Chick-fil-A drops donations to several groups
Will no longer give to Christian athletes and Salvation Army
The charitable arm affiliated with Chick-fil-A revealed Monday that it had overhauled its donation strategy and had stopped giving money to several organizations — donations that had long angered LGBTQ activists.
But the bigger news was which organizations would not be getting millions in Chick-fil-A money: A representative confirmed to The Washington Post that it had ceased giving to Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, two religiously affiliated charities, after multiyear commitments ended in 2018.
The news was immediately greeted with dismay among conservatives, who saw the move as a capitulation to protesters who had led boycotts of the familyowned chicken chain beginning in 2012.
“Today, @ChickfilA betrayed loyal customers for $$,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweeted. “I regret believing they would stay true to convictions of founder Truett Cathey. Sad.”
The Chick-fil-A Foundation announced in a statement that it planned to concentrate its giving in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger, and that it planned to work with a smaller number of charities than it had previously.
It plans to reassess its giving annually, instead of entering into multiyear arrangements with charities, it said.
The groups it gives to “could include faith-based and nonfaith-based charities,” the foundation said.
In 2012, the company’s donations were already controversial when statements against
same-sex marriage by CEO Dan Cathy sparked nationwide boycotts.
In a radio interview that summer, Cathy said, “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.”
After the initial flap, the company toned down its political profile, though it continued to give to controversial groups, according to reports about its tax donations.