Paul Cantrell
I really appreciate what CaringBridge does for family members acting as caretakers who are in just the most difficult imaginable circumstances, and I really appreciate that they’re a nonprofit who don’t collect user data…
…yes, there is a “but“…
…but there’s something just gross about how aggressive and intrusive their fundraising is. It’s unseemly. Something about it just feels off.
1/2
Paul Cantrell
The thing that prompted this post was the way the box underneath a post that •looks• like it’s for leaving a comment on the post is •actually• for leaving a “tribute” with your donation…which is a donation to CaringBridge, not the individual / family whose post you’re reading. While not technically lying, it’s doubly deceptive. That kind of dark patterns shit sets off my alarm bells.
Is CaringBridge secretly shady? Are they just in overeager nonprofit advancement mode? What’s up?
2/2
Paul Cantrell
It’s hard to judge at a distance of course, but that sort of manipulative fundraising is the sort of thing that would leave me completely unsurprised if…I don’t know, their CEO ends up in the news for having an exorbitant salary and fleeing the country for tax evasion or something.
I’d like for that not to be the case. Anyone have the inside scoop on the company?
3/3
Kris Mitka :java: :rust:
@inthehands yeah, that’s shady. And inevitable. And org that grows to more than 50 people acquires someone shady who takes over something important and bills people.
daringStumbles
@inthehands I don't have direct knowledge or really more details than this. But none of the few people I know who used to work there felt guilty leaving the way many people are torn when leaving a non profit they are passionate about. Your alarm bells line up with the way I've heard the company talked about by them.
Paul Cantrell
Huh, interesting (from @daringStumbles):
https://hachyderm.io/@daringStumbles/110725363866246071
John Mark Ockerbloom
@inthehands You can get some information from the Form 990s that they, like other registered 501(c)(3) organizations, have to file with the IRS every year. Their 2021 form 990 reports total contributions of about $10 million, about 2/3 of which went to staff compensation. (Though that proportion can be legit for an organization that provides services rather than money or tangible goods to its beneficiaries.) Their CEO got about $244K total compensation. Full filing: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/421529394/202211539349301556/full
Paul Cantrell
@JMarkOckerbloom Very interesting, thank you. That does seem like a suspiciously large salary pool for a single-purpose web site, but who knows what kinds of layers of support it needs.
Paul Cantrell
This seems like the sort of thing @ProPublica might want to look into.
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