This letter is in response to the recent article, Youth music nonprofit boycotting United Way funds over diversity reporting requirements, which was published on Nov. 4. Over the course of the last year, Dan Goeller, Executive Director of Harmony South Dakota, has repeatedly made misleading and inaccurate statements regarding Sioux Empire United Way (SEUW). During this time, multiple meetings were held and additional meeting offers were made to clarify this information with Mr. Goeller and members of his Board of Directors. Despite our best efforts to clarify his misunderstandings in private, we are now faced with no other option but to more publicly state the facts as they stand today.
Dan Goeller is a whistle-blower, who is simply giving an insider's perspective of the degree to which the woke mind-virus has infected this non-profit, among many others.
Calling him "liar" is a weak response & a slur.
This article in no way sheds light on any possible motivation for Dan to do this, other than his own personal convictions. In fact, he brought these facts to light at great expense to himself; and made some of the most powerful men in SF his enemy.
Wow! Thanks for creating the content you have Dan! It’s really raised a lot of important awareness for me! I appreciate people who help us learn what’s really going on like you have here Dan! Keep up the good work.
How does someone make "inaccurate and often outright false statements" when all I did was simply provide the SEUW's own documents and videos documenting their DEI work? Here is a 4-minute video that shares those documents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etRQQ4Zz7pw
I think the public should look at the evidence and make up their owns minds.
Wow. Painfully insightful. We don’t like to think these things exist, especially here vs “someplace else”, but it has to be exposed. It’s so much easier to look the other way or believe what one’s staff or Board reports. Thank you, Dan, for choosing principle over the huge dollars. Character is what you do when it’s difficult but do it anyway. Our donation dollars have shifted & we’ll ask the hard questions you did before we contribute.
The letter provided by the Sioux Empire United Way in response to allegations made by Dan Goeller appears to be an articulate and thorough clarification of the intent behind the questions in their application. I wonder then, was this simply a misunderstanding? I can understand that if one sees a question on an application, they may presume that they are required to answer unless the document expressly states that the field is not required. However on many documents, only fields marked with an asterisk are required. I haven't seen the form. Perhaps the option to leave the field blank was ambiguous?
In the SEUW letter, they claim to have reached out to Mr Goeller to clear up a misunderstanding, but received no response from him. I do not see that an attempt was made to reach out to SEUW regarding Goeller's allegations prior to publishing the original article. It appears that only previous statements from SEUW were referenced, and perhaps some of their wording was taken out of context.
To my understanding of the response letter, they do not intend to withhold funding from organizations which are not actively collecting the requested information. Rather, they hope to help to FURTHER support organizations wishing to foster a supportive and inclusive environment in their outreach; not to punish anyone, but to facilitate growth where they see the opportunity.
As a parent and a grandparent, I wish to see organizations and entities fostering a culture of inclusion and acceptance of our community members. I believe that when people feel accepted as they are, it has a positive impact on their mental health, which in turn affects their attitude in work and social environments, ultimately creating a ripple effect of positivity throughout the community. Since SEUW is an organization which helps to fund community outreach organizations, it stands to reason that they would seek to foster inclusiveness education and support when the organizations they fund show openness to learning and growing in that aspect. I don't see how showing support and compassion for any group which has been historically marginalized based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, or orientation would be detrimental to a community.
The letter from SEUW appears simply to clarify intent. They appear to aim to simply identify opportunities to further benefit the community, not to withdraw funding from community organizations which seek to, or are already making positive impacts on the community. Did I misunderstand? Was SEUW contacted for clarification prior to the publication of the original article, to which they felt compelled to respond? Again, the presence of a field on a questionnaire does not necessarily mandate a response unless it is marked "required."
I myself have missed that nuance when filling out forms, believing that fields were required when they weren't, and I have often declined to answer questions that were not required. I appreciate SEUW's clearing the air on this matter, and I do hope people who have expressed their withdrawal of support for SEUW will read the letter, think critically on this clarification, and consider researching further to be absolutely sure SEUW truly does not align with their values. Misunderstandings happen. We're all human, after all.
*As note, I did search for and locate the application form online. At this moment it does expressly state that the gender identity field is NOT required. If that is different from the form Mr Goeller was provided when his organization chose to boycott SEUW, I would be interested in seeing the original form.
