A steaming pile of financial opacity and deceit
Gamers unite to call out shady charities! This prominent YouTuber‘s foundation lurks in the shadows instead of funding good causes.
Introducing Open Hand Foundation
As a passionate gamer supporting various causes over the years, I expected reputable internet personalities to run charity campaigns ethically. The Open Hand Foundation, launched in 2011 by popular YouTuber John "The Completionist" Bacchus, seemed a platform to enable gaming fan communities to contribute towards noble charities.
However, a deeply-researched exposé by dependable creator Karl Jobst reveals the decade-long fraud perpetrated via this channel that every conscientious gamer must know about! This aims to spread unequivocal proof about the urgent need for legal investigation into activities of this foundation that takes advantage of viewer trust and wallets.
The Golf Tournament Smokescreen
The Open Hand Foundation claims to serve charities helping children and marginalized groups, working with hospitals, suicide prevention groups and fundraising platforms like Tiltify.
Its primary public activity involves organizing an annual charity golf event called the PBD West Convenience Cup Challenge. Corporate sponsorships and registrations fees for this tournament brought in upwards of $60,000 per year over 2014-2021, as per Jobst‘s careful study of records.
However, publicly available filings reveal just $3,000 to $6,000 in total event income over these years! Clearly massive financial discrepancies exist between amounts raised under Open Hand‘s banner from the charity golf fest and income declared officially to US tax authorities.
| Year | Income Raised at Golf Event | Official Income Declared |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $60,000+ | $3,000 |
| 2015 | $60,000+ | $5,970 |
| 2016 | $60,000+ | $6,009 |
| 2017 | $60,000+ | $3,525 |
This pattern screams lack of transparency around sponsorships and exact funds garnered via the tournament each year. Moreover, disclosure of over $200,000 eventually donated to charity partners like IndyLand cannot be verified through any foundations financial statements or tracking tools.
Such opacity allows for shady redirection of donations away from legitimate beneficiaries. Contrast this with global nonprofits like St. Jude Children‘s Research Hospital that publicly provide full financial breakups of income utilized across operational expenses and aid programs.
Other Discrepancies Galore
Apart from obscuring golf tournament inflows and outflows each year, the foundation shows other alarming process gaps:
- No names or details of executive leadership available publicly for a charity handling hundreds of thousands in funds
- Vague responses from their info@ email address regarding use of donations
- No verification process shown for claimed partnerships with hospitals, non-profits
- Zero documentation proving disbursement of amounts raised towards medical equipment, suicide prevention or other aid as openly claimed
Their site asserts over $100,000 raised in both 2019 and 2020 towards cancer patient support, children‘s miracle hospitals etc. But precisely $0 appear officially as spent on any charitable program per tax returns filed by the foundation those years!
This trend of showing $3-6K in annual revenues while soliciting $100K+ during Bacchus‘ live streams points to potential misdirection of funds. Either tax filing fraud takes places or donations flow towards enrichment of The Completionist rather than any social impact!
Other Charity Scandals
Sadly, the non-profit realm hides plenty of wolves in sheep‘s clothing trying to take advantage of empathetic people. Let‘s examine other examples that provide useful perspective before we return to Open Hand‘s misdeeds.
Trump Foundation Shut Down
The former President‘s personal charity drew severe penalties from New York authorities for "willful self-dealing" before dissolving in 2018. The organization misused $2.8 million that donors expected as relief for genuine causes. Investigations uncovered custom portraits purchased for Trump‘s properties using foundation money and other ethical breaches.
Fyre Festival Debacle
This infamous 2017 luxury music gala turned out to a massive hoax. $26 million raised by promoter Billy McFarland beforehand from investors and attendees promised lavish experiences vanished without adequate accounting. And the actual event lacked even basic facilities like food, water or sanitation – completely defrauding concert goers instead of providing promised entertainment.
Drawing parallels, The Open Hand Foundation seems to similarly divert amounts donated by supportive gaming fans during live streams away from lawful medical research programs meant to receive such assistance.
The Call for Action
Considering 95% of all income raised under their banner seems to disappear each year devoid of records, authorities must scrutinize The Open Hand Foundation immediately.
- Supporters must demand clear accounting of total tournament sponsorship and stream donations annually
- Public access required to their actual disbursements towards cancer programs, disaster relief etc. rather than vague website claims and emotionally manipulative videos
- Complete external audit essential by unbiased forensic accountants to tally cash inflows vs outflows over these 10 years
- Legal penalties warranted as per charity fraud laws if evidence proves systemic long-term financial mismanagement or personal profiteering from public charity
Until The Completionist agrees to such transparent examination, gamers should refrain from enabling this foundation in any shape or form. Withholding viewership, channel promotion and donations represents the only non-violent recourse currently to protect innocent benefactors from ongoing deceit.
Gaming must support bonafide organizations like Child‘s Play that direct 90%+ of all received amounts towards aid beneficiaries. Unlike sham fronts like Fyre Festival or Open Hand that lack functional accountability of the funds and trust placed in them by an enthusiastic community seeking to contribute meaningfully.
True Impact or Elaborate Scam?
In summary, financial opacity spanning 10 long years indicate The Open Hand might simply constitute an elaborate channel for The Completionist team to enrich themselves instead of funding medical equipment, child welfare or suicide prevention.
Until tax filings and fundraising totals match, until cancelled checks surface clearly displaying recipients of donated amounts, conscientious gamers should guard their eyes, time and wallets.
With an audience of millions, popular streamers must adhere to high standards of transparency when soliciting money for charity. Unlike the mess above, your contributions merit meaningful assistance to end beneficiaries doing valuable work on the ground.
Do your due research before getting involved even passively with shady organizations. Our gaming dollars must fund social impact, not dodgy foundations thatfail even basic nonprofit governance tests.
Stay vigilant against charity fraud always to ensure donations create real change, instead of deceitfully channeled towards lavish lifestyles for YouTube personalities!