Ashton & Mila raise $30 million for Ukraine....and give it to companies Ashton has invested in

[poisoned_summer]

“We hit our goal!”

Actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher thanked donors Thursday in a video update announcing that they had exceeded their $30-million goal benefitting victims of the Russian invasion.https://t.co/RKTnwuwoQd
- Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 21, 2022
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have raised over $30 million for Ukrainian refugees

Comments

[shangri__la]

But where did this money go? To Doctors Without Borders? Nope, it went to Flexport and Airbnb, both of which Kutcher was an early investor in.

Lmao they're actually trash and people fall for it. B-list Blake and Ryan

[shangri__la]

Jfc a wank post?

Ashton and Mila still suck but this is bs.

[zibbydoo324]

I’m just going to reply to you since you’re the first comment & it’ll do the most good.

Through GoFundMe.org, this fundraiser will provide an immediate impact on refugee and humanitarian aid efforts. The fund will benefit Flexport.org and Airbnb.org, two organizations who are actively on the ground providing immediate help to those who need it most.
Flexport.org is organizing shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova.
Airbnb.org is providing free, short-term housing to refugees fleeing Ukraine.
We need your support to help Ukrainians. As a community, we are aiming to raise $30 million dollars. Every donation, no matter the size, will make a difference in the lives of those affected. Please join us today by donating and sharing this fundraiser with your friends, family, and communities. We stand with Ukraine."

That came from the original post 2 weeks ago op.
How were they shady op?

[obliquium]

ONTD doesn't read strikes again??? I might have to actually start reading the sources in post to see if it's wank or not, how depressing.

There's some shadiness around the fact that they choose two orgs that are directly related (and therefore benefit from the good PR) to corporations they are investors in, but it could just be they decided to stick with organizations they've worked with in the past and trust.

[ladychips]

no clue what flexport is but people on airbnb have been super generous and helpful, i hope some of that money goes to the people hosting refugees via their listings

[obliquium]

OP's summary is bullshit and I'm deleting my original comments about AirBnB because the donation is going to AirBnB's non-profit org. Sorry for all the edits ladychips!!

Leaving this though, because it still stands (tl:dr don't ever donate to for-profit corporations): Publicly traded company have a legal obligation to shareholders to do their best to remain profitable and generate good returns. There is always some leeway to take a bit of a financial hit by donating funds or services to a (popular and scandal free) cause because it helps promote or provide 'good will' the company's brand, but it can't be a big enough amount to noticeably alter returns on investment. Most of the time corporate donations are justified as tax write offs, because it also supports the bottom line. There's a inherent conflict of interest in donating to publicly traded companies and you should absolutely NOT do so when there are genuine non-profit organizations and charities operating out there and providing similar services.

[sashheers]

Airbnb does a LOT for refugees and are actually a great company in that one aspect. They're partly responsible for totally fucking up the housing market in some cities though and sure as fuck don't need any donated money.

[chllschse]

I am assuming they donated to Airbnb.org which is a non-profit that actually works with other non profits to provide emergency housing for people…..but I could be wrong.

Skeptical

[the5thcircle]

Never donate to a corporation that will donate on your behalf. It's a tax write-off for them. Donate personally and if -- just by coincidence they donate to a charity on purchase (you were going to buy x, or shop at y), then more the better, but don't expect any investor/company is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.

Matching donations always raise an eyebrow -- just donate your max match and don't gamify charity.

Re: Skeptical

[purrple_267]

It's not a tax write-off for them. It's just cheap marketing. It is illegal to write it off as their own donation. They don't claim it as revenue either.

Sorry, this is my pet-peeve, I see this statement every couple of weeks on reddit. 😄

Re: Skeptical

[littlehayzay]

Blue Origin lol donated enough money for scholarships for 15 girls for space camp. It’s like $150,000, a drop in the fucking bucket and then got alllllllll this free advertising bc they announced it when Bezos went to space so it was mentioned in tandem and made them look good for literally NOTHING to their bottom line, drives me up a fucking wall.

Re: Skeptical

[purrple_267]

I'm usually not even mad about that, I just get irritated when this monthly LifeProTip comes up on reddit with 50k upvotes, telling people not to use donation boxes at cash registers and so on, when companies getting tax refunds or listing it as revenue would be an extremely easily detectable fraud.

I usually donate electronically because then *I* can get a tax refund and because in some cases charities have to pay a bank fee to deposit coins and they often have a limit on how much they can do with cash, so they have no choice but to deposit most of the donations.

[electric_lemur]

“ The celebrity couple partnered with global logistics experts Flexport.org to organize shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites in Ukraine’s neighboring countries Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova. They also tapped vacation rental company Airbnb, in which Kutcher was an early investor, to provide free, short-term housing to Ukrainian refugees.”

You make it sound bad when it’s not. They could have done nothing.

[theactualworst]

Still kinda sketchy because he’s going to directly benefit from it and likely write it all off. It’s very disingenuous.

[rihaty]

I mean it’s likely going to a nonprofit arm of flexport so it’s not like he’ll get returns from it, other than any boost the company gets from exposure in its main business. I really don’t care about Ashton and I don’t get donating to a celeb fundraiser but he has invested in a ton of companies and flexport in particular has been very active in relief efforts.

[theactualworst]

That’s good I suppose. They really should’ve been more transparent from the jump that this is where the money would be going though. It minimum it’s bad optics.

[lulufairybubble]

They been garbage. For a number of other reason, but I will glady add this to the list.

[lulufairybubble]

I dont care that you dont like that I dont like an abuser and his wife who are bff with a rapist.