Chick-fil-A’s Foundations Dramatically Reduce Anti-LGBT Giving

It has been many years since I last patronized Chick-fil-A given the company's funding of vicious anti-gay organizations.  And I know many others who likewise make a conscious effort to avoid spending a penny at Chick-fil-A.  Now, even though the move is unexplained, Chick-fil-A seemingly has drastically reduced its anti-gay funding effort.  No doubt the Christofascists who rallied to Chick-fil-A's past bigotry will not be pleased to learn this news.  Think Progress looks at this development.  Here are some highlights:

A year after nearly doubling its anti-LGBT giving, Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation apparently reversed course in 2012, eliminating nearly all its grantmaking. Its separate Chick-fil-A Foundation made about $120,000 in grant donations, including about $25,000 to the anti-LGBT Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Between 2010 and 2011, Chick-fil-A’s corporate foundations increased their grants to anti-LGBT groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation and the National Christian Foundation, from $1.9 million to more than $3.6 million. Neither of these organizations received a penny in 2012, according to the foundations’ 2012 Form 990s, publicly available tax documents filed by non-profit organizations. The foundations’ overall spending was roughly even, meaning more of its efforts were focused on its own programs. But the drop from $3,623,938 to $25,390 in anti-LGBT donations represented a reduction of more than 99.2 percent.

In the summer of 2012, the company came under fire for its anti-LGBT giving and company president Dan Cathy’s comment that the company was “guilty as charged” of advocating a biblical view of the family. Amid the criticism, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and others organized a “Chick-fil-A” appreciation day. 

But it appears that the company foundations scaled back anti-LGBT giving by simply scaling back all of its giving to outside non-profits. Their few donations included contributions to WinShape’s home in Brazil for needy children, scholarships for a Christian college in Georgia, and money for Habitat for Humanity and the United Negro College Fund.

This trend will have to continue for a period of time before I again grace the doorway - or drive through window - of a Chick-fil-A.  It would be nice if the trend proved permanent.