logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | BP: Tainted Water—Tainted Donor

Bruce S Trachtenberg
May 20, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

May 19, 2010; Source: LA Times | When corporations give money to charitable causes they typically enjoy the spotlight their gifts provide. Similarly, the recipient organizations get spillover benefits from being singled out for support by well-known companies and brands. But what happens when a major corporate benefactor gets into trouble?

That question is hardly academic for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calf., which is holding a preview for the press on Thursday of its new Sea Otter Habitat, which was underwritten by a $1 million donation from the oil giant BP. Surprisingly it’s not the aquarium worried about getting tarred from its association with BP, which is now facing a public relations and environmental nightmare because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rather, to avoid calling more attention to the company BP officials themselves told the aquarium they might skip the event. Jerry Schubel, aquarium president, said BP told him “they did not want to hurt the reputation of the institution” and even asked ‘Would you prefer that we not be there?’ I said ‘No. Without your support we could not have done this.'”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

This is hardly the first time—nor likely the last—that accepting a donation from a corporate sponsor could turn out to be bad business, especially for the recipient organizations. There are no set rules or guidance on what recipient organizations should do when their corporate benefactors get into trouble. According to one expert, it often comes down to whether a company’s troubles conflicts with the mission of the organization.

Paul Dunn, says BP’s support for an organization that promotes sound environmental practices could cause the aquarium some discomfort. Says Dunn, “People can see a direct link there. Aquatic animals are being harmed by the disaster. Any organization that has BP’s name on it throughout the world should be saying, “We have a potential issue here.” Read Dunn’s article “When a Donor Becomes Tainted” on our website.

Despite those worries, the aquarium has no desire to put distance between itself and BP. The aquarium’s president told the LA Times he won’t close the door on future partnerships with the oil company. Clearly, this is a slippery slope.—Bruce Trachtenberg

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
What Nigeria Can Teach the US About Food Insecurity
Chidinma Iwu
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.