Online Giving Contest Draws Controversy

An online contest run by the banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Company has drawn criticism for the way in which it conducted the event, which sought to give millions of dollars to 100 charities selected by votes from the public, according to The New York Times.

Three nonprofit organizations — Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the Marijuana Policy Project, and Justice for All, which opposes abortion — say they believe that the company disqualified them because it grew uncomfortable about associating the Chase name with their controversial missions.

The organizations say that until the company made changes to the contest, they appeared to be among the 100 most popular charities among voters. Shortly before the contest ended, drawing a half-million organizations and more than a million voters, Chase stopped giving participants access to voting information, and it has not disclosed how many votes the winners received.

Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for Chase, declined to give the Times vote tallies for any of the participating charities or to say whether any of the groups had been disqualified. Chase’s eligibility rules state that the bank can disqualify any participant. “We are proud that through this effort we’re giving $5 million to small and local charities,” he said, “raising awareness for thousands of charities and helping them gain new supporters.”

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