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United Way, Boy Scouts part ways in Chicago
Chicago Sun Times, November 19, 2003
By Lucio Guerrero, Staff Reporter
The United Way in Chicago and the Chicago Boy Scouts council are parting ways after the charitable group slashed the scout's funding by more than 90 percent.
Leaders of the Chicago Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America said in a press release that the split was "amicable." However, gay rights groups say the split was the culmination of boycotts against the United Way in Chicago and relentless pressure.
"As the Scouts and other nonprofits struggle in a weak economy for limited dollars, so has the United Way," said Lewis B. Greenblatt, the local Boy Scouts board president. "The Chicago Area Council was reduced beyond a reason to continue with the giving program."
Since 2001, the Chicago Area Council has seen its share of United Way dollars dwindle. In fiscal year 2001, it received $464,188; in 2002, $462,347; and 2003, $302,898. This fiscal year the group is to receive $24,486 from the Chicago agency.
United Way in Chicago officials said the deep cut in the Scouts' funding was made after the agency changed how it handed out money.
"We have reformed our allocation process to be give more funding to the programs that have the most community impact or make the biggest difference," said Lyn Corbett Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the United Way in Chicago.
She said the decision to reduce the allocation had nothing to do with the stance the Boy Scouts of America has taken to exclude gays.
However, gay activist groups have been lobbying the United Way to drop funding of the Boy Scouts because of its anti-gay requirements. Many United Way chapters across the country already stopped sending money to local Boy Scouts.
"Our position was that the United Way and government agencies which see themselves as representing the best interest of the entire community should stay a million miles away from any private organization which actively discriminates against any minority," said Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network.
The move by the Chicago Boy Scout group and the United Way in Chicago to part ways will not affect funding the Scouts get from other local United Way chapters. The United Way of Suburban Chicago, for example, will still contribute about $15,000 to the Chicago Area Council.
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