Interestingly, Sioux Empire United Way (SEUW) has a whole page on their site dedicated to DEI implementation. They write, “In June 2020, our Board of Directors took our first steps in our organization’s deepened commitment to building a sustainable system for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our organization and our funded agencies and programs.” Further down the page it continues with a laundry list of DEI related, “Key Accomplishments to Date”, naming one specifically as, “Included metrics to measure diversity, equity, and inclusion progress with the funded application process.” (Source: https://www.seuw.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) Quite curious. They may argue that such reporting is not “required” to be awarded funds, suspect as that is given that they are, as stated above, “…building a sustainable system for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our organization and our funded agencies and programs”, but that’s beside the point, and anyone with any commonsense is not fooled here; it is clear these metrics play a role, and will probably play an increasingly larger role as time goes on. Are not these metrics inextricably bound with the DEI agenda, which they are, by their own admission, committedly pursuing? And, we should continue asking, why again are they “voluntarily” requesting the gendered pronouns and sexual identity of kids and other participants, followed along with explanatory questions? The rabbit hole gets a lot deeper, as I found out…
With respect, this and the other article didn’t really do full justice to the whole extent of what Dan has found in regard to this issue, it’s not simply a reporting issue that led to the break (though that in itself could warrant such a thing), from what I could gather. As with all things, there’s always more to the story. From what I can doubtless gather from the additional documents and video provided by Dan (links below), SEUW whole approach to social problems, their whole framing, in other words, is essentially loaded with DEI nomenclature and politically charged language we’ve all come to know and see cropping up in traditionally woke leftwing spaces and coastal states, such as Oregon, NY, or CA. You’ll even find SEUW sponsoring newly developed, local DEI “training opportunities for funded organizations' staff and Board of Directors.” I was frankly shocked. A larger trove of content documented by Dan, which brings greater light to this issue, including the content of the “trainings”, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Leninists_OTP. Dan’s talked on a couple local podcasts to better explain everything, which can be listened to here: 1) https://t.ly/yUbKD and 2) https://t.ly/ezRy0. All this was very eye-opening to me, as I had no idea this kind of woke leftwing stuff was so entrenched in this area.
LETTER: Sioux Empire United Way responds to claims made by music nonprofit
Dan Goeller is a whistle-blower, who is simply giving an insider's perspective of the degree to which the woke mind-virus has infected this non-profit, among many others.
Calling him "liar" is a weak response & a slur.
This article in no way sheds light on any possible motivation for Dan to do this, other than his own personal convictions. In fact, he brought these facts to light at great expense to himself; and made some of the most powerful men in SF his enemy.
This is what bravery looks like.
Reading and reviewing documents and statements previously made by SEUW tell a story contrary to what they say now.
Wow! Thanks for creating the content you have Dan! It’s really raised a lot of important awareness for me! I appreciate people who help us learn what’s really going on like you have here Dan! Keep up the good work.
How does someone make "inaccurate and often outright false statements" when all I did was simply provide the SEUW's own documents and videos documenting their DEI work? Here is a 4-minute video that shares those documents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etRQQ4Zz7pw
I think the public should look at the evidence and make up their owns minds.
Wow. Painfully insightful. We don’t like to think these things exist, especially here vs “someplace else”, but it has to be exposed. It’s so much easier to look the other way or believe what one’s staff or Board reports. Thank you, Dan, for choosing principle over the huge dollars. Character is what you do when it’s difficult but do it anyway. Our donation dollars have shifted & we’ll ask the hard questions you did before we contribute.
Opposition to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality no matter how you Cloud it, is really just an Excuse for Bigotry.
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
The letter provided by the Sioux Empire United Way in response to allegations made by Dan Goeller appears to be an articulate and thorough clarification of the intent behind the questions in their application. I wonder then, was this simply a misunderstanding? I can understand that if one sees a question on an application, they may presume that they are required to answer unless the document expressly states that the field is not required. However on many documents, only fields marked with an asterisk are required. I haven't seen the form. Perhaps the option to leave the field blank was ambiguous?
In the SEUW letter, they claim to have reached out to Mr Goeller to clear up a misunderstanding, but received no response from him. I do not see that an attempt was made to reach out to SEUW regarding Goeller's allegations prior to publishing the original article. It appears that only previous statements from SEUW were referenced, and perhaps some of their wording was taken out of context.
