Ex-gay World Bank dust-up will affect 25 other local charities
The World Bank/PFOX saga continues. Last week, the World Bank confirmed that it had added Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays to its roster of eligible charitable organizations in its annual staff fundraising effort, the Community Connections Campaign. The addition, the campaign said, was meant to accommodate "differing viewpoints" within the organization.
After LGBT employees protested that funding an ex-gay group is like supporting an organization that claims "it can turn black people white," the Bank announced that it wouldn't match funds to PFOX this year. (Typically, when an employee donates funds to an eligible organization as part of the campaign, the Bank pledges to contribute 50 to 100 percent more to the charity).
But PFOX isn't the only organization that will be missing the Bank's money. The Bank's decision not to bankroll PFOX will also deflect funds from 25 other local nonprofits added to the campaign this year.
In order to treat all the "differing viewpoints" in the fundraising effort equally, campaign organizers announced that the Bank would withhold matching from all newly-listed organizations—of which PFOX is one of 26—in order "to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match."
Some LGBT staffers are not satisfied by this compromise,
"The inability to say 'PFOX does not match our values' has led them to take an action which will be blamed on the LGBT activism" over the ex-gay issue, one staffer told me. "It is difficult to know whether it is malicious or stupid but this is not the move we wanted."
Here's a list of all the organizations that won't be matched by the World Bank this year, due to the PFOX dust-up:
Advocacy Project
Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic
Arc of Montgomery County
Be The Match Foundation
Best Buddies Virginia
Calvary Women's Services
Center for Adoption Support and Education
Central Union Mission
CityDance Ensemble
College Summit
Dance Place
Downtown Cluster of Congregations
Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Good Shepherd Housing
International Justice Mission
Korean American Sharing Movement
Lamb Center
LifeSTARTS Youth & Family Services
National Wildlife Federation
Omid Foundation USA
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays
Reporters Without Borders USA
Save a Child's Heart Foundation
St. Coletta of Greater Washington
Visitors' Service Center

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