I have been delving into the inner workings of Care2.com. What I found was disturbing, at the very least. It seems to be run by right-wingers. They publish petitions for charitable causes. However, they ask for no info about you when you vote on these petitions. They receive app. $59,000,000 per annum. The say 5% is give to charitable causes. 5%. They have 56 employees. I wonder who receives 95% of these profits (which come from Advertising. Great little deal the CEO and Board of Directors have going there. If you post an opinion on a poll that right-wingers, or religious fanatics don't live, these whacko members flags you. They are also connected to Facebook. My advice? Stay away from C2.
I'm a member of Care2, Julie, and you are right to think something i s awry with it. It is, in fact, a privately-owned, for-profit, B Corporation. Members are able to do much good via the site, signing petitions, sharing information, earning credits that can redeemed for concrete actions for a variety of the needy. But of the 20 million+ members so much touted by the owner, Randy Paynter, I suspect only some 5000 are seriously active, most not at all. But that 20 million figure does lure unsuspecting advertisers, some contrary to the very ethos of Care2 as stated. Really, those of us who ARE very active, keep this flagship afloat. Paynter and Co. are not right-wingers, but you are right that the site has been invaded by a horde of right-wing trolls, and they can get our best members expelled simply by all together flagging their contents. C2 looks at the number of flags, not the comment in question. The flagship is peopled by a staff of only about a dozen all told. But those millions do not come largely from ads.
ReplyDeleteToday, most major charities and non-profits 'outsource' their membership drives and fund-raising activities, and it is those services Paynter provides to circa 1000 clients. A major non-profit or charity will pay as much as $500 000 for a fund-raising campaign, and that's the sort of money Paynter makes, invisible on the lower decks of the flagship. And it is on this that most of his minimal staff of about 60 work. Hence why the interactive parts of C2 are constantly screwed up and no one ever gets a response to a plea for help.
However, some of us on Care2 are fighting back re all a multitude of issues, so there is no need to boycott it. Better to join, do a lot of good, but at the same time join in battle against Paynter's policies and the trolls. I could right much more on this, but I think the above is a fair summation of the situation and our dilemma. Thank you for picking up on this.
What you say has merit...but, nevertheless, I have done a lot of research on Randy Paynter et al. He is a self-indulging multi-millionaire. You also need to understand that those "petitions" on Care2 are not technically legal, hence, they do little good. I was banned for life because of a comment I made about seals: "Seals have pups, humans have babies." I even received death threats for that one. The moderators are VERY selective about whom they ban. A better idea. Get off Care2, go to websites of causes you are passionate about, and sign legal petitions that actually get to Congress, the white House or major corporations. OR...even better, get off the computer, and help us get out the vote!
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