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#it doesn't have a rating on charity navigator
secondbeatsongs · 2 years
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Hello! I'm Julie from Cariona and I just want to ask if you're interested in doing ads/promotions here on Tumblr? If yes, how much do you charge per reblog?
For proof of legitimate promotions, you can check @catchymemes, @sulfatto, @isnt, and many others.
Website for reference: http://cariona.com Over 200 five star Facebook reviews: https://www.facebook.com/carionaproducts/reviews
Please feel free to respond here or reach out to us on [email protected] for more details! Thank you once again and have a great week!
absolutely fascinating that you decided to send this as an ask, when you also DM'd me. unfortunately, you may realize that this was a mistake - you see, asks can be responded to publicly.
so, allow me to respond:
hi, Julie! I'd never heard about Cariona before, so I decided to go poking around, and I learned something!
well, I learned a few things, actually. from your site, Cariona seems to be a small business that sells reusable menstrual products. and while I will never advertise a product that I haven't used, there's nothing wrong with wanting people to promote your company.
I have, however, found a few problems.
the first thing I found was this post by @crafiet from May 12th of last year, saying that shortly after making a purchase on your website, her debit card info was leaked, and used to make facebook ad purchases.
it seems that at least back then, your payment system was insecure. I'm really hoping you've fixed that, because. yikes.
and when I messaged crafiet to ask if it was okay if I linked to her post, she also mentioned that even though your website says you ship from Georgia, her package came shipped from China, and took a long time to arrive.
that's pretty sketchy.
the next thing I found was some folks talking about receiving cards with their orders that have a QR code on them with the words "Scan For God's Message To You", and that on the other side, have this bible verse:
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Psalm 63:1
fun fact! that's from the King James Version (which I have a lot of thoughts about, but I'm not going to get into that right now).
additional fun fact! that particular psalm is from that time David fled to the wilderness because Jonathan's dad was trying to kill him.
and that's why I have to talk about the verses that follow it:
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(ID in alt text; link to the NIV version if you want it)
so...are we like 100% sure it's god that David is thinking about here? because...I mean...that's pretty horny, right? and all of this while on the run from his boyfriend's dad?
I'm not saying anything, but like...¯\_(ツ)_/¯
it's a weird verse to choose for this, that's all.
anyway, back to you, Cariona: after seeing people talking about the bible verse cards, I decided to poke around your website more, and allll the way at the bottom of it, finally found your "About Us" page, which ends with this:
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...look. there's nothing inherently wrong with being christian. but to say "we do not wish to impose any beliefs on our customers", and to then put bible verse cards in people's orders? that's sneaky, and I don't like it.
I also think it's a bit sneaky that you've flagged your tumblr account as pro-trans on shinigami eyes. at least, I assume you flagged it yourselves, because I didn't find a single post on your blog that mentions trans issues.
(though you have, entertainingly, reblogged some stranger things fanart, and a castiel cat cosplay)
and while your website uses very gender-neutral language, your "About Us" page doesn't say anything about being inclusive of trans people, just that you don't "discriminate against anyone who has a different belief than ours."
unfortunately, that's not good enough for me. I have this sneaking suspicion that "trans people are the gender they say they are" counts as a "different belief".
lastly, since you say on your website that people can message you asking about your faith, I had a friend do that!
baptists. you're baptists, which is a pretty conservative denomination.
and according to you, part of that 10% you donate goes to your local churches, and some missionaries. who are also probably baptists.
so.
in the end, I just...don't trust you? I don't trust that the 10% you're donating is going to organizations that aren't homophobic or transphobic. I don't believe that you're not trying to impose your beliefs on others, because that's what you're obviously doing. I mean, your "About Me" says that one of the reasons you built this company is to spread the gospel.
and I especially don't like it that you reached out to me (an openly queer person) for promotion without mentioning that you're an evangelical company.
so to answer your question, Julie: no. I am not interested in doing ads or promotions for you on tumblr. and honestly, you probably picked the wrong website for this kind of thing.
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fdelopera · 6 months
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Hey Gentiles!
I think some of you really need to know what antisemitic language and Jew-hatred looks like online.
I've been seeing way too many people here on Tumblr (some of them people I used to follow) posting antisemitic, Nazi rhetoric celebrating and trying to justify the murders of Jewish civilians.
This Jew-hatred ONLY EMBOLDENS NAZIS AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS TO ATTACK JEWS. It does NOT help the Palestinian people.
Now, I am about to say some things that will be hard for you to hear, but I need you to listen.
Here's some of the Nazi rhetoric that I've been seeing on my dash:
When you say shit like this: "Most Israelis secretly support the Israeli government."
