# Private donation causes problems for AOL

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2000/12/15/private-donation-causes-problems-aol/
- Published: 2000-12-15T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Writing in Internet World magazine Stuart Lauchlan reports on a charitable gift
by America Online’s (AOL) Chief Executive that has caused problems.

AOL’s CEO Steve Case and his wife Jean have made a donation of $8m to a school which
is a division of a church that claims to “cure” homosexuals. While Lauchlan accepts
that “the Cases have every right to give away their money to anyone they like,” 
he argues that it is “hypocrisy” for AOL to put its sign-up CD-ROMs “onto the front
page of gay publications such as Attitude and Gay Times, in order to encourage members
of the high-spending, IT-savvy gay community to sign up and boost its revenues.”
Lauchlan notes that “an AOL spokeswoman said [the donation] did not come from the
$125m charitable Case Foundation, but was a personal gift from the Cases themselves.”

Visit Internet World.

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