Think twice before donating to Kony 2012

NightOwl1

I know the Kony 2012 meme has been circulating around here as well as Twitter/Facebook/etc. Joesph Kony is obviously a terrible human being, but the charity spearheading the effort is a very questionable organization.

You can read all about them at the link at the bottom, but here's a telling section:

The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.

The full article can be found here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/07/1072266/-Do-NOT-Donate-to-Kony-2012

Bahet

Thank you! I've stopped donating to a lot of charities because I'm sick of feeling like my money is going mostly to the rich people running the "charity" while only a few pennies make it (trickle down) to those who are actually the ones supposed to be being helped. I'd rather give a family I know is struggling a few hundred and lose the tax deduction than give a few hundred to something where that $200 is going to have $150 going towards the salary of the already overpaid rich executives running the chairty. Unfortunately, with things like Kony that leaves people like me in a hard spot. I am not at all in favor of the USA being the world police but sometimes there are situations where we need to step in and at least send in a SEAL team to take this guy out.

catherine1979

While I agree with the Kony 2012 movement in principle and certainly support awareness of the atrocities committed by the LRA and Joseph Kony, I would not give a penny to the IC Inc. I do believe that IC Inc. is doing a great thing by raising awareness and getting support to bring justice to Kony's victims but their finances scare me.

fbmandy55

Same goes for Red Cross. With the recent local tornado damage in IN, many news outlets were setting up donations to Red Cross. They were charging volunteers for water and coffee. :noway: Apparently no one knows what they are doing with the "tornado relief funds" and the Indy news stations have started backing The Salvation Army.

BrettPGH

I knew there would be something up with this group. Being a skeptic may not be pleasant but I'm just right too much of the time to quit!!

Yeah that's what bothers me about so many charities. It's a real problem with many of those "Walks to cure X" that people sign up for. 80% of the money donated goes to the event organizers to pay their salaries and cover costs of the event (from what I've read, in some cases the number is higher.) Well what's the point? At that point all you're doing is keeping charities in the business of being in business.

Give what you can whenever you can, but the sad truth is you have to be smart about it. Read up on any organization you contribute to.

Krizzle4Rizzle

I suggest save the children. That's where I will be donating to.

sarah_ep

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/517630-kony-2012

There was a thread about this on MFP the other day.