KONY 2012 - What do you think?

[ChevyFazer]

Plenty...

Every Friday I buy a homeless guy lunch who stays under the bridge behind work, put my rep on the line and just got someone I've known for less then a month a job where I work.
Made myself late for work last week stopping to help a lady with a flat, and that's only that last two weeks...

 

[CBRF3RIDER]

So all this talk about help the kids! Help the kids! Who all has actually sent them money, if you haven't then your a hypocrite...

This is the issue I've been having with all the dip****s posting on Facebook. Yup, you watched a 30 minute video and now your an "activist" because it's cool. But lets say this guy is captured or killed tomorrow. Will people care the day after? How about a month? A year from now will people really give a **** about the people in Uganda? Quite frankly I doubt it. I'm sorry I'm not trying to stir the pot but I'm sick of all these individuals I go to college with that think they deserve a pat on the back for watching this video and writing "this man needs to be stopped KONY2012" as a status on Facebook. As bad as it sounds, it seems like this is just the latest fad and sadly it will pass like all the ones before it. Anyone remember AIDS? It's STILL the leading cause of death in Africa, tens of thousands of children are orphaned every year as a result of their parents dying....anyone caring about this anymore? No, AIDS is sooo 2010 and (product)red merchandise isn't in style now.


In the interest of full disclosure: I have not donated any money to either cause. Also this does not apply to everyone so please don't take it that way. It's directed towards the people who only care because it's the hip thing to do.


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[McLovin]

This is the issue I've been having with all the dip****s posting on Facebook. Yup, you watched a 30 minute video and now your an "activist" because it's cool. But lets say this guy is captured or killed tomorrow. Will people care the day after? How about a month? A year from now will people really give a **** about the people in Uganda? Quite frankly I doubt it. I'm sorry I'm not trying to stir the pot but I'm sick of all these individuals I go to college with that think they deserve a pat on the back for watching this video and writing "this man needs to be stopped KONY2012" as a status on Facebook. As bad as it sounds, it seems like this is just the latest fad and sadly it will pass like all the ones before it. Anyone remember AIDS? It's STILL the leading cause of death in Africa, tens of thousands of children are orphaned every year as a result of their parents dying....anyone caring about this anymore? No, AIDS is sooo 2010 and (product)red merchandise isn't in style now.


In the interest of full disclosure: I have not donated any money to either cause.


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Agreed. Theres all kinds of people out there...seeking popularity for supporting, seeking popularity through not supporting. Invisible children are great at propaganda and know their audience really well. Either way, anything that gets teenagers interested and thinking works for me. And spending their money on invisble children is still better than spending it on Nike.

 

[mdfb42]

Investigate before jumping on board with any cause...Here is interesting bit about "invisible children"

They call themselves "a movement" seeking to end the conflict in Uganda and stop the abduction of children for use as child soldiers, but behind the slick website and the touchy-feely talk about "changing the course of human history", there's a hard-nosed money-making operation led by US filmmakers and accountants, communication experts, lobbyists and salespeople.

So far the organization has released 11 films and run film tours across the US and other countries to raise awareness. In Uganda, it has given scholarships to 750 children, and helped to re-build schools there and in centralo Africa. The organization's accounts show it's a cash rich operation, which more than tripled its income in 2011, with more than two thirds of its money coming from "general donations".

The accounts suggest nearly 25% of its $8.8m income last year was spent on travel and film-making with only around 30% going toward programs on the ground. The great majority of the money raised has been spent in the US. $1.7 million went on US employee salaries, $357,000 in film costs, $850,000 in film production costs, $244,000 in "professional services" - thought to be Washington lobbyists - and $1.07 million in travel expenses . Nearly $400,000 was spent on office rent in San Diego.

I'm with the "others"... fix here, then we'll go there....