What you are REALLY saying is this: "ALL JEWS secretly support the Israeli government." (Just like this idiot accused Neil Gaiman of today.)
And you are emboldening Nazis, who think this: "All Jews are part of a secret international conspiracy to take over the world."
YOU ARE SUPPORTING NAZIS.
When you say shit like this: "What Hamas did was brutal but justified."
What you are REALLY saying is this: "What Hamas did was brutal but justified WHEN THEY TORTURED AND MURDERED JEWISH CIVILIANS."
And you are emboldening Nazis, who think this: "I think it is brutal but justified to torture and murder Jews."
YOU ARE SUPPORTING NAZIS.
When you you say shit like this: "Those Israelis got what they deserved."
What you are REALLY saying is this: "THOSE JEWS got what they deserved."
And you are emboldening Nazis, who think this: "I think we should kill the Jews. That's what they deserve."
YOU ARE SUPPORTING NAZIS.
When you say shit like this: "This is just what decolonization looks like."
What you are REALLY saying is this: "MURDERING JEWS is what decolonization looks like."
And you are emboldening Nazis, who think this: "I think that Jews in Israel, the US, and everywhere around the world need to be rounded up and exterminated."
YOU ARE SUPPORTING NAZIS.
I shouldn't have to fucking spell this out for some of you, but apparently you need to hear it:
The solution to this conflict is NOT mass murdering Jews! The solution to this conflict is NOT another Holocaust!
To make this even more crystal clear:
1. You are spewing Nazi ideology, and you are MAKING IT EASIER FOR NAZIS TO ATTACK JEWISH PEOPLE. Your words are putting Jews around the world in danger.
2. It should NOT be hard to condemn a group that spouts literal Nazi ideology, murders Jewish people, and wants to murder MORE Jewish people!
3. It doesn't fucking matter if it is Nazis or Hamas, antisemitism is antisemitism, and an attack on Jewish civilians is an attack on Jewish civilians. When you post Nazi rhetoric, all you are doing is emboldening Nazis and white supremacists, and making your Jewish followers feel afraid of you.
4. And if you cannot bring yourself to condemn Jew-hatred, you will have it on YOUR conscience the next time a Nazi attacks a synagogue and murders Jewish people. If you spread antisemitism, that blood will be on YOUR hands.
So...
If you are a gentile, and you see other gentiles repeating these kinds of white supremacist dogwhistles about Jewish people, here's how you can help:
1. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Help people direct their focus away from making antisemitic statements and harassing Jews, and towards helping Palestinians.
Actions that people can take right now are contributing to verified charities and relief organizations that help the people of Gaza. Some organizations that are verified by CharityNavigator.org and CharityWatch.org are:
Anera (92% rating on Charity Navigator)
Palestine Children's Relief Fund (97% rating on Charity Navigator)
Doctors Without Borders (98% rating on Charity Navigator)
2. Call that shit out. Tell people that they're being antisemitic, and explain that Jew-hatred is dangerous to Jewish people. Antisemitism gets Jews attacked and it gets Jews killed. In the US, many synagogues require round the clock security to protect against white supremacists who want to murder Jews. In Pittsburgh, my old home town, a group of Nazis from north of the city planned the murder of Jewish congregants at Tree of Life Synagogue, and so far only one of them (the gunman) has been arrested and convicted of the murders. The others are still at large.
3. Explain to them that it is antisemitic to celebrate someone's death *because* they're Jewish. ALSO, it is antisemitic to blame a random Jewish person for the actions of ANY government, whether that be the Israeli Government or the US Government.
4. Explain to people that they're not going to solve this conflict by posting antisemitic statements and memes online. All they will do is alienate the Jewish people in their lives and make those Jews feel scared and unsafe. And they will contribute to this current wave of antisemitism.
Once again: Antisemitic hatred doesn't help Palestinians. All it does is put Jewish people around the world in danger.
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flockofteeth · 28 days
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Welcome back to another day of the marvellous, magical tiktokathon by trans people for trans people with Mercury Stardust, Jory & friends and Point of Pride!
We have now raised
OVER A MILLION DOLLARS
to fund gender affirming healthcare for trans people across the states & across the world!
And now we're aiming for two million to provide even more clothing, hormones, electrolysis, and surgeries to trans people in need!!
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BUTTS IN THE AIR FOR TRANS HEALTHCARE!!
Join the live on tiktok!
Or come hang out on Youtube or Twitch!
It doesn't matter if you don't have money! Just your presence in the live is enough to help keep this amazing fundraiser up & dancing.
