A year after nearly doubling its anti-LGBT giving, Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation apparently reversed course in 2012, eliminating nearly all its grantmaking. Its separate Chick-fil-A Foundation made about $120,000 in grant donations, including about $25,000 to the anti-LGBT Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Between 2010 and 2011, Chick-fil-A’s corporate foundations increased their grants to anti-LGBT groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation and the National Christian Foundation, from $1.9 million to more than $3.6 million. Neither of these organizations received a penny in 2012, according to the foundations’ 2012 Form 990s, publicly available tax documents filed by non-profit organizations. The foundations’ overall spending was roughly even, meaning more of its efforts were focused on its own programs. But the drop from $3,623,938 to $25,390 in anti-LGBT donations represented a reduction of more than 99.2 percent.
In the summer of 2012, the company came under fire for its anti-LGBT giving and company president Dan Cathy’s comment that the company was “guilty as charged” of advocating a biblical view of the family. Amid the criticism, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and others organized a “Chick-fil-A” appreciation day.
But it appears that the company foundations scaled back anti-LGBT giving by simply scaling back all of its giving to outside non-profits. Their few donations included contributions to WinShape’s home in Brazil for needy children, scholarships for a Christian college in Georgia, and money for Habitat for Humanity and the United Negro College Fund.
Update:
This post has been updated to include data from the Chick-fil-A Foundation, formerly the S. Truett Cathy Foundation.