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Charity Refuses Donation Because of D&D Connection

Posted by samzenpus on from the tainted-money dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This year's GenCon Charity Auction raised over $17,000 which they intended to donate to Gary Gygax's favorite charity, Christian Children's Fund. However, the charity refused the donation when they learned of its connection to Dungeons & Dragons." It seems to me all they would need to do is cast remove curse or dispel evil and the money would be fine to use.

18 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Advanced Bad & Summary by RobertB-DC · · Score: 5, Informative

    In their rush to paint Christians as idiots, the editors failed to notice this addendum to TFA:

    Christian Children's Fund made the decision to decline the gift from Gen Con, LLC as 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. As many non-profit organizations, CCF is selective in its endorsements or support in order to maintain the integrity of its name and logo. 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.

    Some of my fellow faith-mates do make the rest of us look pretty silly. But the non-religious folks apparently have a knee-jerk reaction that would make Dr. Dobson proud.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    1. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Jonah+Hex · · Score: 4, Funny

      I am so glad that they have a reasonable reason for doing this. I was a victim of my grandmother taking away my AD&D books back in the 90's due to the 700 Club helpfully telling her they would allow me to summon a demon from hell or force me to kill myself when my alternate persona died.
       
      Jonah HEX

      --
      Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
    2. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It might at first glance seem like a reasonable explanation but it doesn't hold water. They have had no problem in the past accepting money from businesses or events.

    3. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by ratboy666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      CCF is not a sponsor. They are the sponsored charity. No endorsement from CCF was needed. Well... a simple "thank you" would have sufficed.

      *They* decided to turn down the gift, which CAN be interpreted as having such an opinion.

      So CCF had to back-pedal, and release an announcement about how to interpret the decision. Meh. Too late, the dunderheads have spoken very loudly with their actions.

      --
      Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
    4. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do you now have a set of dice lovingly carved from her bones?

    5. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Rycross · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, this particular donation appeared to imply an endorsement. They're in no way saying that every donation received implies an endorsement. Why they feel that way is probably related to the detail of how the funds were raised and donated (as in, I'm not a lawyer so I wouldn't know).

    6. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Inner_Child · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You should really check out some of the Chick religious tracts surrounding gaming and witchcraft. I really don't think I've ever laughed that hard before in my life.

      --
      Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
    7. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by krgallagher · · Score: 4, Interesting
      "*They* decided to turn down the gift, which CAN be interpreted as having such an opinion."

      You know, they are a private charity and are free to any opinion and action they wish as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. People have a bad case of "I want to do what I want and I want you to do what I want" these days. Gen Con, LLC should donate the money to some other worthwhile charity and "Get Over Themselves!"

      --

      Insert Generic Sig Here:

    8. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      That would be this one.

    9. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Grampa?

    10. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by Rakishi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gen Con, LLC should donate the money to some other worthwhile charity and "Get Over Themselves!"

      They did, your point was what again?

      You know, they are a private charity and are free to any opinion and action they wish as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.

      And others are perfectly free to call them idiots for it. Or does freedom of opinion only go one way?

    11. Re:Advanced Bad & Summary by aussie_a · · Score: 4, Funny

      How the fuck was she killing zombies without a DM?

  2. This summary is already out of date by mothrsuperior · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the link:
     

    Edit: In response to complaints received, people have been receiving the following explanatory letter.

            Christian Childrenâ(TM)s Fund made the decision to decline the gift from Gen Con, LLC as 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. As many non-profit organizations, CCF is selective in its endorsements or support in order to maintain the integrity of its name and logo. 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.

    (Emphasis in bold supplied by me.) At first, I was upset because I thought they were rejecting the money because of its association with D&D. I have changed my position. I have worked with charities and in fact many of them (particularly large ones) have very specific rules about events they will sponsor. Many charities will not sponsor any event that they don't manage themselves. There are many reasons for this and very few of them will have anything to do with moral condemnation of the event organizer.

    Nothing to see hear, Move along.

  3. Give it to someone else. by ouphie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hell, send the money to Child's Play. Great cause and run by gamers.

  4. Mods + spawns = creationism by sinij · · Score: 4, Funny

    D&D supports creationism, why else would monsters get spawned? They are not evolved, but just appear in spots = intelligent design.

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. Ron Paul would have taken it by EEBaum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm reminded of reporters slamming Ron Paul for taking money from white supremacists. He defended the action, his rationale being along the lines of "better I use it for my message than them for their white supremacy."

    --
    -- I prefer the term "karma escort."
  7. Re:ERROR CODE: ID10T by scottblascocomposer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You forgot one:

    An atheist on Slashdot is characterized by their remarkable ability to build and knock down ridiculous straw men for a religion of which they remain willfully and almost entirely ignorant, and yet continue to claim rationality as their guiding light.

    A similar level of ignorance of any other subject on which one would claim to speak intelligibly would rightly result in that person laughed out of the room. Only here can we be so anal about parsing code correctly in joke posts and yet admire ourselves for so completely misunderstanding and misrepresenting all religious belief, belief which has claimed the adherence of many of the greatest minds the world has known.

    Paint 'em all dumb, I guess, if it allows me to feel special and earn the fleeting respect of my fellow /.ers.

    --
    To reign is to serve.