(if the tiktok link doesn't work, search for Mercury Stardust or alluringskull on tiktok and look for the link to the Live Event in their bios)
Donate here!
Find out more about Point of Pride here! This is a trans led charity with an excellent four star rating on charity navigator (and that's four out of four to be clear!) and platinum rated at guidestar.org! If you would like to be a recipient you can apply here too!
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lightningwaste · 4 months
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Junk Removal Near Me
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mayedays · 4 months
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A few days ago a post crossed my dash which used the phrase "the puppets at the UN" while discussing the halting of food-aid to Yemen. I'm trying to decide if I should say anything to the person whose reblog put it on my dash. Like, on the one hand the language seemed to me to be evocative of antisemitic conspiracy (particularly bc they were talking about Yemen naval activities and how those are impacting Israel)...and on the other I feel like I'm (once again) making a mountain out of a molehill. (Also, it was on a post trying to illicit donations to Yemen for food-aid, which is good obviously, but the linked charity doesn't even have a rating on Charity Navigator--which doesn't mean its definitely bad, just that CN doesn't have the data to evaluate it. There are more reputable charities to give to.)
I feel bad because I don't even know how to be certain that this is worth saying anything about. For all I know its a false positive and I'm being overly paranoid. I don't really want to make the person who put that post on my dash feel bad. But I also feel bad about shrugging it off.
I wish I could stop overthinking everything.
0 notes
infinite-money-glitch · 8 months
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Income Tax Planning: Practical Tips for High-Net-Worth Individuals
In the realm of finance, optimizing income tax planning holds significant importance for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). Navigating the complexities of the tax landscape demands careful strategies to minimize tax liabilities while remaining compliant with the law.
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Also Read: How Unsecured Business Loans Can Help Startups and New Ventures
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gffa · 3 years
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Do you think one could follow the Jedi Code/Lifestyle in real life as a positive manner of living or do you think it only works in Star Wars? I asked this on r/Mawinstallation and the answers I got were either:
''The Jedi code is oppressive so no'' ( this was the most upvoted answer )
''The Jedi code works but only for the Jedi''
''The Jedi code requires the force to work and since the force doesn't exist in the real world, the code cannot work''
And finally, I got only a single reply that said
''Yes, the Jedi code does work in real life, that's the entire point of Star Wars''.
What is your take on this?
This is going to be sort of a long, roundabout answer, but the short version is: In the finer details, we're not space psychics, but as a general idea? Yes. First of all, what even IS the Jedi Code?  Are we talking about the whole “there is no emotion, there is peace”/”emotion, yet peace” meditation mantra, which we should point out is nowhere in the movies or TV shows, but is entirely in the novels and comics supplementary material?  Are we talking about a more generalized idea of Jedi philosophy?  And what, precisely, does that mean?  I mean, what’s oppressive about it and what scene evidences that that’s what the Jedi taught? Second, there are two talks that George Lucas gave that I think really illustrate this view of emotional navigation and how that impacts Star Wars and the Force: There’s the writers meeting of The Clone Wars where he talks about the light side and the dark side and there’s an Academy of Achievement Speech from 2013 where he talks about joy vs pleasure:     “Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness.     “Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It’s like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you’re shopping or you’re engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it.     “On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn’t go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can’t.  So the secret is that, even though it’s not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer.     “People who get the pleasure they keep saying, ‘Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!’ You’ll never relive the moment you got your first car, that’s it, that’s the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you’ll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you’ll run out.  You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work.     “If you’re trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you’re doomed. It’s a very American idea, but it just can’t happen. You just let it go. Peak.  Break. Pleasure is fun it’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever.     “Just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe again it’ll come back and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure, it’s about you. It’s a selfish self-centered emotion, that’s created by self-centered motive of greed.     “Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it’s the kind of thing that is in it’s subtlty and lowness more powerful than pleasure.  If you get hung up on pleasure you’re doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness.”  –George Lucas And how I like to compare that to The Hijacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, MD, MSL, which is a book about how corporations have hijacked our pleasure centers to make us focused on reward over pleasure.  It talks about the exact same concepts, with only slight word adjustments, but otherwise might as well be verbatim: “At this point it’s essential to define and clarify what I mean by these two words—pleasure and happiness—which can mean different things to different people.     “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “pleasure” as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”; or “gratification”; or “reward.” While “pleasure” has a multitude of synonyms, it is this phenomenon of reward that we will explore, as scientists have elaborated a specific “reward pathway” in the brain, and we now understand the neuroscience of its regulation. Conversely, “happiness” is defined as “the quality or state of being happy”; or “joy”; or “contentment.” While there are many synonyms for “happiness,” it is the phenomenon that Aristotle originally referred to as eudemonia, or the internal experience of contentment, that we will parse in this book. Contentment is the lowest baseline level of happiness, the state in which it’s not necessary to seek more. In the movie Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), middle-aged married couple Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano were asked the question “Are you happy?”