Christian Children's Fund refused GenCon donation

[Melbosa]

Seems that the CCF doesn't want money from GenCon based on their connection to DnD sales.

Source: http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/blog/post/690663/Charity_Says_No_Thanks_DD.html

Upon the death of Dungeons & Dragons creator, Gary Gygax, GenCon wanted to donate money to his favorite charity, the Christian Children's Fund. But in a shocking turn of events, the CCF declined GenCon's donation!

Reason? The donation was refused due to disclosure that some sales of GenCon revenue come from D&D-related items. CCF's paraphrased statement goes to say that the bequest presented gave the appearance that CCF was an "endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not...we cannot lend our name to an event for which we have no involvement. This decision should in no way be interpreted as CCF holding an opinion on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeons and Dragons."



Hmmm...Does it seem a bit sanctimonious for a non-profit, charity organization to refuse money from a donor that associated himself with something, like D&D which the CCF may find morally or ethically questionable?

Talk about biting your nose to spite your face. How about doing some research before turning down free money for your organization? According to CFF's website, one out of four babies are born into extreme poverty. If CFF's mission is to avert this horrific plight, then they best better check their political dogma at the door.

They could do worse than to accept GenCon's generous donation and use that to sanitize conditions and improve lives of communities they claim to so self-righteously improve.

[Mr. Analog]

Many kids who grew up Christian (or at least Catholic like me) can tell you games with dice and pretty much anything with references to "magic" are heavily frowned upon.

It's hard to understand, but to them it would be like having all the proceeds from a pornographer's convention donated to a shelter for pre-teen girls. Not cool.

I hope GenCon sends the money to a different, less sensitive/more realistic charity.

[Melbosa]

Oh I understand the view point of CCF... just found the article thought provoking.

Begs questions like:

* At an individual level, if you were pore and starving, would you take blood money (no strings attached! - I know would never happen) to survive?

* At a world level, if a some insane dollar amount would solve world hunger, poverty, disease, suffering and begin world piece, but it came from the backs of slave labour, innocent exploitation, inhumane dictatorship, corrupt wars, drug trade, mob organizations and prostitution rings would it be worth the trade?

[Mr. Analog]

Oh I understand the view point of CCF... just found the article thought provoking.

Begs questions like:

* At an individual level, if you were pore and starving, would you take blood money (no strings attached! - I know would never happen) to survive?

* At a world level, if a some insane dollar amount would solve world hunger, poverty, disease, suffering and begin world piece, but it came from the backs of slave labour, innocent exploitation, inhumane dictatorship, corrupt wars, drug trade, mob organizations and prostitution rings would it be worth the trade?

Those are some pretty big questions that I don't think most individuals are capable of answering and so it's best for large organizations to be careful about who they get their money from in case it comes back to haunt them.

I think it genuinely surprises people like us (who really do have everything) that there are severely destitute people who would refuse aid from others based on morality, religion, politics or what have you. As insane as it might seem.

[Darren Dirt]

Funny, I'll bet CCF would have no problem getting a billion or two from Bill Gates, even though multiple times his company's business practices have been confirmed as being less than ethical. Can't say the same about DnD, it's a product that interested consumers freely choose to spend their money on.

Heck, I wonder if CCF ever accepts $$$ from the diverse mega-corps like Seagrams or Molson or similar? They own way more than just liquor, like media and whatnot, but with them deep pockets I'd be surprised if they don't give to charities that don't complain too loudly about the source of the revenue...

I think it genuinely surprises people like us (who really do have everything) that there are severely destitute people who would refuse aid from others based on morality, religion, politics or what have you. As insane as it might seem.

Even more so from "this guy right here", as I am reading through Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and the way he points out the irrationality of so many socially-acceptable ways of looking at things, wow, it's really opened up my mind in ways I didn't even realize it was closed. (For one example, "Muslim child" is a phrase that would now pain me to hear, rather than the more accurate "Child of Muslim parents" -- do you think those starving children themselves have their own, self-determined anti-DnD moral beliefs that would motivate them to refuse food and clean water from those revenue sources, CCF? REALLY?)

[Mr. Analog]

I imagine the Christian Children's Fund has an agenda beyond helping children's physical needs and that would make the CCF acutely aware of the doctrine it represents.

This is bad publicity for both the CCF and GenCon because now the CCF looks like a group of ignorant people to gamers everywhere and GenCon looks like a big heathen festival that celebrates demons, magic and gambling to ignorant people.

Classic.

[Darren Dirt]

and GenCon looks like a big heathen festival that celebrates demons, magic and gambling to ignorant people.

Classic.

(insert link to "Chick Tract" here... both the ridiculous (religulous?) original, and one of various commentaries and parodies...)

