Concerns have surfaced over a new fundraising activity by the Diocese of Gaylord called #iGiveCatholic. Touted as a way for the Diocese to raise money, #iGiveCatholic is a partnership with another organization called Giving Tuesday (through an umbrella organization called GiveGab), and that’s where the trouble starts, as #iGiveCatholic works with Giving Tuesday for its fundraising. #iGiveCatholic states the following on its website: “The draw of a unified giving day with promotion connected to GivingTuesday made fundraising exciting and impactful in our communities because it connected donors directly to their favorite causes.”
What is Giving Tuesday? This is an outgrowth of the United Nations, specifically, the United Nations Foundation. It then became its own organization, ostensibly to promote “fundraising”. Giving Tuesday’s board of directors include the notable individuals (https://www.givingtuesday.org/about):
- Hilary Pennington (Executive Vice President for Program, Ford Foundation) – the Ford Foundation has been a leading proponent of abortion in the United States. On the board of directors of the Ford Foundation is Cecile Richards, past president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
- Jonathan Soros (CEO, JS Capital Management LLC) – son of global billionaire George Soros, one of the leading promoters of abortion and anti-Catholic organizations worldwide.
- Rob Reich (Faculty Co-Director, Stanford University Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society) – (not to be confused with former Obama administration official Robert Rich), cofounder of Giving Tuesday; he is notable for his numerous political leanings. In 2016, Reich taught a course at Stanford with the following description: “The course will attempt, with the help of experts, to make sense of an election that defies all historical precedent and to take stock of the health of American democracy. “Election 2016” will host a number of guest speakers including David Plouffe and David Axelrod. It will be the centerpiece of a campus-wide campaign of events around the 2016 presidential elections.” Although he does not outright bash it, Mr. Reich also takes a skeptical view of homeschooling (http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2011/08/03/counting-ohios-homeschoolers/).
As posted on their website, “Leadership support” for Giving Tuesday includes the pro-abortion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.
The #iGiveCatholic board of directors includes individuals associated with the national sexual abuse scandal in the United States: Most Rev. Gregory M. Aymond, Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, and Most Rev. Joseph R. Kopacz (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/us/09priest.html). Furthermore, Archbishop Gregory is remembered by some for his lavish use of money for his rectory in Atlanta. Because of a firestorm of controversy, he ended up selling it (https://www.ajc.com/news/religion/archbishop-apologizes-for-million-home/dRRi2r55uSHD4w0yow6mFI/).
So this trail of organizations starts at the United Nations, then to GiveGab, then to Giving Tuesday (with numerous anti-Catholic connections) which is connected to #iGiveCatholic.
As with the CSA, we see a complex web of fundraising funneled through layer after layer of organizations, some of which are connected to some individuals and groups with very questionable credentials. It is also strange to us that only the Gaylord and the Marquette Dioceses are part of this scheme as far as Michigan Catholic Dioceses are concerned.
Perhaps donating to Gaylord Diocesan Watch is a better option.