The Apocalyptic Style and Non-Profit Revenue Models
Some weeks ago, I met a young woman — a friend of a friend — who was involved in a variety of charitable groups, including Planned Parenthood. She painted a vivid portrait of Planned Parenthood under assault, of know-nothings gutting sex ed. She even attributed a spike in the spread of venereal disease to abstinence-only education, using very broad strokes to make her case.
It turns out that this vivid, at times apocalyptic style has helped turn Planned Parenthood into a flourishing organization — flush with cash, with a renewed mission to minister to the health needs of affluent women, and even men, in the suburbs.
Reihan: this is news to you? Do you not get direct mail solicitations? The apocalyptic style is SOP for many non-profits, of all sorts of political complexions.
— Noah Millman · Jun 25, 02:27 PM · #
Wow. Next the Atlantic Monthly, once home to the best damn crossword in print, will be trying to tell me I’m about to get squished by a meteor. Or Britney. Or Britney’s meteor. Or something.
— Sanjay · Jun 25, 02:39 PM · #
Well, duh. But it’s still important to point it out. And Noah’s right, the practice isn’t limited to Planned Parenthood.
— PEG · Jun 25, 03:23 PM · #
Last line there is a cheap shot. Planned Parenthood was a leading provider of sexual health care/information in the rural central Illinois town where I’ve spent much of my life – information especially for it’s growing hispanic population. If they can fund it with upper-middle class suburban dollars, god bless all of them.
— Mike · Jun 25, 05:03 PM · #
Second that the last line is a cheap shot. Planned Parenthood provides family planning and reproductive health care to thousands of impoverished people. They absolutely serve the poor of this country. Why it matters that they also serve the middle class, I don’t know— the middle class deserve safe and effective reproductive health care too.
And, by the way, Planned Parenthood is without question the organization that has prevented more abortions than any other in this country, by providing birth control and family planning to women.
— Lifafa Das · Jun 26, 03:49 AM · #