Please get the facts about Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen for the Cure

First the Facts: During their last fiscal year, Planned Parenthood grossed $1 billion in annual revenues. The gross revenues of Susan G. Komen for the Cure were less than half that amount. Grants from SGK to PP were less than one tenth of 1% of PP funding. The perception that PP is somehow the pitiful stepchild of evil queen SGK is patently ridiculous.

SGK has a policy that prohibits funding of any organization under investigation for misuse of funds. PP is currently under such investigation. Is the investigation justified? Personally, I don't believe it is. I think it's anti-choice politicos abusing the system. But that doesn't change the SGK policy, which is in place so they can maintain the highest level of accountability to the people who support the organization with their money, love and hard-earned 60-miles-in-3-days sweat.

These are two very different organizations with very different missions, both doing important and largely thankless work on behalf of women around the globe. I’ve given money and time to support both SGK and PP, and I will continue to do so, but I’m disgusted by the way this has been twisted by MoveOn.org (to whom I’ve also given money and time, but will not continue to support) and other organizations that specialize in mobilizing ignorance to support their political agenda.

For years, SGK and their founder, Nancy G. Brinker, have taken horsewhippings for their funding of Planned Parenthood. Where was the kneejerk Facebook outcry then? Did those who are now ranting through the blogosphere write a single letter in support of SGK? Give a single dollar? Speak one word in their defense?

While coauthoring Nancy G. Brinker’s memoir, Promise Me, I did hundreds of hours of research on this amazing organization, spoke with dozens of staff members and volunteers, got to know Nancy’s son Eric, an SGK board member, and her mother, Miss Ellie Goodman, who is a force of nature in her own right. During the research phase for this book, Nancy sat with me for several weeks, recording conversations about a great many things.

The first day at her apartment in Washington D.C., I needed to make a copy of something, and she asked me to wait and do it at my hotel later. The copier and paper in her home office belonged to SGK, and she didn’t want SGK paper used for her personal project--even though she was donating the lion’s share of the money from this book to SGK. That's the level on which she cares about the proper spending of SGK money.

When Nancy left for the Middle East, where she and SGK were fighting for health care for women who had no voice or means, I remained in her home with her permission to look at anything and everything in her personal photos, files and archives. I’ve never had that level of access with a memoir client, and I doubt many people in the world have lived with the level of integrity that would withstand a snoopy writer digging through everything from their baby book to their divorce papers.

Nancy Brinker has. She is the real deal.

I’m not saying she’s a saint, and if you read her book, you’ll see that she’s not even trying to pretend. But in the wake of her sister Suzy’s death, Nancy founded this organization on her own shattered heart with nothing but a shoebox and the driving desire to help women and families devastated by this disease, and every difficult decision she’s made has had a single litmus test: Will this help women with breast cancer?

I don't know the particulars of how SGK funding is allotted from year to year, but I give money to them with absolute confidence that that litmus test is the defining factor. They put money where it's needed, and it occurs to me that, while I support the important work of PP, the PP budget and operating costs dwarf the budget and operating costs of SGK, so it doesn't make a lot of sense for SGK to turn their back on smaller organizations in order to support this massively funded behemoth. I'd rather see that money go to organizations like The Rose, an amazing little engine that could--and does, with the help of SGK--here in Houston.

 Before you react to baseless kneejerk political rants, I urge you to read what Nancy has to say about SGK's relationship with PP in her book. Promise Me is Nancy’s memoir, but the story of her life is far more about other people than it is about herself. Woven between the chapters is the history of breast cancer dating back to its first appearance in ancient Egyptian medical papyri, because in order to understand what happened to her and Suzy, you have to understand what breast cancer is, what it does, and you have to meet some of the millions who’ve been rescued by and contributed to the work of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

 Political activism requires getting the facts straight, and a life of love and service takes more than clicking “Like” or retweeting an easy pop of hate and ignorance.

Update:(February 3, 2012) – The national headquarters of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® released a statement this morning in response to the recent controversy regarding Planned Parenthood, revising the guidelines that prevented it from funding the organization.

The statement read in part, “Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”

I was relieved to see SGK change their position on funding for PP, but it doesn't change any of the above or the fact that women's health care was the loser here because of the way it was handled on all fronts. The one silver lining: All the people who were bashing Nancy last year, bellowing about her "terrorizing" women into needless screening are now bellowing about how important screening is, which is what Nancy's been trying to tell people for 30 years.