To my understanding of the response letter, they do not intend to withhold funding from organizations which are not actively collecting the requested information. Rather, they hope to help to FURTHER support organizations wishing to foster a supportive and inclusive environment in their outreach; not to punish anyone, but to facilitate growth where they see the opportunity.
As a parent and a grandparent, I wish to see organizations and entities fostering a culture of inclusion and acceptance of our community members. I believe that when people feel accepted as they are, it has a positive impact on their mental health, which in turn affects their attitude in work and social environments, ultimately creating a ripple effect of positivity throughout the community. Since SEUW is an organization which helps to fund community outreach organizations, it stands to reason that they would seek to foster inclusiveness education and support when the organizations they fund show openness to learning and growing in that aspect. I don't see how showing support and compassion for any group which has been historically marginalized based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, or orientation would be detrimental to a community.
The letter from SEUW appears simply to clarify intent. They appear to aim to simply identify opportunities to further benefit the community, not to withdraw funding from community organizations which seek to, or are already making positive impacts on the community. Did I misunderstand? Was SEUW contacted for clarification prior to the publication of the original article, to which they felt compelled to respond? Again, the presence of a field on a questionnaire does not necessarily mandate a response unless it is marked "required."
I myself have missed that nuance when filling out forms, believing that fields were required when they weren't, and I have often declined to answer questions that were not required. I appreciate SEUW's clearing the air on this matter, and I do hope people who have expressed their withdrawal of support for SEUW will read the letter, think critically on this clarification, and consider researching further to be absolutely sure SEUW truly does not align with their values. Misunderstandings happen. We're all human, after all.
*As note, I did search for and locate the application form online. At this moment it does expressly state that the gender identity field is NOT required. If that is different from the form Mr Goeller was provided when his organization chose to boycott SEUW, I would be interested in seeing the original form.
Interestingly, Sioux Empire United Way (SEUW) has a whole page on their site dedicated to DEI implementation. They write, “In June 2020, our Board of Directors took our first steps in our organization’s deepened commitment to building a sustainable system for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our organization and our funded agencies and programs.” Further down the page it continues with a laundry list of DEI related, “Key Accomplishments to Date”, naming one specifically as, “Included metrics to measure diversity, equity, and inclusion progress with the funded application process.” (Source: https://www.seuw.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) Quite curious. They may argue that such reporting is not “required” to be awarded funds, suspect as that is given that they are, as stated above, “…building a sustainable system for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our organization and our funded agencies and programs”, but that’s beside the point, and anyone with any commonsense is not fooled here; it is clear these metrics play a role, and will probably play an increasingly larger role as time goes on. Are not these metrics inextricably bound with the DEI agenda, which they are, by their own admission, committedly pursuing? And, we should continue asking, why again are they “voluntarily” requesting the gendered pronouns and sexual identity of kids and other participants, followed along with explanatory questions? The rabbit hole gets a lot deeper, as I found out…
With respect, this and the other article didn’t really do full justice to the whole extent of what Dan has found in regard to this issue, it’s not simply a reporting issue that led to the break (though that in itself could warrant such a thing), from what I could gather. As with all things, there’s always more to the story. From what I can doubtless gather from the additional documents and video provided by Dan (links below), SEUW whole approach to social problems, their whole framing, in other words, is essentially loaded with DEI nomenclature and politically charged language we’ve all come to know and see cropping up in traditionally woke leftwing spaces and coastal states, such as Oregon, NY, or CA. You’ll even find SEUW sponsoring newly developed, local DEI “training opportunities for funded organizations' staff and Board of Directors.” I was frankly shocked. A larger trove of content documented by Dan, which brings greater light to this issue, including the content of the “trainings”, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Leninists_OTP. Dan’s talked on a couple local podcasts to better explain everything, which can be listened to here: 1) https://t.ly/yUbKD and 2) https://t.ly/ezRy0. All this was very eye-opening to me, as I had no idea this kind of woke leftwing stuff was so entrenched in this area.
So, do they ask for the information as outlined in the first article or not? Plain and simple.
https://youtu.be/etRQQ4Zz7pw?si=7EeSjuQH4cHQIj8p