• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans

Photo
- - - - -

Chase Community Giving charity contest


  • This topic is locked This topic is locked
126 replies to this topic

#121 Da55id

  • Guest
  • 436 posts
  • 6
  • Location:Springfield, va
  • NO

Posted 17 December 2009 - 06:43 PM

I don't think we had enough votes, but I can't help but think they are hiding the vote totals because they disqualified some groups.

Also, how can the American Cancer Society win (not that I mind so much), but don't they have an annual budget over $10,000,000?


I believe you are correct about disqualification of some groups. Students for Sensible Drug Policy had more votes than NYRA, the charity I was rooting for the most due to my own personal involvement as a former director, but NYRA won and SSDP did not.


This is my point. The destroyed transparency and continue to hide the pea under the shells. I refuse to chase rabbits with our very precious resources.

#122 Florin

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 841 posts
  • 30
  • Location:Cannot be left blank

Posted 17 December 2009 - 07:16 PM

Also, how can the American Cancer Society win (not that I mind so much), but don't they have an annual budget over $10,000,000?

I noticed that too but didn't investigate further because I assumed the Board would've disqualified this "local" branch (i.e., the Eastern Division) if it had more than $10 million in annual revenues. However, upon further investigation, the Eastern Division of the American Cancer Society seems likely to have annual revenues way over $10 million since in fiscal year 2000 it reportedly had nearly $82 million in revenues. Unfortunately, I couldn't find more recent financial statements that reports only Eastern Division revenues. Perhaps, someone with access to Guidestar's full info on this charity can share that info with us. Anyway, this is evidence enough to bring it to Chase's attention. It will be interesting to see what they do.

#123 Florin

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 841 posts
  • 30
  • Location:Cannot be left blank

Posted 17 December 2009 - 08:33 PM

I don't think we had enough votes, but I can't help but think they are hiding the vote totals because they disqualified some groups.

Also, how can the American Cancer Society win (not that I mind so much), but don't they have an annual budget over $10,000,000?


I believe you are correct about disqualification of some groups. Students for Sensible Drug Policy had more votes than NYRA, the charity I was rooting for the most due to my own personal involvement as a former director, but NYRA won and SSDP did not.

This is my point. The destroyed transparency and continue to hide the pea under the shells. I refuse to chase rabbits with our very precious resources.

This is a certainly a concern as we all (I hope) knew from the start, but there was no way to know for sure without asking (and I did ask during Round 1 but receieved no reply) whether a charity that might qualify would indeed qualify. Imminst might have been disqualified, but I think the MF had a real chance—although it's still a possibility that the MF could've been disqualified even though it may have squeaked into the Top 100. Most of the other charities on our list could certainly have won as well.

As for the SSDP, they clearly have political goals; that's enough to disqualify it. This something that the SSDP should have been aware of from the beginning.

Other charities have also been disqualified such as (ordered by the most votes on 12/08):
  • The Prem Rawat Foundation
  • Arts Center Of Falun Dafapractitioners
  • Coalition To Investigate The Persecution Of Falun Gong In China
  • Sound Of Hope Radio Network
  • New Tang Dynasty Television Dallas
  • Wisconsin Falun Dafa Assoc
  • Southeast Us Falun Dafa Association
  • Mid Usa Falun Dafa Association
  • Marijuana Policy Project Foundation
  • Students for a Free Tibet
  • Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Org
  • Adopt A Us Soldier
  • Ensaaf
Most of these got disqualified due to having political goals. However, I'm not sure why #1 or #12 got disqualified.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 17 December 2009 - 08:34 PM.


#124 j0lt_c0la

  • Guest, F@H
  • 43 posts
  • 0

Posted 17 December 2009 - 10:30 PM

Charities must be available for selection through the Chase Community Giving application and be 501©(3) organizations and not be subject to any U.S. sanctions. A Charity that, by itself or through an affiliated entity, discriminates on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, medical condition, citizenship, ancestry or marital status is not eligible. Other Charities that are ineligible include, but are not limited to, those with annual operating expenses of more than $10,000,000 based on most recent IRS filings or otherwise substantiated through audited financial statements, organizations designated by the IRS as private foundations, organizations not listed in IRS Publication 78, or organizations otherwise not in alignment with Sponsor's corporate social responsibility guidelines. Additional reasons a Charity may be deemed ineligible include, but are not limited to, the Charity and/or its management being subject to any investigation for fraud, financial misconduct or other criminal activity. Any organization determined to be ineligible at any time will be disqualified. Sponsor retains the right at its sole discretion to determine eligibility and reserves the right to disqualify any Charity for any reason whatsoever. All applicable jurisdictional laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited or otherwise restricted by law.


