Wal-Mart Foundation Leader Says Some Charities Should Fail

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October 24, 2008

Wal-Mart Foundation Leader Says Some Charities Should Fail

Wal-Mart Foundation’s president, Margaret McKenna, said at a breakfast meeting in Boston that the city has too many nonprofit groups and that instead of fighting for survival during the economic downturn, they should coordinate to find ways to continue their work, reports The Boston Herald.

“The argument that ‘our organization will go out of business’ doesn’t resonate with me,” said Ms. McKenna. What does resonate, she said, is, “Our population will not be served.”

Comments

I absolutely agree with Ms. McKenna. The only question is how to do this. It is a difficult and sensitive process as each non profit thinks it is doing the best work and all others should merge with them not the reverse. I expect that the only way the winnowing will happen is through financial attrition.

— Carl Jones Oct 24, 01:25 PM #
I also agree with Ms. McKenna. Redundancy in mission and vision is a real problem in this industry.

— steve suskin Oct 24, 01:36 PM #
This headline is misleading. It is not what she said. She boasts collaboration – which is best for communities in any economic climate.

— Donna Fico Oct 24, 01:39 PM #
She didn’t say anything new here! Of course, they would know a thing or two about “consolidation”….all the individual family-owned businessness and even some smaller chain stores have gone out of business in my neighborhood since a big fat Walmart moved in. Ahh, but at least they are “giving back….”

— Fabiana Oct 24, 01:51 PM #
What if she had said, “There are too many retailers and some of them need to go out of business. After all, it’s about serving the population.” Would the Boston Herald have buried it in the back or had screaming headlines? Oh wait. That’s right. Wal-Mart’s business model is to wipe out any business that duplicates anything they do. So I guess it’s not news afterall. And will people please stop referring to caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and protecting the rights of individuals as “industries?”

— Lane Brooks Oct 24, 02:08 PM #
Exactly. Wal-Mart hardly has what I consider to be entirely philanthropic intentions behind their giving. Apparently they feel the need to spread the love to the nonprofit sector as well.

— k.o.e. Oct 24, 04:53 PM #
You cannot reverse an eunuch’s inability to reproduce. As a corollary, you cannot expect non-productive NPOs to be fruitful or creative. Many NPOs are funded for political correctness rather than on their record of achievement delivering services and empowering the community. Remember that to those who have more should be given; and to those that don’t have what little they have should be taken away—and given to those NPOs that are tireless achievers.

— Dr. Juan Cruz, Ed. D. Oct 24, 06:32 PM #

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