CCF / Gen-Con Charity Auction Cleared Up

mlund · Nov 10, 2008

Yeah, we had quite a commotion over Christian Children's Fund and Gen-Con not too long ago, ending in a general lack of solid facts upon which to base an opinion and plenty of rumor and innuendo to fuel some very angry emails ...

For anyone interested in the initial thread: it is here, closed.

For anyone interested in what actually happened, click here.

Jeanette LeGault said:
We were informed by a person at CCF that they would not be able to provide us with these materials, apparently due to our association with D&D. We were not comfortable with this position, considering Gary’s role as co-founder of D&D, and founder of Gen Con, and therefore we decided to pick a different charity. We informed the Gygax family of our decision and the reason behind it, and asked if there was another charity they would like us to consider. Fisher House was suggested, as it too was a favored charity of Gary’s. Considering the outstanding services this charity provides to service members, veterans, and their families, we knew Fisher House would be a great charity for Gen Con to support. We later found out that we had been misinformed as to CCF’s position in regards to D&D and Gen Con, but by then we had already chosen Fisher House as our charity, and announcements and promotions were already made and in the works, such that it would not have been possible to change charities at that point.

To be clear, Gen Con made the decision not to donate to CCF; at no time did CCF refuse to take charity money from Gen Con. Gen Con chooses a show charity long before Gen Con Indy 2008 ever takes place.

I have sent an email to The Partnership that runs www.livegamesauctions.com and asked them to make sure the information being presented and discussed on their website is updated and accurate regarding this issue. I would also like to ask each of you to do your part in setting the record straight by contacting the various websites, blogs, etc. that you are active on, and where this issue is being discussed, to make sure they have their facts correct as well. The statement on Wikinews purporting to be from a Gen Con staff member is completely incorrect, as Gen Con staff has never commented on this subject ... until now.

If there are any further questions or points of clarification, please feel free to contact me personally at jeannette@gencon.com.

Just passing this along since the GenCon staff asked so nicely.

- Marty Lund

frankthedm · Nov 10, 2008

While this clarifies the issue, the real crux of the matter is CCF chose to treat Gencon as a second class entity solely for it's connection to D&D.

mlund · Nov 10, 2008

frankthedm said:
While this clarifies the issue, the real crux of the matter is CCF chose to treat Gencon as a second class entity solely for it's connection to D&D.

Again, if you read the articles in question, there is no evidence of this. Neither Gen-Con nor Christian Children's Fund have said this. Gen-Con's own statement says that there was a misunderstanding and someone, somewhere along the line (be it by a lackey of GenCon or CCF, they don't say) wrongfully inferred that it was because of D&D. As noted in the above official statement from GenCon:

"We later found out that we had been misinformed as to CCF’s position in regards to D&D and Gen Con, but by then we had already chosen Fisher House as our charity, and announcements and promotions were already made and in the works, such that it would not have been possible to change charities at that point." (bold for emphasis)

The materials that were not provided to GenCon had to do with branding and whether or not CCF would be considered or portrayed as an event sponsor (something they generally don't do without direct control of the event) rather than a beneficiary.

So basically the entire meme was a falsehood. They never refused the charity monies. They never rejected GenCon's offer because "they hate D&D." All the ensuing nerdrage was based on rumor.

- Marty Lund

D'karr · Nov 10, 2008

mlund said:
All the ensuing nerdrage was based on rumor.

- Marty Lund

Nerdrage based on rumor? Preposterous, that is just crazy talk.

Charwoman Gene · Nov 10, 2008

Tewligan · Nov 10, 2008

frankthedm said:
While this clarifies the issue, the real crux of the matter is CCF chose to treat Gencon as a second class entity solely for it's connection to D&D.

Did you read the post right above yours?

Scott_Rouse · Nov 10, 2008

A spokesperson for the CCF made a statement to the Escapist explaining that:

But according to Cheri Dahl, vice president of international communications and fund raising at CCF, the uproar is the result of a "misunderstanding" that appears to have caught the charity by surprise. "When GenCon contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn't lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements," Dahl said. "We were unaware that this had caused any problem or concern for GenCon until we began receiving emails."

"This decision was in no way intended to be a reflection on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeon and Dragons," she continued. "We have the utmost respect for the gaming community and were touched by the generosity expressed through your auction. We were disappointed that we were not the recipients of the donation but we were pleased that another worthy organization benefited."

Brown Jenkin · Nov 10, 2008

Scott_Rouse said:
A spokesperson for the CCF made a statement to the Escapist explaining that:

But according to Cheri Dahl, vice president of international communications and fund raising at CCF, the uproar is the result of a "misunderstanding" that appears to have caught the charity by surprise. "When GenCon contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn't lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements," Dahl said. "We were unaware that this had caused any problem or concern for GenCon until we began receiving emails."

"This decision was in no way intended to be a reflection on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeon and Dragons," she continued. "We have the utmost respect for the gaming community and were touched by the generosity expressed through your auction. We were disappointed that we were not the recipients of the donation but we were pleased that another worthy organization benefited."

Click to expand...

Specifficaly:

"When GenCon contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn't lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements,"

Going back to to:

Jeannette LeGault said:
Gen Con contacted CCF about our intentions and asked for a logo and some promotional materials that we could use on our website.

and

Jeannette LeGault said:
We later found out that we had been misinformed as to CCF’s position in regards to D&D and Gen Con

Once more the issue is danced around. It sounds as if the CCF position is that any use of its name in a publication has to meet its endorsement criteria without specifying how it failed that criteria. I am still curious what the CCF criteria are for endorsements and what was Gen Con doing that could be misinterpreted as anything other than listing CCF as the beneficiary. What specifically was the misunderstanding?

Edit: What I would like is some clarity on the CCF position that they have nothing against D&D and that the misunderstanding has to do with technical issues, not that they didn't want their logo publicly published and associated with D&D. Especially because if not things sound even worse so that while they can't publicly associate with D&D they are willing to secretly take the money.

Dire Bare · Nov 10, 2008

Brown Jenkin said:
What I would like is some clarity on the CCF position that they have nothing against D&D and that the misunderstanding has to do with technical issues, not that they didn't want their logo publicly published and associated with D&D. Especially because if not things sound even worse so that while they can't publicly associate with D&D they are willing to secretly take the money.

Both CCF and GenCon representatives have stated it was all a misunderstanding. GenCon has donated to CCF before. A CCF representative directly stated the charity has nothing against GenCon, the Dungeons & Dragons game, and the players of the game.

Sheesh, that's good enough for me! Why the need to drag out the drama that was started by false rumors in the first place?

Brown Jenkin · Nov 10, 2008

Dire Bare said:
Both CCF and GenCon representatives have stated it was all a misunderstanding. GenCon has donated to CCF before. A CCF representative directly stated the charity has nothing against GenCon, the Dungeons & Dragons game, and the players of the game.

Sheesh, that's good enough for me! Why the need to drag out the drama that was started by false rumors in the first place?

Because as I said both sides haven't actually answered the questions I raised. They have done an excellent job of making it sound like they have, but they really haven't. CCF has made clear it has no problem taking donations from Gen Con and D&D players but why wouldn't they let their logo be publicly used to indicate that's where the donations were going? Like I said I hope it is a technical issue, but the misunderstanding hasn't been fully explained yet.