is an extremely important but) you need to understand that your donors, upon finding out that you've lied to them, that you've breached their trust, that you made a political decision and then schemed to find a way to "justify" it so that you hoped would fly under the radar, have every right to decide not to donate to you anymore. I understand that a lot of your leadership are conservatives. Supposedly, many conservatives believe in the free market (personally, I question whether that's more than lip service, but that's not important right now). Well, you're about to feel the invisible hand of the market in spades as people decide whether your organization is giving them the best product for their money.
I've heard your complaints that Planned Parenthood somehow mistreated you or turned this into a political issue. That's also a lie. Planned Parenthood did nothing except notify it's supporters that your grants would be cut to them, and they were seeking support to replace that funding. Any organization on the planet, put in the same situation, could reasonably be expected to do the same thing. This should not have come as a surprise to you in the least. What you're really upset about is that by asking for support to replace that funding, Planned Parenthood's message spurred people to put a spotlight on why your foundation cut the grants, and in pointing that spotlight found your reasons wanting. They found out you lied, and you got burned. And they also found out other things about your foundation and your leadership that they hadn't known before and found questionable. But instead of taking responsibility for what you'd done, you pleaded innocence and played the victim card.
So what now? Well, the resignation of Handel is a good start. A public mea culpa wouldn't hurt, but I bet that's too much to ask. But without it, things are going to hurt worse. A board shakeup is probably in order too. In fact, a sizable reorganization and refocus might need to be in the works. Actually, given the loss of donations I expect you're about to experience, you might not have a choice about that.
Your organization might survive this, but to do so, it's going to need a lot more inspired leadership than it's shown in this past week (or months, if you count all the events that led up to this past week). Some soul-searching is in order. A lot of your sponsors and donors are going to dry up, so you're going to have to make some tough decisions on funding, because the high-pressure firehose of donations you've had in recent years is about to become a garden hose -- and maybe a leaky one at that. You're going to have to make a decision about what the organization really stands for. And people are going to be watching you while you make that decision, and judging you by your actions. With time, you might be able to win back some of the donors and sponsors that you've alienated this past week (not all of them, though -- some people have long memories and hold a grudge) But if you do, make no mistake: they're never going to trust you like they did before. You'll be under a microscope for many years to come, and anything that even smells like it could another betrayal of trust could be the end of you. Remember that.