craigslist Charitable Fund
When Brad Stone at the NY Times asked about craigslist’s charitable organizations, I let him know by email that “The craigslist Charitable Fund is a grant making foundation established and funded by craigslist.” He thanked me for this information several days before his deadline, saying he would be continuing to work on the story.
Here’s what he printed however:
There is also a newer organization, the Craigslist Charitable Trust, which was capitalized in 2008 with $2.7 million by Mr. Buckmaster and Craig Newmark, the company’s founder, according to public documents.
Not sure what “public documents” he’s referring to, but there is no such thing as the “Craigslist Charitable Trust” let alone such an entity funded personally by Mr Buckmaster and Craig Newmark.
For those interested, the craigslist Charitable Fund, established in 2008, and funded by craigslist, focuses on subject areas including the following:
- peace and disarmament
- supporting US military veterans
- human trafficking and child exploitation
- social justice and civil liberties
- health and the environment
- journalism and new media
- sustainable transportation and energy
- clean water, poverty, and other developing world issues
- homelessness and other urban challenges
- education, and disadvantaged youth
The Fund concentrates on organizations with annual budgets less than $5 million, and on orgs highly rated by CharityNavigator and other rating services.
Inquiries from interested 501(c)3 organizations can be sent to charitable@craigslist.org
April 28th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
I understand the objection to the NY Times article…but I still have some questions.
http://katinsc.blogspot.com/2010/04/picking-up-shovel.html
April 28th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Jim, the public document would be the Form 990 your tax folks must file each year showing expenses, contributions, officers, etc. I did a quick search at http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php for craiglist and found all the 990s. They’re a matter of public records.
The $2.7 million is shown, and you and Craig are listed as officers, but you’re not listed as providing the funds, of course. The Schedule B shows clearly that craigslist (the company) was the source of funds.
I happen to be a journalist, but it should take anyone about five minutes to get these facts, if not less.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
In the area of human trafficking and the sex industry, what are ways that you can monitor ads on Craigslist to ensure that people are not upholding these illegal practices? The New York Times article, “Sex Ads Seen Adding to Revenue to Craigslist”, did bring up the point that “the site remains the biggest online hub for selling women against their will”. If this is the case, would Craigslist be willing to partner with organizations like CaliforniaAgainstSlavery.org, Oasis USA, the Polaris Project, or other activists groups to crack down on one of the most profitable industries in the world? It’s true that sex sells, and the illegal practices annually reap an estimated 31.6 billion dollars, according to the United Nations. In the initiative to bring justice to the thousands of men, women, and children trapped in this industry, how can Craigslist assist the fight?
April 29th, 2010 at 6:50 am
I don’t think the they are worse than me defense really makes the cut. What harm comes from stopping a service that can so easily be used to exploit people?
Kudos for the charitable contributions. Let’s keep the ball rolling.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Any free site like craiglist deserve all the praise they can get for at least trying to change the life of others forever.
Well done !
May 4th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
[…] traffickers place 1., cooperates with law enforcement when they’re working on cases, and attempts to donate the money they’ve brought in to organizations that work on human rights iss…2., only to have their donations rejected and press releases issued explaining that they’re a […]
May 7th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Great job with the fund guys! Admirable.
May 31st, 2010 at 7:32 am
It seems that Julia Bates’ approach would provide Craigslist with pro-active and advocacy choices. As a career teacher who has experienced ‘information fear’ in the form of censorship (yes, “Catcher in the Rye” and many others!) from “concerned parents” and “community moralists” seek to cut-off access to topics that offend sensibilities, feature dangerous practices, condone facets of sexuality, etc.
The INTENT, at its core: to keep impressionable people from picking up harmful habits or enticing a wanderlust to ‘live on the edge’—is ADMIRABLE. That is what love and affinity want for people, young or not!! It is, however, the ‘control methodology’ that falls short of the capacity to provide that very GOODNESS (love & affinity, safety, protection, etc.). The ‘control methodology’ is the beach-ball held underwater, that will eventually pop to the surface, whenever the hands holding it under become too tired to submerge the beach ball (holding the threatening/sadistic/immoral/whatever information) any longer!
Then, THERE IT IS:
with much more force and attention than had it been allowed to float atop the surface, noticeable and ‘just there’. Real.
REALITY is ‘just there’; all the non-goodness that we may advocate and
work against is REALITY. The knowledge of it existing is NOT GOING TO
BE ERADICATED just because ‘control methodology’ deems such informa
tion unaccessible (’submerged’) and off-the-books, off of Craigslist’s
listings.
The submerged version will, as others have said here and elsewhere—
(and research along the “forbidden fruit causes intrigue” idea)—POP UP
SOMEWHERE ELSE !!!! We cannot ERASE reality: human beings have the
potential for perversions, for greed, for victimizing, etc.
We can, however, transform it. That is, ‘change the form of reality’.
Since we humans also have a huge longing to curb suffering, to
contribute to healing, to assist those fending off temptation, to aid people who see no alternatives than following humiliating cultural practices —- since we have a fount of benevolence in our souls, let us CREATE formats of DISCUSSION.
Discussion and other communication modes (like speeches, pamphlets, billboards, t-shirts, websites, etc., etc.,!!)
By OPENING the information with facts, interviews, anecdotes, pictures,
and stories…the posture is ‘an offering’. People receive ‘offerings’ much
more readily than ‘forced erased info’; citing how DIMINISHING
the sex slave trade, forced prostitution, any sex-for-money arrangement
is to the HUMAN SPIRIT, and creating opportunities for that information to substantiate such claims:
well, I would be armed with real CHOICES!! I would become knowledgable and fueled with purpose AGAINST such bondage.
I can be walking and be impacted by a billboard that imparts truthful information about the pain and compromised dignity and low quality-of-life that such perversion and/or greed and/or ______? leaves human beings with.
I can then BE MOVED to,
call the 800 #, I can see if my college campus already has an advocacy group, or if my workplace would support an existing outreach, I can petition, I can speak…..
As long as the beach ball is ‘gliding on the surface’–freely accessible–I have choices to ACT, to be in action against such abominations of humanity!
When ‘controlled info’ is submerged, the abominations do not go away—they are simply not visible/accessible…and the true dangers and choices remain unknown and UNKNOWABLE.
Putting energy and resources into ‘controlling information’ is short-
sighted; educating and empowering has the potential to create new
thoughts and informed choices. And THAT allows our own (young or not)
dignity to ‘be’.
Humans need choices; THAT is empowering. Erasing ‘what does exist’
(REALITY) is DECIDING FOR someone (young or not!), and that is DIS-
EMPOWERING. And, isn’t ‘disempowerment’ the very experience that
love, affinity and benevolence DON’T stand for?
May 31st, 2010 at 11:31 am
We all have a responsibility to do something about the human condition. Craigslist is definitely taking their responsibility seriously, we need more organizations to step up and establish charitable funds like this. Thank you Craigslist for giving back!
September 6th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Anyone who thinks shutting this section will stem the flow is nieve at best. Law enforcement should be against the ban if onlt for the sake that it gives them one place to enforce abuse. There are hundreds of sites that allow these types of ads and more will spring up to fill the void. Stiff and swift prosecution on trafficers is the only solution, censorship has never worked and it won’t here.