From Nancy Brinker's "Promise Me" guest blog on Kindle Daily Post

From Nancy Brinker's guest blog today on Kindle Daily Post:

Looking at my life and the breathtaking scope of the work done by Susan G. Komen for the Cure in this broader context, I’m humbled and elated. All around me every day, stories pour down like rain, bringing fresh life to everything we do. When I sit down with friends and strangers in all corners of the world, I still start by saying, “Let me tell you about Suzy.”

Read the rest.

Promise Me excerpt in Parade Magazine: Meet Suzy and Nan, the real women behind Susan G. Komen for the Cure

In the Sunday paper today, Parade Magazine is featuring an excerpt from Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer, the forthcoming memoir by Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (with a little help from her Memoir Guru):

Stretched out on her chaise, my sister wore a cover-up that left her bare legs in the sunshine. Her limbs were so thin and knobby, she looked like a girl playing dress-up. I had to smile, thinking of the two of us in the backyard when we were kids, dancing in our coconut bras and hula skirts, pretending our ponies were stallions, playing patty-cake with our dolls.

Tears stung my eyes behind my sunglasses. Suzy’s role as a mainstay in my life had begun with the sound of her voice before I was born. She’d been with me for every major moment since. The dizzying speed with which our time together was coming to an end left me breathless.

Click here to read the rest, and (at the risk of sounding like Vince the Slap Chop guy) pre-order now and get a free copy for your sister!

Pre-order "Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer" and get a free copy for your sister

Suzy and Nancy Goodman were raised in postwar Peoria, Illinois, by parents who believed that small acts of charity could change the world. Suzy was the big sister—the homecoming queen with an infectious enthusiasm and a generous heart. Nancy was the little sister—the tomboy with an outsized sense of justice who wanted to right all wrongs. The sisters imagined a long life together—one in which they’d grow old together surrounded by children and grandchildren. Suzy’s cancer diagnosis shattered that dream.

In 1977, breast cancer was still shrouded in stigma and shame. There were no 800 numbers or support groups. The words “breast cancer” weren't said in polite company, let alone on TV or in the newspaper. Just before she died, Suzy said, "Promise me, Nan. Promise me you'll make it change."

Thirty years and one massive cultural revolution later, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is one of the largest grassroots organizations in the world. Millions worldwide have been brought into the promise, and SGK has invested more than $1.5 BILLION in research and services. Last year, when President Obama awarded Nancy G. Brinker the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he said, "In the months after making that promise, Nancy lay awake at night wondering if one person can really make a difference. Nancy's life is the answer."

In September, Broadway Books will release Nancy's memoir, Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer. It was a huge privilege to work on the book with Nancy. Watch this space for more about that. Meanwhile, click here to get a free signed copy for your sister and read the first chapter.

Never underestimate the power (Obama awards Ambassador Nancy Brinker the Medal of Freedom)

Couldn't be more thrilled to see Ambassador Nancy Goodman Brinker receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom today. As founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Nancy was instrumental in bringing about a dramatic cultural, political, and scientific shift in the way breast cancer is perceived and treated, and the ripple effects from that have had an immeasurable impact on women's health care in America and around the world.

When Nancy's big sister Suzy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1980, there were no support groups, pink ribbon races, or 800 numbers. Media refused to print the words "breast cancer." Treatment protocols were limited and brutal. Funding and awareness efforts were tepid. Before Suzy died, Nancy promised to change all that, and over the next twenty-five years, she built one of the world’s leading grassroots organizations.

Nancy pioneered the cause-marketing model that has become the gold standard for charitable fundraising, and awarded over a billion dollars in research grants. Race for the Cure events are staged around the world, raising awareness and pumping funding into local cancer resources.

As US Ambassador to Hungary, White House Chief of Protocol during the Bush administration, and now United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, she took her cause global. And she's just getting started.

From the White House blog:

The President praised the [Medal of Freedom] recipients for breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens: "These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs. Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way."

Congratulations, Nancy!

I've never met a more dynamic, committed, and visionary person. I'm delighted to be serving as Nancy's book sherpa on her forthcoming memoir, coming from Broadway in October of 2010. It's an amazing story.

(Scroll down and look left to pink your Twitter avatar with a Susan G. Komen for the Cure "Twibbon.")