@chrisbalestra I completely get where you’re coming from here but it’s Gary’s choice to donate 20-50% of the proceeds of his NFT to the Aoki Foundation rather than directly to any of the charities the Aoki Foundation supports.
I was hoping Gary would be able to provide some details up front which is why I’ve replied here rather than going directly to the Aoki Foundation. Though I get the feeling that I’d then only be deferred onto the charities the Aoki Foundation funnel money through to which only adds yet another level of complexity which is way more effort than I am prepared to put in.
If I spend $100 on Gary’s NFT and $20 gets sent to the Aoki Foundation as a charitable donation, what percentage of that ends up going towards helping those with autism? If that’s another 20% from Aoki Foundation’s side, that’s down to only $4 for every $100 received.
I believe I did answer above. 100% of the money Thuan and I raise through the AokiFoundation goes directly to the charities Thuan and I choose. We absorb all miscellaneous expenses on our own dime:)
The “haters aren’t donators” is actually a fact which you learn soon enough as a fundraiser.
Good catch and yes it’s mostly true. If you read our donor list above you’ll find Autism Speaks isn’t there. In fact, we are concentrating only on orgs that support therapies for kids who can’t afford it and adults who need assistance as they enter the workforce like how to interview et all.
I guess I must just be misunderstanding what’s going on here then… so you’re going to make 20-50% minimum off of the NFT yourself, and then donate 100% of that?
Sorry that wasn’t clear. Yes 100% of what Thuan and I receive from the nft fundraiser goes directly to the charities listed above. The amount we receive is dependent on the amount raised though. I’m even trying to get the French artist who created the NFT’s to donate her fee lol.
I emailed the Aoki foundation to see some transparency or documentation on how the money is moved around or what percentage goes to the listed research foundations or charities. I didn’t get a reply. What bothers me is that I couldn’t find a single scientific document/research paper (and I’d love to be wrong on this) that gives thanks to the beneficiary.
Why aren’t the research papers or results (even if they were failures) posted on the aoki foundation page? What research are you guys doing? The website comes off as pop-art eye gore with very little substance.
I don’t think anyone here is being hateful. I think it’s very admirable and commendable that you’re doing things for a good cause.
The problem that I and I think most others here have is simply the question of what happens to our money when it gets donated?
Right now everything I can see on the Aoki Foundation website and everything you’ve said here about them is nothing more than hearsay - I don’t mean that in any sort of negative way, I simply mean that there appears to be no transparency. The reason I pointed out Charity Navigator earlier is because a lot of people will be using resources like that to determine if a charity is being as charitable as they’re claiming, and if you believe the Aoki Foundation is as charitable as you’re selling it to us as then it would be fantastic for its presence to be proudly put on display there.
The problem - at least for me - doesn’t lay with you or what you’re doing, rather what the organisation you’re supporting is doing. I’d much rather purchase something from somebody knowing that 5% of that money is going to a trustworthy charity than purchase something from somebody knowing that 20% of that money is going somewhere questionable. As it stands there is very little transparency which itself equates to very little trust.
Right now none of us here know if the foundation is genuinely doing all these wonderful things you’re saying as there’s very little to back up those claims. I’m sure we all here trust you, we just don’t have much reason to trust the Aoki Foundation until more information is published.
@pichufan,
I can’t think of more different ways to say the same thing so I’ll just say:
I wish you’d spend all this time trying to do something that would help benefit the charities, or researching new ones and recommending them;)
Normally I ignore people who “like” their own comments but…jk.
I guess you overlooked my lol denoting my facetiousness but you do bring up an interesting point. If we cut down on charity costs you complain. If I declare charity costs then others here snivel. Hard for me to win. Maybe best to just ignore everyone lol (note, the lol)
I’m not in favour of supporting a charity which is shrouded in a dense fog, and that’s exactly what the Aoki Foundation is right now. It’s incredibly reassuring that everyone here understands that it isn’t a good idea to just throw money at a random charity without first doing a small amount of research into where the money goes.
You’re just saying the same thing over and over again and not actually reading what anyone here is saying to you. All this is doing - for me at least - is adding to the obscurity surrounding the organisation you’re supporting and pushing me even further away.
If that’s how you want to respond so be it, but there’s no point in me beating this dead horse any longer.
Actually, the AokiFoundation.org is hardly a mystery to others that support the brain sciences. Beyond my wife’s (@autisminstruct) and my dealings of piggybacking off their org, we’ve seen some of the good work they do.
Now no more excuses. Do something positive for those in need:)
I got a message here asking for some info on who the AokiFoundation supports. I figured I’d list that info here but keep in mind, our fundraising dollars all go toward autism treatments/therapy’s for kids whose families can’t afford them. Kids who need them so desperately:)
DR. BALOH, CEDARS SINAI, NEUROLOGY CENTER
DR. DORISAWAMI, DUKE
CHINA SOCIAL WELFARE FUND
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY ROCKEFELLER NEUROSCIENCE INSTITUTE
Gary, did Satoshi Tajiri give you express permission to use him as the face of a developmental disorder? This is the not the first time you have posted about him and his disability. It feels quite rude and disrespectful to him.
You can call me and everyone else a “hater” as many times as you’d like. You can tell yourself we aren’t charitable and don’t often donate money or other goods. I chose not to participate in this event because, to me, it didn’t feel like charity.
This thread is depressing. The amount of grief given to Gary, yet he’s the one doing so much for charity. Do I support the NFT? Not at all. Do I think pretty much every charity has expenses and not all donations go to the cause? No brainer. All the negatives outlined are not really anything wholly to do with Gary. When you’ve raised millions for charities yourselves, then let’s start the critique of the charity process. Until then, put your high horses back in the closet.
I still love you Gary, keep up the fantastic work. No more NFTs though lol.
I’d like to add on to this point. I was reading the NFTs page, and it has this whole nice story about who Gary is why Gary is into Pokemon etc etc but then one paragraph goes off about Satoshi’s autism
to me, this is absolutely not ok unless you have extremely clear permission from Satoshi Tajiri himself. You’re stripping everything away from him as a creator and as a person and boiling it down to “autism made pokemon” and then using that to sell NFTs?
Beautifully said and I deeply appreciate you bringing up the issues with supporting/affiliating with Autism Speaks. I am an adult who is on the autism spectrum and has a parent who is also on the autism spectrum and I was deeply disturbed to see that the Aoki Foundation is connected to Autism Speaks. From the way the charities that Gary listed talk about autism is as if they don’t want people like me to exist instead of creating resources and support systems for people with autism. They do not work to create a world in which differences are accepted and focus on making us act like everyone else. People with autism generally suffer and have a lower quality of life due to discrimination more so than anything else. It is largely another way of existing in the world. Organizations like Autism Speaks are considered by most people with autism as eugenicist-and I mean this in all seriousness. I do not know what Gary’s or Steve Aoki’s particular views are, but I cannot and will not support their cause. If you would like to help people with autism then please ask us what we need instead of assuming what we need and deciding what our lives should look like.
lol.