We posted the Kony 2012 video just a minute ago and still stand by that this cause should be made more public and that Joseph Kony should be brought to justice. However as with all things that go viral people have negative things to say too, namely about the charity Invisible Children.
As we are here to report we thought it should be covered. There is a whole blog dedicated to stating that apparently Invisible Children as a bit of a corrupt charity, Visible Children.
As of today though Facebook has banned the link being written on any walls or shared at all. Wether this is because the Tumblr is completely unfounded or because Invisible Children do have a dodgy past is unclear.
What a lot of people are saying is that a lot of funding is going on overheads for the charity and film making with statements like this :
‘Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on funding African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.’
As the charities accounts are public it has come under scrutiny for its money spending with this Visible Children Tumblr stating that :
‘Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited.’
It is always sad when a charity is slammed but it seems here that a lot of people have a lot to say about Invisible Children’s practices so although we fully believe in the cause we leave it up to you to make your own decision on the charity. Do some research.
