WCRP - Dealing with proceeds going to charities

[c-goodyear]

Make it mandatory that if proceeds are going to a charity, that needs to be displayed on the competition page. Any such charity must be registered as such in the country where the competition is being held.

Having this displayed in the "Information" would probably be best since it is then not able to be edited by the Delegates/Organizers after announcement. This can be nested under "Optional requirements"

[DanielEgdal]

I like the fact that the charity has to be displayed in the information box, and from a legal point of view, it makes sense that the charity has to be recognized.

I guess it would make sense to add it like this, under a new point (section 10, in the "Competition Requirements" section), as this is just under the clause of sponsorships, which I think is the closest category to this.

10. Competitions with proceeds going to a charity needs to have this announced in the information box of the front page of the competition. Any such charity needs to be recognized in the country where the competition is held.

Improvements to the wording are welcome. @c-goodyear is this what you envisioned/do you think this looks alright?

[Ranzha]

Wording suggestion: instead of "needs to have this announced in the information box of the front page of the competition", "must indicate so on the competition website, preferably in the Information section of the 'General info' tab. The name of the charity must be included."

This way, the intended recipient of proceeds is made transparent and, as a best practice, clearly visible from the comp homepage.

On Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 12:27 PM Daniel V. Egdal notifications@github.com wrote:

I like the fact that the charity has to be displayed in the information box, and from a legal point of view, it makes sense that the charity has to be recognized.

I guess it would make sense to add it like this, under a new point (section 10, in the "Competition Requirements" section), as this is just under the clause of sponsorships, which I think is the closest category to this.

Competitions with proceeds going to a charity needs to have this announced in the information box of the front page of the competition. Any such charity needs to be recognized in the country where the competition is held.

Improvements to the wording are welcome. @c-goodyear https://github.com/c-goodyear is this what you envisioned/do you think this looks alright?

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[cubewhiz]

Agree with @Ranzha

[DanielEgdal]

(Again, commenting for bookkeeping, I updated it in regards to Brandon's suggestion)

[ccbaird]

I’m not familiar with the rules for registered charities, but would the requirement that any recipient be a registered charity preclude proceeds going to most specific, short-term causes? In my area I’ve never heard of a cubing competition that did it, but it’s fairly common for events to be held for specific people, and funds go to cover unexpected medical bills, or to replace possessions lost in a house fire or something like that. Perhaps we could change the requirement from being a recognized charity to stating in the announcement whether or not the charity is formally recognized?

[cubewhiz]

I'd rather not open up speedcubing competitions to become an avenue for those types of donations, especially considering how often they can be fraudulent. It seems much cleaner and safer to require donations to be made to accredited charities.

[ccbaird]

@cubewhiz That’s a valid concern, on the other hand there is no guarantee that a registered charity isn’t fraudulent and non-registered causes can be addressing very real needs. I think we can agree on the need for transparency, at any rate.

Perhaps a compromise solution would be to allow competitors to choose an alternate charity for their “share” to be directed to? In general it seems to me that a cubing competition would be a poor avenue for fundraising, but I would rather see people allowed to help perceived needs in whatever ways they see fit.

[cubewhiz]

Yes, nothing is perfect. To me, that seems like it would make things unnecessarily complicated, especially if the organizer afterward has to make these donations to several charities because competitors decided to donate to alternatives. Honestly, I'd prefer a system like this:

• Registration is $x. This is required to compete.
• Suggested donation is $y. [Our software already supports this]
• Not donating the $y does not invalidate your registration.
• After the competition, the organizer donates the raised funds to the selected charity.

This way, people who don't believe in the charity's mission or simply don't want to donate to that charity are not being forced to, and it keeps the system simple.

I know many fundraisers use this model or one similar to it.

[ccbaird]

Yes, nothing is perfect. To me, that seems like it would make things unnecessarily complicated, especially if the organizer afterward has to make these donations to several charities because competitors decided to donate to alternatives. Honestly, I'd prefer a system like this:

• Registration is $x. This is required to compete.
• Suggested donation is $y. [Our software already supports this]
• Not donating the $y does not invalidate your registration.
• After the competition, the organizer donates the raised funds to the selected charity.

This way, people who don't believe in the charity's mission or simply don't want to donate to that charity are not being forced to, and it keeps the system simple.

I know many fundraisers use this model or one similar to it.

That seems like a very reasonable system. So the question then is whether the $y donations need to go to a registered charity? I’m not a lawyer, or even a tax accountant, but if it’s strictly an opt-in donation I don’t understand why there needs to be any limitation on where that money goes. Transparency by all means, but not limitations.

[cubewhiz]

For simplification purposes, I think it's better if it all goes to one place. If the competitor would rather donate to something else, they should do so on their own instead of via their Stripe payment.

[cubewhiz]

Fixed via #117