The American Institute of Philanthropy’s (AIP) Charity Rating Guide & Watchdog Report has downgraded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to a “D” rating on a A-F scale in its August 2010 report.
American Beverage Institute (ABI) Director Sarah Longwell stated that, “Under the leadership of CEO Chuck Hurley, MADD further diminished its focus on victim services and educating Americans about the dangers of drunk driving, instead pushing anti-drinking, anti-alcohol public policies,” The public needs to realize that MADD isn’t the same group it was 20 years ago.”
Another charitable giving guide, Charity Navigator, gives MADD an overall rating of 1 out of 4 stars. Charity Navigator reserves this embarrassing basement-level for a charity that “fails to meet industry standards.” Longwell continued: “MADD’s anti-alcohol agenda includes advocating for alcohol detectors in all cars, sobriety checkpoints and sky-high alcohol taxes. By spending on these new priorities, MADD has diverted money from programs created to help the victims of drunk driving and get dangerous drunk drivers off the roads.”
These financial changes reveal a shift in MADD’s mission. In the words of its own founder Candy Lightner: MADD “has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”
At DaytonDUI we have consistently opposed MADD’s neo-prohibitionist agenda. Candy Lightner is a hero who changed the world for the better, but the organization she spawned has grown so far beyond its purpose that it is falling of its own weight. It has become nothing more than another special-interest group looking to make big money off government programs. What is worse is the detrimental effect MADD has had on our Constitutional rights. I would give them an “F.”
