Imus’s Charity May Face Fund-Raising Hurdles

In the wake of Don Imus’s firing by CBS Radio and MSNBC last week, the children’s charity that he and his wife, Deirdre, run in Ribera, N.M., could face a tough time raising money, reports the Associated Press.

Before he was fired last week for making sexist and racist remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, Mr. Imus pointed to the Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of cowboy life, to make his case that he is “a good person who said a bad thing.”

But now donors may be wary, say charity experts. Just as corporate sponsors backed away from his radio show, “I think you’ll see a similar effect on the charity, where the corporate donors will find a less hot-button charity to support,” said Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, a charity watchdog group based in New Jersey.

But others say the charity is worth supporting. The General Motors Corporation said last week that it would continue donating Chevrolet Suburbans for the ranch, and the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, which provides medical staff members to attend every ranch session, says it plans to continue to support the charity.

“While there is no excuse for these comments, we cannot overlook all of the good he has done for families of Bergen County and across the nation,” the medical center said in a statement.