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Vulajin: 2016-04-16 11:31:58 pm
Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
Sorry for the slight delay in posting this, had a death in the family, so I didn't have time to follow up on this as quickly as I wanted with all the other more important deadlines coming up.

After our discussion thread, two things were clear:

1. If given the choice, people would want a charity with international effect, like charity:water.
2. The main issue with PCF was not in the charity itself, but communicating what it does, increasing research funding, and expanding international support.

First, I went ahead and first pitched our event to charity:water. They were receptive to the idea, and we worked for several weeks to figure out an arrangement that would allow us to run the event. In the end though, they were unable to come up with a way to cover event costs, because of their public donation promise. 100% of their public donations go to the cause, which drastically limits the funds they have available for fundraisers. The funds available would not cover the bare minimum cost of running the event, even without staff pay. However, a solution for this may open up down the line based on our shared research, via sponsor support. I don't expect this to happen in the next few years, but with enough growth, it's possible.

I immediately approached BBRF after charity:water fell through, but I was not optimistic, since BBRF has a similar donation setup to charity:water. Indeed, they spend almost nothing on fundraising, and were not really interested in working out a sponsorship arrangement. I consider them off the table for the foreseeable future.

I decided to skip NAMI, as their international impact is minimal. Unlike BBRF, they don't cover as much research, which could have international impact even if it's in the USA. This did not seem to meet people's interests in the discussion thread.

Given those results, I had to give PCF another hard look. Admittedly, time is now a factor, as we only have about 2-3 months to decide a charity, but it wasn't the only factor. I talked to PCF about the issues that had come up. They have been working on expanding international involvement, and we would expand that again for 2017. Furthermore, we will dramatically increase the communication about the charity, the grants, and the cause during the event, both on stream and in person. We'll be using our work with DWB as inspiration for how to improve that communication.

In order to make a serious commitment to international support, in 2017 we are working with PCF to commit to funding:

UICC (Union for International Cancer Control)

PCF has committed in 2016 to funding six (6) international technology transfer fellowship which provide rapid transfer of cancer research knowledge and clinical technology through person-to-person training. We would be looking to meet or expand this for 2017.
The aim of the fellowships is to facilitate rapid international transfer of cancer research – in prevention, early detection, treatment and cure – and clinical technology, exchange knowledge and enhance skills in basic, clinical, behavioral and epidemiological areas of cancer research, cancer control and prevention to acquire appropriate clinical management, diagnostic and therapeutic expertise for effective application and use in home organizations upon return. Since its inception, the fellowships have contributed to the development of the professional capacity of over 2,500 fellows from over 110 countries.

Also, to meet the demand for additional cancer research, in 2017 we are also working with PCF to commit to funding:

AACR (American Association for Cancer Research)

The Prevent Cancer Foundation has a long history of issuing partnership research grants to AACR, ranging from $100K to $150K for one research project.
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication, and collaboration. Through its programs and services, the AACR fosters research in cancer and related biomedical science; accelerates the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and others dedicated to the conquest of cancer; promotes science education and training; and advances the understanding of cancer etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment throughout the world.


As an aside, if anyone has questions about PCF, even about the past events and their grants from those, feel free to ask. PCF is more than eager to get the information out there, and their latest donor letter for 2016 covered a lot of it. And of course, if you have any questions about our process, or AGDQ2017, I'd be happy to answer them.

I've closed the old discussion thread to keep discussion to a single thread, but discussions can continue here.
Thread title:  
Somehow I expected this outcome.
You've decided the charity after the event has happened? Or did you mean next year?
twitch.tv/enkaybee
While I disagree, I'm happy that you all at least considered some others and are (hopefully) open to more considerations in the future.
Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
Quote from speedrunfan:
You've decided the charity after the event has happened? Or did you mean next year?


2017. Thread topic title was a typo.
So, let me throw this out there. Is there anything that charity:water is able to provide as an official statement regarding the matter? If they cannot, then so it goes.

More important, I feel one of our biggest problems with PCF at the moment is that lack of communication. PCF's focus on prevention, rather than cures, has been a huge source of misunderstanding and thus tension. Hopefully for AGDQ2017 and onwards we'll be able to communicate this better. I feel like some of the onus is on GDQ as an organization to push this message though. Hosts were not, during AGDQ2016, asked to discuss or provided with the materials needed to adequately explain PCF or its goals. Hopefully for 2017 we'll be doing much more of this.
Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
Quote from dangodofthunder:
So, let me throw this out there. Is there anything that charity:water is able to provide as an official statement regarding the matter? If they cannot, then so it goes.


No, I would never ask a charity to make an official statement on failed negotiations. I can't help but point out how unprofessional and rude that would appear to them, and other future charities. Furthermore, this would open them up to a bunch of bad PR which they do not deserve.
Quote from Cool Matty:
Quote from dangodofthunder:
So, let me throw this out there. Is there anything that charity:water is able to provide as an official statement regarding the matter? If they cannot, then so it goes.


