AFTD: Open Hand Foundation Provides AFTD $600K for FTD Research
IGN: YouTuber The Completionist Responds to Allegations of ‘Charity Fraud’ Against Him and Open Hand
Karl Jobst: The Completionist’s Response is the Worst Thing Ever
TL;DR: Things look incredibly bad. The completionist has practically admitted to misleading donors, and it seems like he is expecting the IRS will get involved (IGN). It also seems he’s threatening legal action for slander (Jobst).
The allegation that the money was not donated seems to be true (up until the AFTD donation in November of 2023) (IGN, AFTD). The Completionist has admitted he “made statements potentially implying donations were made when they had not yet been” (IGN). Karl basically states that it isn’t a potential implication, but a direct claim that he made, and is additionally is alleging that the way The Completionist benefits from IndieLand constitutes charity fraud (Jobst).
Jirard’s words were unambiguous over the years, though. It was always “we’re working with…” or “we’ve donated to…” and not “we’re looking at these charities”. I don’t know what the rationale for hanging on to that money was, whether it was for the right reasons or not. What I do know is that people were lied to. It doesn’t matter if he intended to or not. It’s not a good spot to be in, and I can’t imagine it gets much better from here. The whole thing felt very much like w crypto scam, except the money was still available, but there was a whole lot of “trust me, bro” and misrepresentation of what was happening behind the scenes.
How many years of research do you need in order to pick the charity or university you want to fund? How many times do you repeat the lies (with numbers!) without even knowing what your own charity is doing? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a different reason they hung on to the money, because this doesn’t pass the sniff test. Where there’s smoke there’s fire.