Atheists, secularists, freethinkers: vote for these secular charities


Chase Community Giving is handing out almost half a million dollars in a great big blatant popularity contest — it seems like a very poor way to distribute funds, and you know what I think of online polls. But hey, it’s their money, and they’ve come up with this scheme to distribute, so who are we but poor peons to play the game. Greta Christina has the details. The bottom line, though, is that you each have TWO votes through your Facebook account (if you don’t have a Facebook account, get one just so you can vote!). Pick two of the three secular organizations below and vote for ’em.

It’s a bit weird: when you vote, you get a link that you can share via email, facebook, google+, whatever, and if other people vote using it, you get credited for another vote. So spread the word and share the links.

There are various tiers of success, so we don’t have to get first place to get some money for our favorite groups — but we’re in competition with others, so we do have to push to get into the best tier we can.

Vote, vote, vote. I know these polls are usually utterly pointless, but at least this one has a chance of getting a good group a substantial reward.

Comments

  1. TonyJ says

    I don’t usually allow Facebook apps. Is this normal?

    THIS APP WILL RECEIVE:
    Your basic info
    Your profile info: description, activities, education history, hometown, interests, likes and location
    Friends’ likes

    This app may post on your behalf, including videos you watched, bonus votes you earned and more.

  2. callitrichid says

    TonyJ, On some apps you can limit the things they can do. So go to account setting and under apps you can deselect some of those options. You may be able to add the app in order to vote and then delete it after the voting is closed.

  3. says

    Of course even if you delete the app after you’ve voted, the owners of the app have still received a fair bit of information about you, which they can easily squirrel away somewhere safe before you close the access again. It makes me sad. I’d like to vote, but not enough to compromise my personal info like that.

  4. says

    The sole purpose of Facebooks apps is to trick you into “consenting” to hand over your data and history to commercial third party scammers.

    Sorry, but no. I will not consent to any Facebook apps, no matter how noble the cause. I will, however, make a donation to each of the three organizations.

  5. Rodney Nelson says

    Sorry, don’t do Facebook. I don’t want my personal data sold to every scammer interested in people like me.

  6. says

    @TonyJ #3 – That is quite normal. I looked into writing Facebook games a few years ago, and what the API allows designers to do access is scary.

    I don’t do FB apps any more.

  7. unklesam says

    If you’re a Chase customer, you can also vote at http://www.chasegiving.com by logging in with your online banking/credit card/whatever credentials. I don’t know if it still ponzis your vote if you share it that way, but you can participate without a Facebook account.

  8. catlover says

    No, I don’t intend to vote, either. I detest these contests. Anyways, Chase has so much money that they could easily give millions away and not even miss it. Only half a million? Chicken-feed to Chase. Direct donation(s) to the various charities is much better.
    As to FB — they exist only to data-mine. Sad…..and wrong.

  9. says

    Geez, people, it’s almost like you can’t make a bare-bones no-info facebook account to use just for these sorts of purposes. How lazy can one be?

    Anyway, I cast my votes.

  10. mareeds says

    Linkedin is even more evil.
    Now how about we author an app that requires one to disclo,se passwords, furnish biometric information, allow keystroke loggers, grant an unlimited power of attorney (with right of substitution), consent to cognovit judgements, … . Oh, allow indentured servitude to patent trolls.

  11. says

    Fuck it. Dale McGowan finally guilted me into voting, but I’m not thrilled about it. I’m no Luddite, and I like googling and facebooking and so forth just as much as anyone else, but I just can’t get comfortable with how much power these companies are getting over us and how little oversight there is over how they use that power. It seems like a recipe for neo-feudalism, with the only thing protecting us being the fact that the companies still have to compete with each other.