No, I would never ask a charity to make an official statement on failed negotiations. I can't help but point out how unprofessional and rude that would appear to them, and other future charities. Furthermore, this would open them up to a bunch of bad PR which they do not deserve.


That's true.
It's great to hear that we were open to and tried exploring other possibilities, even if it didn't work out.
Gets the cake.
I'm okay with PCF given how closely we've worked with them and how much they're willing to support us, but I am curious... are we going to continue discussing switching charities for future SGDQ and AGDQ events, or is this a more permanent decision?
Clear as a crisp spring morning!
I'd expect that depends on the contract, if they are going to be renewed each event or be a several event committment. Either way I feel discussion should be open regarding each "next event" that isn't already being organized or has already been committed to a charity by contract.
Edit history:
Cool Matty: 2016-04-19 11:26:41 am
Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
Quote from z1mb0bw4y:
I'm okay with PCF given how closely we've worked with them and how much they're willing to support us, but I am curious... are we going to continue discussing switching charities for future SGDQ and AGDQ events, or is this a more permanent decision?


I don't see us changing SGDQ for a while, especially since community seems to favor MSF anyway. Not going to bother with discussions unless there's a lot of demand for change.

As for AGDQ, assuming the improvements work, I don't plan to return to discussing a change right away. It would only be worth talking about a switch again when our options have expanded (such as being able to fund the event without charity support, several years from now). Changing charities is something that should not be taken lightly, as it's a major undertaking both for the charities involved (both the one losing the event, and the one gaining it), and can result in confusion. Everything's more complex when you're talking an event of our current size.

One thing that could change all of this would be if we convert to a non-profit organization ourselves. That's always been something we're interested in, and once Mike's back we're going to investigate if it's possible for us to pull off. We should be able to more easily secure event fundraising sponsors in that situation, as opposed to sponsors who are donating only to the charity.
SEGA Junkie
Quote from Cool Matty:
One thing that could change all of this would be if we convert to a non-profit organization ourselves. That's always been something we're interested in, and once Mike's back we're going to investigate if it's possible for us to pull off. We should be able to more easily secure event fundraising sponsors in that situation, as opposed to sponsors who are donating only to the charity.


Because I don't think this has been really canvassed too much in the past: what are the differences between a for-profit and non-profit in the US that creates difficulty here? I know that GDQ being for-profit has been a source of controversy in the past and I've never really understood why it had to be set up that way.
Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
Quote from mike89:
Quote from Cool Matty:
One thing that could change all of this would be if we convert to a non-profit organization ourselves. That's always been something we're interested in, and once Mike's back we're going to investigate if it's possible for us to pull off. We should be able to more easily secure event fundraising sponsors in that situation, as opposed to sponsors who are donating only to the charity.


Because I don't think this has been really canvassed too much in the past: what are the differences between a for-profit and non-profit in the US that creates difficulty here? I know that GDQ being for-profit has been a source of controversy in the past and I've never really understood why it had to be set up that way.


It was set up as for-profit LLC years ago because non-profits have a great deal more rules and regulations about it, and it didn't make sense for a company that had no staff at the time (almost everyone was volunteer at the time). There's a lot of things non-profits have to do that regular companies don't (such as having a board/board meetings, having a cause and funding it, etc) from what I remember, although Mike did most of that research at the time. It was just completely out of scope for the organization back then, and honestly would not have had much benefit.

Now we're much larger, so it's possible that it's a realistic option for us.

What a non-profit gains is the following:

1. The ability to grant tax write-offs for sponsors (this is the big one)
2. More detailed budget for the community
3. Less tax costs for ourselves, for running the event.
4. We could in theory plan fundraisers for ourselves, although I'm not sure we'd pursue that.
First of all, my condolences.

Regarding the charity choice for next year: silly question, but has it been considered to have MSF be the charity for both events? It's certainly well known and highly regarded.

(I'm fairly new to this scene, so I apologize if this has been suggested before).

Thanks for the great event!
I believe they explicitly disallowed MSF in the AGDQ considerations as they wanted a different charity for AGDQ and SGDQ. MSF does well for SGDQ.

((I am not an official person on the matter, but if I remember correctly from the previous thread discussing this that was a major point))
Quote from Habreno:
I believe they explicitly disallowed MSF in the AGDQ considerations as they wanted a different charity for AGDQ and SGDQ. MSF does well for SGDQ.

((I am not an official person on the matter, but if I remember correctly from the previous thread discussing this that was a major point))

Ah thanks. I was assuming it had been discussed, but wasn't sure.
Running and Watching GDQs since 2012
I'm probably late to the discussion, but what about something like UNICEF? Is that too much of a departure from a cancer research foundation or?
For the next time (AGDQ 2018) maybe you can spend to Effective Altruism. You can find two meta-charities in the next two links.

http://www.givewell.org/about

https://animalcharityevaluators.org/about/

You can find some information about the concept in the next links.

https://www.effectivealtruism.org/

https://whatiseffectivealtruism.com/

They can do much good with the money.