Chase Community Giving Facebook Campaign Announces Round One Winners

Unfortunately, Chase Community Giving was a scam. Please check out the article in the front section of today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/us/19charity.... and then head over to http://ssdp.org/boycott to take action.

The article states the discontent of three organization which promoted medical marijuana and anortion for women. These organizations perhaps because of the contriversial issues they represent did not make the voting. Chase decided not to endorse them because of the political issues that can result. Most agencies that deal with the public wuld stay awy, they were not disqualified.
There are other charities that are wonderful and offer hope and assistance to othes that will benefit from a vote which costs a consumer nothing. Dont be jaded. I will still cast a vote for Camp Okizu which help many children with cancer and thier families.

They were disqualified. They were originally qualified because they originally were allowed into the original pool of organizations that people were allowed to vote for. Some organizations were excluded. So Chase pre-approved the organizations it later disqualified, had extensive contact with members of the organizations that were later disqualified, used the organizations for publicity - organizations with limited resources at that, and then disqualified them. These are facts.

If Chase really wanted to stay away from these issues, then they never should have qualified them in the first place - which they did - by allowing them into their approved voting pool.

And when it comes to drug policy - the vast majority of Americans think the drug war is a failure. It is not a controversial issue anymore - it is a misconception that it remains controversial.

Plus, this was just a social media fail. Chase displayed that they knew that social media was powerful, but had absolutely no idea how to wield that power. On so many fronts, Chase screwed up.

I am in the process of closing my Chase bank accounts (it's taking more time than I'd like, since I have to switch around some direct deposit stuff/etc., but I am closing it), am active in the boycott, and will not participate in a rigged contest, which is what Chase Community Giving is. Disingenuous, rigged, and predatory. Predatory because it preyed on the media influence and grassroots outreach infrastructure of organizations of limited resources to further itself as a corporation, all on false pretenses. That is inexcusable.

Helping children with cancer and their families is a noble and worthy cause. But there are much nobler and more worthy ways to go about supporting that cause than participating in Chase Community Giving. So I won't be casting a vote for Camp Okizu, or any other charity still in the running in Chase Community Giving. But do I support children with cancer and their families? You bet.

And I can also assure you that I give a huge proportion of my income to charity on a regular basis.