Excuse you. I am an accountant, so when I look at their 990, it actually makes sense to me to where you assumptions are wrong. The amount of professional services are about correct. and that is not for Washington lobbyists. That is not possible considering that all non-profits must be audited first of all. Second of all professional fees is such a broad term that one can easily justify its amount. Professional services can range from Accountants to lawyers to translators in Africa to advisors helping direct which next step is the correct and most effective one and then even the carpenters who help build the schools in Africa. Professional services can be labelled as a services provided by ANYONE who is considered a 'professional'.

Second of all, I don't have the time to tear down each of your lists but you must realize the costs that MUST be incurred in order to keep something like this growing. Go look at any large non-profit that is expanding at this rate. You need to pay salaries to have people on board who know what they are doing and can do it full time. Non-profit does not by any means equal mostly volunteer work. People want to help, but the truth of the matter is that those people must also be compensated in order to continue helping because they need the money to pay their bills to keep a roof over their heads, put food in their mouth, and most likely pay student loans because I imagine they are all educated. As far as the film fees go. You can reclass that so many different ways it is unbelievable and until you see the general ledger and detail you can not make any clear cut assumptions. Go ask any non-profit auditor(me), until we see that detail, you cannot make a judgement except for the dollar amount as a whole, the size of this organization compared to its expenses are reasonable and all 'income' for non-profits should really be seen as investments because that money is going back into the organization so it can keep growing and become as effective as it has. If you seriously want a detailed talk, pm me and we can go into further detail but I don't want to waste thread space and make a bigger eye sore for others because of one person attempting to turn their assumptions into facts

EDIT: spell check

 

[mdfb42]

Not saying I disagree, but I'm an accountant for a living.

Read their own website:

"Is my donation tax deductible? Yes. Invisible Children is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. We'll send it to you upon successful completion of your donation."

They are calling themselves a charity, tax-exempt organization.

Then on their on website, they add this note for people who don't want their money to be spent for advertising and paying for Ferraris:

"For donors looking for an opportunity to give directly to programming in northern Uganda, the Schools for Schools program pledges at least 90% of donations will be used in the rebuilding of our partner schools, with less than 10% reserved to implement these funds."

Not trying to rationalize why I disagree, but the organization seems bogus. It's not something I would stand behind, or be proud to tell my friends I am standing behind. Incredible how things like the Red Cross still put so much of their $$ towards their actual efforts and people like this are so fradulent.

Wow. I am surprised you didn't realize that its not fraud to give that choice. A general donation can help the entire organization with operating expenses and everything else that helps spread the word and overall catch Kony. The option you spoke of would go directly to building schools. No helping awareness, no expanding to tackle the bigger problem, just building schools.

And something that has gotten this big would have gotten their 501(c)3 status revoked by now if it was fraudulent because I guarantee the government looked into it as soon as they started approaching media attention and politician actions

 

[ChevyFazer]

Everybody is going to do as they wish, it is a terrible thing that is going on but I always have and always will refuse to donate money to any company claiming to be helping, and refuse to give money to anyone I don't know personally. I have and will donate my time, skills, and anything that i have or can buy for someone in need as long as I can see with my own eyes the outcome of what I have done.

 

[oldfast007]

Excuse you. I am an accountant.

I could not hold a candle to your accounting expertise whatsoever so I'll remain in awe. I still would love to see a line item expense sheet to satisfy my curiosity. Salaries, production cost, etc. Oh, and they self admittedly do lobby by the way.

I do remember learning years ago that "figures don't lie, but liars can figure"

I have read the response offered by Invisible Children to the criticism they have received. It was enlightening.

I remain steadfastly to my previous assertion..."Fix here first, then we'll go there"

So having been unequivocally trounced in accounting 101...I withdraw from any further discussion with apologies to any offended.

 

[mdfb42]

Excuse you. I am an accountant.

I could not hold a candle to your accounting expertise whatsoever so I'll remain in awe. I still would love to see a line item expense sheet to satisfy my curiosity. Salaries, production cost, etc. Oh, and they self admittedly do lobby by the way.

I do remember learning years ago that "figures don't lie, but liars can figure"

I have read the response offered by Invisible Children to the criticism they have received. It was enlightening.

