Hi. I am this account holder's girlfriend. I will be speaking in English and at a later point, the account holder can translate this information in Korean so that the community of Casmo may understand what I say. Although I do not disagree with advocating the rights of children, I do want to stress the point that we should be careful before quickly jumping into the bandwagon of advocacy. Who are we to say we will fight for the rights of children after only watching a 30 minute video? I doubt that more than half of the people who are advocating for Invisible Children even know where Uganda is.
What I am getting at is to understand that there is both sides of a story. I will link evidence I have found on the Internet about some of the critisms on Invisible Children and it is up to you to form an opinion, instead of being mindlessly naive. This is IC's official annual financial report : http://c2052482.r82.cf0.rackcdn.com/images/895/original/AR11_small_final2.pdf?1325722694. On page 19 and 20, you will see the break down of their funds. In total, they recieve close to $15 million dollars a year and have a $5 million profit. They do not state however, where this profit goes to. On the next page, you will see the pie chart that distributes where all the spending of their money goes. Only 37% of their revenue goes to directly helping people in Uganda through programs.
Here is the Charity Navigator. This is a large website that rates non-profit organizations like IC. Here is the direct link to their rating on IC: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429. The most important factor of a non-profit organization is their accountability and transparency. This means how much of the club infomration are they willing to share to the public. Charity Navigator rated this factor of IC with a 45% or 2 star rating. Furthermore, they refuse to be part of the Better Business Bureau which is a large website as well that holds a similar role as Charity Navigator. Critics have become suspicious with their refusal since they must be hiding something.
Please note this quote from the article: "He and his forces have left a path of abductions and mass murder in their wake for over 20 years. But let's get two things straight: 1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for 6 years; 2) the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds, and while it is still causing immense suffering, it is unclear how millions of well-meaning but misinformed people are going to help deal with the more complicated reality. "
Lastly, here is another article, althought I am not 100% sure of their credibility that states "Yes the leader is still out there however the recruitment of children has decreased 80%. This isn’t due to the Invisible Children organisation, its because Ugandan military and the ICC have intercepted. The Invisible Children group are trying to pass a bill that allows America to militarise the region… They are providing misinformation to woo idealistic followers. The group have combined multiple regional conflicts to make it appear that this is one rapidly increasing issue. When confronted about their dodgy tactics, the head spokesperson stated;". Here is the direct link to this article: http://technologymob.com/2012/03/the-real-story-behind-invisible-children/.
I would like to just conclude by saying that seeing this unification of people around the world due to world issues is genuinely heart-warming. I was the same as everyone else and once I finished watching the 30 minute video, I thought I needed to, or HAD TO, help out the children at Uganda somehow. However, after hearing about some speculations on IC, I decided to do some of my own research to be able to form my own opinion. I just ask to other members of the Internet community to do the same and not instantly jump on the bandwagon of any popular non-profit organization.
첫댓글I gotta do more reserch on my own lol It is overwhelming information though. It's too easy to turn my head and try to forget this noise because I don't know what's real story. ...? But I think I have to get my part done. Thanks you for sharing :) xo
첫댓글 I gotta do more reserch on my own lol
It is overwhelming information though. It's too easy to turn my head and try to forget this noise because I don't know what's real story. ...? But I think I have to get my part done.
Thanks you for sharing :)
xo