GenCon donation refused by Christian Children’s Foundation

In the memory of beloved Dungeons and Dragons creator Gary Gygax who passed away earlier this year, patrons of the 2008 GenCon, held on August 15, 2008, raised donations of $17,380 according to Live Game Auctions. That’s an astounding amount to say the least. In fact, the previous 2007 GenCon raised $9802, which is still nothing to sneeze at.

Each year the convention donates the money to a charity with last year’s being Christel House International. This year, the charity chosen to receive the donation was Gary Gygax’s own personal favorite, the Christian Children’s Foundation. Sadly, the foundation decided to refuse the donation from the convention which instead donated it to the Fisher House Foundation, a charity that donates homes that allow families with ill loved ones to live near treatment centers.

A forum goer over at Giant in the Playground forum, decided to find out why exactly the charity decided not to accept the donation to which they received this reply:

Christian Children’s Fund made the decision to decline the gift from Gen Con, LLC, as the request presented to us gave the appearance that CCF (the organization) was an endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not. As many non-profit organizations, CCF is selective in its endorsements or support in order to maintain the integrity of its name and logo. We cannot lend our name to an event for which we have no involvement. This decision should in no way be interpreted as CCF holding an opinion on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeons and Dragons.

If that went over your head a bit, Live Game Auction gave a simpler explanation which basically boils down to the charity not wanting to be associated with Dungeons and Dragons. Some of the donation was made up from sales of Dungeons and Dragons items.

It’s totally in the charity’s right not to want to be associated with whatever they feel they feel they shouldn’t be. Still, it’s sad to see something like this happen, especially for the core reason the charity was chosen. But people are getting helped anyway and that’s what matters.

So kids, please, no crazy petitions or riots, OK?

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