I remain steadfastly to my previous assertion..."Fix here first, then we'll go there"

So having been unequivocally trounced in accounting 101...I withdraw from any further discussion with apologies to any offended.

I completely respect your opinion and agree the here first and then we'll go. Problem with that is we are stubborn once we go, so once we go(which we have) I'm backing it so hopefully it is over sooner than that damn Iraq war was

 

[Humperdinkel]

CONy........... That is all

 

[chunkygoat]

I'm starting a charity in attempt to rid the world of ford because I herd that kony drives a ford. Mclovin would you like to be the first to donate to this truly great cause. If kony doesnt have a truck to drive it will end his reign of terror, for every $1,000 you send me I will buy one share of ford stock, and if I get enough people to donate I will try to purchase 51% of the company and shut it down!!! Please spread the word and repost this on every social media site and together with all the money I get from kind hearted people like you we can put a end to this reign of terror for the low cost of $75,000,000,000usd

Please send payments in the form of PayPal or Cheetos

LOL opcorn:

 

[McLovin]

LOL opcorn:

Im surprised you had the attention span to get through his post buddy must have been hard for you LOL

 

[Motogiro]

I don't think there is reason for ill feeling toward each other based on limited information. This thread does smack of the political arena based on who we believe is telling us the truth or how we personally process information.
I think we can see how easy it is to raise ill will or arms against each other based on information/misinformation we receive.

That is all.

 

[McLovin]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5_Zc2mpBX0&list=UUvtfT-xYX4Q-jC2Mbsk3OUA&index=1&feature=plcp"]Elbow Dragging R1 - 3/4/2012 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Humperdinkel]

Elbow Dragging R1 - 3/4/2012 - YouTube

How AWESOME does that R1 sound :jawdrop: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :rockon:

 

[CBRF3RIDER]

How AWESOME does that R1 sound :jawdrop: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :rockon:

Crossplane crankshafts....mmmmmm


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[chaskell27]

This comes down to a personal decision. Whether or not to help people somewhere else or help people here at home. Quite honestly, I couldn't care less which option you choose. The point is that if you do opt to donate money to help this cause in Uganda shouldn't you care enough to look into which charity you are donating $$ to to ensure that the maximum amount of cash is benefiting the cause you are trying to "raise awareness for"? Wouldn't you rather donate your money to an organization like the Red Cross which is much more transparent and gives 93% of all money donated to the cause for which it is donated? Why would you want to donate to a quite obviously dodgy organization?

P.S. Sorry for changing the direction of this thread. I just had to respectfully get my 0.02 in.

 

[McLovin]

I gotta say, this thread went in a totally different direction than what I had in mind. I guess whenever there is money involved people get tunnel vision. I personally see no problem with making an obviously important issue visible to more people. It's simply about education. How you decide to spend your money is your problem. I feel silly explaining this but it seems necessary. A lot of people heard about this conflict for the first time though this trending video and thats good enough for me.

 

[chunkygoat]

Im surprised you had the attention span to get through his post buddy must have been hard for you LOL

I'm really surprised (based on your ever so elegant grammar skills) that you actually are literate enough to even have a valid opinion.

My respect for you has now been replaced with feelings of pity and sorrow. I'm sorry Mclovin, I'm sorry I disagree you?

Pshh :Flip:

 

[DefyInertia]

I'm really surprised (based on your ever so elegant grammar skills) that you actually are literate enough to even have a valid opinion.

My respect for you has now been replaced with feelings of pity and sorrow. I'm sorry Mclovin, I'm sorry I disagree you?

Pshh :Flip:

So you are stating that his opinion IS valid and you are somehow butt hurt even though he put a smiley emoticon in his post???

 

[McLovin]

I'm really surprised (based on your ever so elegant grammar skills) that you actually are literate enough to even have a valid opinion.

My respect for you has now been replaced with feelings of pity and sorrow. I'm sorry Mclovin, I'm sorry I disagree you?

Pshh :Flip:

man i don't know why you keep coming back with such hostility but whatever..

and BTW, I think you meant disagree "with" you, goat.