From their "Financial Accountability" page:
But instead of just sending the remaining 83¢ to the field, we send 60¢ directly to the field. Then we invest 23¢ into a global infrastructure so we can accept, procure, and distribute corporate donations, large private donations, and government grants.
It is entirely possible that they have been pressured by the government to accept this position.
You all will recall that when THE WON™ took office, one of the first things he did was to slightly alter the mission of the Faith Based Initiatives office -- from being one where the government would provide funding to faith based groups that provide social services to using those offices to help spread the Obama "transformation of America" message and mission. See these older threads where this has been discussed:
The Catholic Church has run into problems with this in the recent past. You've read all the threads posted by Catholics bemoaning this stuff (and by certain Protestants to mock the Catholic Church...and rightfully so). Sometimes, this has involved the compromise of the effort (See, for example, Catholic service group leaves Belleville diocese, to follow same-sex law) and sometimes it has ended up resulting in the effort being shut down (see, for example, DC tells Catholic Church Comply or Bye Bye, Illinois bishops announce shutdown of adoption services, PC Among Catholic Schools To Be Affected By Regulation (govt overlords at it again) and others).
The point being that this could very well what has happened with World Vision, behind the scenes. They could have been told, surreptitiously, that either they accept "same sex" couples or they lose the government grants that help them with their food distribution mission. And then they took the wrong decision...under duress. And that may not have come directly from the government, but from a large corporate benefactor (think about how many companies have taken this disgusting path, as well).
I'm not trying to defend World Vision, but I think you would be well served by diagnosing the cause -- "Why" did they take this horrible decision?
A lot of you have said that you are cutting them off. I can't blame you. But if you choose to donate to a different Christian charity, how do you know that they won't be the next to fall?
The guideline I use for my own donations is if they accept government grants, they get none of my money. The reason is that they are either compromised already or they are targets and likely will not stand. That severely limits the groups where I will donate, but that's sadly the way things are.
Hopefully y'all can learn from mistakes we've made.
My 2¢ FWIW, YMMV
I have a serious question that is along the same lines of government subsidizing religious endeavors.
Government grants and loans are commonly given to students entering exclusively Christian colleges. Why does this not usually affect the core mission and beliefs of colleges?
I have been sponsoring children through World Vision since the late 1970’s so this is very distressing. I think I will shift my donations to the Sisters of Life.
The child in the womb whose mother is considering abortion is truly the poorest of the poor.
“I’m not trying to defend World Vision, but I think you would be well served by diagnosing the cause — “Why” did they take this horrible decision? “
They did it either because they don’t consider the policy worth opposing, or because they support it.
I really do appreciate your warnings to us in this regard. Thank you.
I was doing a Google search and found they had recently also accepted a multi-million dollar donation of computer equipment from Microsoft. (Reported in the local Seattle news.) A change of position saying they accepted the homosexual lifestyle might have also been a condition of that.
This is why I was against the “Thousand Points of Light” concept all the way back to Bush I. If churches and religious organizations start taking government money and assistance they become dependent on government and eventually government tells them what to do. That is a true entanglement of church and state problem, not one of the phony ones that atheists try to bring up.