[Lazybones]

lol I was about to go dig up the "Chick Tract" link.

[Melbosa]

and GenCon looks like a big heathen festival that celebrates demons, magic and gambling to ignorant people.

Classic.

(insert link to "Chick Tract" here... both the ridiculous (religulous?) original, and one of various commentaries and parodies...)

Wow I knew it was out there, but never seen this before.  Thx for sharing.!

[Thorin]

Before you jump on this too much, follow the links.  Someone actually emailed CCF to ask them why they declined the donation, and then posted both their email and the reply on the GiantITP forums: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?s=454257c7fda7884105022a95a0ef47be&p=5204213&postcount=22

CCF stated pretty clearly that they rejected it not because of the D&D connection, but because they didn't want their name bandied about as a sponsor or endorser or supporter of an event that they had zero involvement in.  That bit about them doing it because of the D&D connection is pure, unadulterated speculation.  So the question should be, what other donations have they rejected?

[Melbosa]

Check times between articles and reply.  Reply might be in response to bad press.  Or not, I can't really read it from my BB Browser.  Either way, still thought it was thpught provoking.

[Darren Dirt]

the request presented to us gave the appearance that CCF (the organization) was an endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not

...

This decision should in no way be interpreted as CCF holding an opinion on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeons and Dragons.

Wow, ummm... So I guess since they didn't want to be seen as "in support of" a gaming convention, but ^^ the above disclaimer ^^ , umm... does that mean they are not "opposed" to DnD, nor gaming enthusiasts, just them evil demonic gaming conventions??

[Thorin]

Lets stop speculating and start reading...

Gen Con contacted CCF about our intentions and asked for a logo and some promotional materials that we could use on our website.

Gen Con asked to use CCF's logo.  CCF doesn't allow the use of it's logo by entities it's not actively involved in.  This is very common - for instance, if you put the Better Business Bureau's logo on your door to try and make your company look legitimate, the BBB will have something to say about that!

We were informed by a person at CCF that they would not be able to provide us with these materials, apparently due to our association with D&D [..] We later found out that we had been misinformed as to CCF?s position in regards to D&D and Gen Con

So a CCF employee said no (possibly because of a D&D link), but CCF the legal entity did not actually have any policies about money from gamers.  As I showed with the earlier quote, CCF did have a policy about other organizations using their logo.  Keep in mind that GenCon offered to donate the money and requested to use the logo, at the same time.

Now here's the best quote, from a CCF response:

When Gen Con contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn?t lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements.

They would've happily taken the money, they just didn't want to give out their logo...

[Melbosa]

G4TV should then rescind their blog post if it is falsely stating the occurrences of events (or CCF should ask them to).  G4TV is not a small independent website with limited viewers.  I would think CCF would be worried about their image as presented through them.

But in any case, I find it funny the corporate imagery issue is the reason for denial of donation.  Could they have negotiated a role in GenCon?  Could they have negotiated the presentation of the CCF image by GenCon?  I'm sure there are Christian attendees to the event every year!

By this then they would deny a sizable company donation if all said company wanted to to was add "Proud Sponsor of CCF" and their logo (with link to them) on my corporate website?  Or could we just negotiate how to go about this.  It is a win-win, as said company looks better for being a sponsor of CCF, and CCF gets more exposure through said company.  But neither plays a role in each others operations.

There is reading, then there is reading between the lines.  Could be taken as a convenient loop hole, used to save face, but in the end resulting in a desired outcome without bad publicity.

Just some thoughts I had.  I don't necessarily believe this is the case mind you.  Just some thoughts.

[Thorin]

So if it's all about he giving, why would GenCon not simply donate the money without asking for a logo?  When I donate money to an organization, I ask for a tax receipt, not a logo.  I don't go tooting my horn about how much I've donated to organization XYZ, I just give them the money quietly.

If you're reading between the lines, then how about asking why GenCon made a big stink about it?  Or why they even bothered asking for CCF's logo?  Or why CCF would've taken all those donations by the co-creator of D&D, if CCF is morally opposed to D&D (by the way, the concept that CCF might be morally opposed to D&D has been brought up by the various bloggers and article commenters while CCF itself clearly states that it is not).

The blogosphere is alive with cries of "How dare CCF call us evil?  D&D isn't evil!" (or at least that sentiment).  But looking through the actual correspondence that's been posted publicly, and CCF's public response, there's actually no indication of them calling D&D evil.  In fact, they specifically state that they have no opinion of the game, good or evil.

So, thought-provoking?  Yes, it makes me wonder at how completely over-sensitive D&D players are to imagined slights, and how the Internet helps spread their over-the-top responses to these imagined slights at amazing speeds.  Meanwhile, the player-base continues to grow as kids of oldtime players get introduced to the game (as my oldest now has).