—to which they responded, “Happy? Who’s happy? We’re content.” Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more.     “Reward and contentment are both positive emotions, highly valued by humans, and both reasons for initiative and personal betterment. It’s hard to be happy if you derive no pleasure for your efforts—but this is exactly what is seen in the various forms of addiction. Conversely, if you are perennially discontent, as is so often seen in patients with clinical depression, you may lose the impetus to better your social position in life, and it’s virtually impossible to derive reward for your efforts. Reward and contentment rely on the presence of the other. Nonetheless, they are decidedly different phenomena. Yet both have been slowly and mysteriously vanishing from our global ethos as the prevalence of addiction and depression continues to climb.     “Drumroll … without further ado, behold the seven differences between reward and contentment: Reward is short-lived (about an hour, like a good meal). Get it, experience it, and get over it. Why do you think you can’t remember what you ate for dinner yesterday? Conversely, contentment lasts much longer (weeks to months to years). It’s what happens when you have a working marriage or watch your teenager graduate from high school. And if you experience contentment from a sense of achievement or purpose, the chances are that you will feel it for a long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.Reward is visceral in terms of excitement (e.g., a casino, a football game, or a strip club). It activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, which causes blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Conversely, contentment is ethereal and calming (e.g., listening to soothing music or watching the waves of the ocean). It makes your heart rate slow and your blood pressure decline.       - “ Reward can be achieved with different substances (e.g., heroin, nicotine, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and of course sugar). Each stimulates the reward center of the brain. Some are legal, some are not. Conversely, contentment is not achievable with substance use. Rather, contentment is usually achieved with deeds (like graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life).       - “Reward occurs with the process of taking (like from a casino). Gambling is definitely a high: when you win, it is fundamentally rewarding, both viscerally and economically. But go back to the same table the next day. Maybe you’ll feel a jolt of excitement to try again. But there’s no glow, no lasting feeling from the night before. Or go buy a nice dress at Macy’s. Then try it on again a month later. Does it generate the same enthusiasm? Conversely, contentment is often generated through giving (like giving money to a charity, or giving your time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project).       - Reward is yours and yours alone. Your sense of reward does not immediately impact anyone else. Conversely, your contentment, or lack of it, often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large. Those who are extremely unhappy (the Columbine shooters) can take their unhappiness out on others. It should be said at this point that pleasure and happiness are by no means mutually exclusive. A dinner at the Bay Area Michelin three-star restaurant the French Laundry can likely generate simultaneous pleasure for you from the stellar food and wine but can also generate contentment from the shared experience with spouse, family, or friends, and then possibly a bit of unhappiness when the bill arrives.       - Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well. Conversely, walking in the woods or playing with your grandchildren or pets (as long as you don’t have to clean up after them) could bring contentment and keep you from being miserable in the first place.       - Last and most important, reward is driven by dopamine, and contentment by serotonin. Each is a neurotransmitter—a biochemical manufactured in the brain that drives feelings and emotions—but the two couldn’t be more different. Although dopamine and serotonin drive separate brain processes, it is where they overlap and how they influence each other that generates the action in this story. Two separate chemicals, two separate brain pathways, two separate regulatory schemes, and two separate physiological and psychological outcomes. How and where these two chemicals work, and how they work either in concert or in opposition to each other, is the holy grail in the ultimate quest for both pleasure and happiness.”                                – Robert Lustig, MD, MSL And then lets add in what Dave Filoni has said about the Force and the core themes of Star Wars:     "In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish.  It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do.  And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good.  It’s a constant.  And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know.  That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled.        “But when you fear, fear is the path to the dark side, it’s also the shadow of greed, because greed makes you covet things, greed makes you surround yourself with all these things that make you feel comfortable in the moment, but they don’t really make you happy.  And then, when you’re afraid of something, it makes you angry, when you get angry, you start to hate something, sometimes you don’t even know why.  When you hate, do you often know why you hate?  No, you direct it at things and then you hate it.  And it’s hard because anger can be a strength at times, but you can’t use it in such a selfish way, it can be a destroyer then.        “These are the core things of Star Wars.“  –Dave Filoni So, the core things of Star Wars and the Jedi teachings (because Jedi teachings are basically almost word for word how GL described how the Force works) can very much be a reflection of real world teachings and ways to live by, because all of the above are about how GL viewed the world and what he wanted to put into his movies. Further, Jedi teachings are basically just reworded Buddhism + Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  And both of those are very livable by our real world standards, if you so choose.  GL was very much about how SW had themes that were meant to be picked up on by the audience and even DF has said this:  “ Jedi have the ability to turn the tide, to make a significant moment, to give hope where there’s none.  That’s their ultimate role to play, to be this example of selflessness.  And that’s what makes them a hero, when no one else can match that heroic thing.  And then our job is to emulate that, to use that example, and further our own lives.” --Dave Filoni Ultimately, the Jedi are specifically focused on disciplining themselves (which GL has said is the only way to overcome the dark side, in that TCW writers’ meeting), probably to a degree most of us wouldn’t have the room to devote to, but that doesn’t mean that the broader strokes aren’t meant to be applicable to our lives or don’t echo real world teachings.
