Girl Scout CEO responds to skepticism over $100K donation
Jul 1, 2015, 4:41 PM | Updated: Jul 2, 2015, 9:48 am
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama talk with Girl Scouts during a Lets Move! event on the South Lawn of the White House, on Tuesday. KIRO Radio's John Curley believes the Girl Scouts of Western Washington "concocted" a story to get people to feel sorry for them, thus paving the way for even more money. (AP)
(AP)
After rejecting a $100,000 donation, the Girl Scouts of Western Washington raised almost three times that amount on a crowdfunding site in less than a week.
The national organization refused the original donation because the donor placed stipulations on the money; requesting a guarantee that it would not be used to support transgender girls who participate in the Girl Scouts.
The Girl Scouts opted to return the money as the stipulation conflicts with its own policy. To replace the funds, a crowdsourcing campaign was launched online.
As of Thursday morning, it raised $297,595.
But some are skeptical of the story. The timeline of events is suspicious, KIRO Radio’s John Curley said Wednesday morning.
“I don’t believe it for one minute,” he added.
Curley believes the Girl Scouts “concocted” a story to get people to feel sorry for them, thus paving the way for even more money.
And Curley really believes that, KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney said. He’s a paranoid, suspicious kind of guy, he added.
But the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Western Washington maintains that the donation story is accurate, and in no way “concocted.”
“I’m not that creative,” Girl Scout CEO Megan Ferland said.
“We keep going back to the Girl Scout promise and law, and as CEO of Girls Scouts of Western Washing, that is not the example I would be setting [if I lied],” she said. “It is what happened. We received the donation, we returned the donation because it was not in keeping with our values because of the restrictions they put on it. And we needed to make it up because we have girls we need to serve.”
The conversation over skepticism flowed out from the KIRO Radio studios and into the office Wednesday. KIRO’s Rachel Belle pointed out to Tom that the Girl Scouts would have way too much to lose to try and pull off a scam. Tom agreed noting there’s too much risk for the organization to set that up.
But scams can, and do, happen, KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill said. There have also been situations where a lot more money was raised from crowdsourcing than originally expected.
“You just have to be on your guard,” Tom said.
KIRO’s Dori Monson was also among the naysayers Wednesday. He went on air and asked his listeners to spread the word that he wanted to speak to the anonymous donor to put any doubts to rest. No one called in with any tips by the end of his show.
