Fact check: Chick-fil-A has not resumed donations to groups that oppose LGBTQ rights

USA TODAY

The claim: Chick-fil-A donated $1.8 million to anti-LGBTQ groups

Chick-fil-A has faced backlash for its donations — and those made by executives — for years. Before 2012, the company consistently donated to anti-LGBTQ groups and CEO Dan Cathy said supporting same-sex marriage would invite God's judgment on the country.

Following the 2012 backlash in response to the company's donations and Cathy's comments, Chick-Fil-A stopped making donations to some, but not all, of the controversial groups. The company continued to face criticism.

Seven years later, in November 2019, Chick-fil-A's donations got attention again when the company announced its areas of charity focus for 2020 — education, homelessness and hunger — and expanded partnerships with Junior Achievement, Covenant House and local food banks.

More:Fact check: Chick-fil-A did not issue 'Back the Blue' shirts to employees

The shift in focus meant the company's charity initiative would no longer involve donations to groups that had previously fueled criticism, including the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

However, it's important to note that the company's new initiative meant more than 80 organizations would no longer get the company's donations. Salvation Army and FCA weren't specifically defunded; instead, they were part of larger group that no longer received donations when Chick-fil-A changed focus. Headlines about the move at the time often overstated the shift.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed that the partnerships announced at the end of 2019 still stand and that Chick-fil-A also "pledged to give back to Black-led non profits or those serving the Black community."

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Despite changes in Chick-fil-A's charity initiatives, the company still receives criticism on social media.

One viral post that started as a tweet but made its way to other platforms said, "Hi can you guys like stop... eating at chick fil a..... who just donated another 1.8 mil to anti-LGBTQ+ groups... after saying they wouldn’t.... like u can get chicken somewhere else human rights are more important thanks haha."

When was the $1.8 million donation made?

The claim was posted on June 14 and said the company "just donated" another $1.8 million, implying that the donation was recent.

The creator of the original viral post could not be reached for comment, but the claim appears to be based on this 2019 blog post, titled "After Promising Not to, Chick-fil-A Donates Another $1.8 Million to Anti-LGBTQ Groups."

More:Chick-fil-A is changing its charitable donations following LGBTQ supporters criticism

Tax documents from 2018 show that Chick-fil-A made two donations of $825,000 to the FCA and one donation of $115,000 to the Salvation Army, totaling the $1.8 million in question.

The post claims the donations were made after the company promised to stop donating to anti-LGBTQ groups, which it never explicitly did.

Additionally, tax records show that the donations had been made in 2018, before the company made the change.

Our rating: False

The claims in the post have been rated FALSE. Chick-fil-A did not recently donate $1.8 million to anti-LGBTQ groups. The donations in question were made in 2018 and are verified by the company's tax documents.

Additionally, the company did not "promise" to stop donating to anti-LGBTQ groups. This was misreported in 2019 after the company pulled funding from the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, among many other organizations, when it changed its areas of focus for charity.

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