There's nothing in here about political goals, not a damned thing. NYRA would have been disqualified too, because we have the political goal of fighting for student and youth rights. They denied SSDP on the hand-waving, vague "not in alignment with Sponsor's corporate social responsibility guidelines" clause. The Falun Dafa groups were blatantly cheating (making fake Facebook accounts with no profile pics or friends, with names repeating multiple times), but many of the the rest were disqualified because Chase simply doesn't like their goals. Chase should have denied them ahead of time, but they wanted the publicity and attention from the groups without actually paying them anything for it.

#125 Florin

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 841 posts
  • 30
  • Location:Cannot be left blank

Posted 18 December 2009 - 02:01 AM

From Chase Community Giving's FAQ:

Facebook users will have over 500,000 nonprofit organizations to chose from- the largest number ever for a program of this type. Facebook users will be able to vote for non profits that serve the general public in the following focus areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services, and animal welfare. [emphasis mine] The 501c3 designation will help us with the administration of the program and screening charities.

Since the SSDP definitely doesn't belong in any of those categories, it's pretty clear that that's the most likely reason it got disqualified. While the exclusion of organizations with political goals isn't explicit, it's implicit.

I'm unsure why the NYRA didn't get disqualified. Perhaps, it has enough of an educational and human services component that Chase ignored its political agenda, or Chase might not know about it's political goals yet, but I think this is less likely.

From the NYRA's homepage:

The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating [emphasis mine] people about youth rights, empowering [emphasis mine] young people to work on their own behalf in defense of their rights, and taking positive steps to lessen the burden of ageism.


Edited by Florin Clapa, 18 December 2009 - 02:11 AM.


#126 j0lt_c0la

  • Guest, F@H
  • 43 posts
  • 0

Posted 18 December 2009 - 04:08 AM

From Chase Community Giving's FAQ:

Facebook users will have over 500,000 nonprofit organizations to chose from- the largest number ever for a program of this type. Facebook users will be able to vote for non profits that serve the general public in the following focus areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services, and animal welfare. [emphasis mine] The 501c3 designation will help us with the administration of the program and screening charities.

Since the SSDP definitely doesn't belong in any of those categories, it's pretty clear that that's the most likely reason it got disqualified. While the exclusion of organizations with political goals isn't explicit, it's implicit.

I'm unsure why the NYRA didn't get disqualified. Perhaps, it has enough of an educational and human services component that Chase ignored its political agenda, or Chase might not know about it's political goals yet, but I think this is less likely.

From the NYRA's homepage:

The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating [emphasis mine] people about youth rights, empowering [emphasis mine] young people to work on their own behalf in defense of their rights, and taking positive steps to lessen the burden of ageism.


That's a basic description to tell people the ideas behind the promotion, but it's not in the official rules. I copied the entire eligibility clause of the official rules in my last post, and there's nothing about those categories anywhere else in the official rules. That description is like flavor text on a trading game card, it tells you something about what it does, but it doesn't make the rules. The only thing in the official rules that they could have used against them was the "we get to disqualify whoever we want" clause, which, while well within their legal right, is sleazy.

#127 Florin

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 841 posts
  • 30
  • Location:Cannot be left blank

Posted 18 December 2009 - 06:22 AM

From Chase Community Giving's FAQ:

Facebook users will have over 500,000 nonprofit organizations to chose from- the largest number ever for a program of this type. Facebook users will be able to vote for non profits that serve the general public in the following focus areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services, and animal welfare. [emphasis mine] The 501c3 designation will help us with the administration of the program and screening charities.

Since the SSDP definitely doesn't belong in any of those categories, it's pretty clear that that's the most likely reason it got disqualified. While the exclusion of organizations with political goals isn't explicit, it's implicit.

I'm unsure why the NYRA didn't get disqualified. Perhaps, it has enough of an educational and human services component that Chase ignored its political agenda, or Chase might not know about it's political goals yet, but I think this is less likely.

From the NYRA's homepage:

The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating [emphasis mine] people about youth rights, empowering [emphasis mine] young people to work on their own behalf in defense of their rights, and taking positive steps to lessen the burden of ageism.


That's a basic description to tell people the ideas behind the promotion, but it's not in the official rules. I copied the entire eligibility clause of the official rules in my last post, and there's nothing about those categories anywhere else in the official rules. That description is like flavor text on a trading game card, it tells you something about what it does, but it doesn't make the rules. The only thing in the official rules that they could have used against them was the "we get to disqualify whoever we want" clause, which, while well within their legal right, is sleazy.

Whether those categories are in the official rules or not, no one—especially organizations that didn't fall into any of those categories—should've expected Chase to go against its own FAQ (and charity search popup box that clearly highlighted those categories) if it doesn't conflict with their official rules. So, I don't see any issue here except for the fact that Chase should've included those categories in the official rules, but that's a minor oversight on their part.




1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users