OneCause and universal promotions: A problem?

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 08, 2009

A supporter of CatholicCulture.org sent a message today indicating he had received an email from OneCause promoting Dell’s offer to donate $5.00 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for each pink laptop it sells. This was obviously designed as a non-controversial incentive for purchasing through OneCause to fight breast cancer.

Unfortunately, as our correspondent pointed out, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation also supports abortion, including grants to Planned Parenthood (despite the fact that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer). For this reason, he said, he would no longer shop through OneCause.

As you would expect, CatholicCulture.org never participates in promotional programs designed specifically to benefit groups with agendas that undermine our own purposes. But there are also what we might call “universal” programs which are open to everybody. For example, one need not refuse to be listed in the yellow pages because groups with opposing values are also listed there; nor must one refrain from using the yellow pages for this reason. Rather, one chooses to advertise in the yellow pages if it will help one's business, and one chooses to look up businesses in the yellow pages if it provides a convenient solution to a need; otherwise not. Such universal promotional mechanisms inevitably reflect the good and the bad sides of the diversity of the culture in which we live.

Now it so happens that three of the promotional programs in which we are currently involved are “universal”: We receive referral fees from Amazon, we offer a credit card through CapitalOne, and we enable supporters to benefit our work by shopping through OneCause. The Amazon program is open essentially to anyone, the CapitalOne program is open to all non-profit organizations, and the OneCause program is open to all non-profits and all schools. It is a general characteristic of each program that it can be used to promote just about anything. Amazon sells many books and other products of which we disapprove, and it is at least likely that the portfolios of all three companies contain features we may not like. In all three cases, products are placed in the hands of, and fees are paid or donated to, individuals and organizations who work against the values for which we stand.

But the genius of these programs is that the money actually spent by users goes exclusively to the organizations those users wish to support. Thus, for example, OneCause may promote Dell's offer to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s effort to fight breast cancer, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation may use some of its resources to support abortion, but the fact remains that—if you’ve selected CatholicCulture.org as your cause—the merchants you shop with through OneCause make donations out of your payments only to CatholicCulture.org. In other words, your money goes toward fighting the false values some other organizations promote.

Given how these programs work, I have no trouble with the intrinsic morality of participating, but I do see three issues of prudence. The first issue is whether some or all “universal” programs have a tendency to “dilute our brand” and breed doubts concerning our commitment by remotely associating CatholicCulture.org with things that we oppose. The second is whether some or all programs will send unwanted, or even potentially offensive, promotional material to those who have registered only to support our cause, thereby alienating our supporters. And the third is whether some of our supporters might be misled into thinking an organization mentioned in emails from one of these promotional programs has been approved by CatholicCulture.org, and so deserves their support.

If any of these issues becomes a problem, non-participation would certainly become the better course. But if they are not a problem, then giving supporters multiple ways to benefit our work is clearly a good thing all the way around. We welcome your thoughts on these issues, based both on your own weighing of the general pros and cons, and on your own particular experiences with these promotional programs.