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messengerhermes · 2 years
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How to Check on a US Nonprofit before Donating
Hey Y'all, I know I'm late for the inundation of #GivingTuesday shit this year, but a lot of folks may not know that any nonprofit operating in the United States is required to make their financial information public on their website. If you're looking to donate to a nonprofit organization, be it national or local, visit their website and look at their financials page.
This will sometimes be under the "About" tab, and may be called "impact and reports."
You should find the organization's annual reports on their website , which are created by the org and show how many people they serve and usually have pie charts of how much money they had come in and how that money is distributed. These can be helpful, but as someone who worked in nonprofit, let me tell you, some orgs will do shit like double count clients, or fudge things around to make their impact seem better than it is, so take these with a grain of salt.
Instead, look for a nonprofit's Form 990.
Form 990s document all the income streams of a nonprofit, their expenses and how much their top executives are paid. 990's legally need to be publicly posted on a nonprofit's website, though some nonprofits may make them harder to find.
Open 990 has gathered a shitton of Form 990's from major nonprofits in one place.
You can also lookup a nonprofit's rating from watchdog organizations like Guidestar or Charity Navigator, which can give you information like client and staff demographics on top of their financials. On a related note, if a store asks if you want to round up to donate to whoever nonprofit, please know they use your donation to write off their own taxes. Don't feel guilty about saying no donating this way, Walmart doesn't give a damn about hungry kids, they're using your $1-5 donation to take a bite out of their own taxes. If you want to donate that way because it's fast and convenient, go for it, but don't feel shame for saying no. Drop that some money directly to a charity, or shit, just give it to someone who asks.
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uberchain · 6 years
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don't support pink mercy, as pretty as she may look like. look up thinkbeforeyoupink. tldr; greedy corporate that actually doesn't care about its cause
I did. 
The Susan G. Komen Foundation is the most infamous scandal out of Yoplait and NFL (also part of the pinkwashing controversies) when it involves the pinkwashing incident, including lawsuits on other breast cancer movements that use pink or the word cure, as well as allegations of down to 3% of their money actually being used for cancer research. I made damn sure to see if it linked back to that mess before I let my mahou shoujo-loving weeb ass shamelessly drop the $15 and it didn’t.
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Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the charity Blizzard is supporting, has an A+ rating on Charity Watch as well as 4/4 star ratings on Charity Navigator, indicating that 88-91% of their proceeds go towards research for breast cancer, while the additional percentage goes to awareness programs. BCRF is considered the highest rated breast cancer charity in the United States of America. The biggest issue they faced in 2007 is some of the products an investor has sold under Estée Lauder had chemicals that were known to cause cancer.
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According to the official blog post, Blizzard has stated that 100% of proceeds from people who purchase the Pink Mercy skin, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $250,000, will be donated directly to BCRF. Additionally, the shirt purchases (it’s a bomb ass tee btw) according to the blog post will also have 100% of their proceeds donated to BCRF*. I will trust Blizzard and I will trust BCRF that they are being transparent about this when I splurge on my magical girl Mercy.
*EDIT: I’ve been made aware of the sales store saying that the shirts’ proceeds to be donated are 50% rather than 100%. While I still think the skin will turn the most proceeds, I’m wondering if a miscommunication occurred between Blizzard’s official blog post and the store page and I hope Blizzard clarify it for transparency. UPDATE: I’ve heard several people explain the 50% is for manufacturing purposes, artist’s royalties, and storefront operation during increased traffic.
**EDIT 2: I’ve also been made aware of Sony in Europe putting a disclaimer about taking a cut of the proceeds for VAT, a European tax, if the skin is purchased on PlayStation console, while whatever they pass to Blizzard is given to BCRF. You can see the situation developing on a Reddit and Twitter megathread here and here. 
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