The grantLOVE website was updated today and there are a few noticeable changes.
All of the Produced in Germany items (where no funds were going to charity) have now been removed. These items were discussed in my List of Items and Profit Distribution post as well as my very recent The Web of Lies Continues post. I actually screen captured these items in the Web of Lies Continues post and posted the links. The links now give a 404 error but the screen captures live on for posterity (and as evidence).
Now, when you look up items under apparel, there is a banner that appears above all the displayed items that states, "Shop apparel that benefits artist projects and arts non-profits". See below.
If this is an attempt at cleaning things up on the website, it is a really poor attempt. Unfortunately, this statement implies that there is apparel, has been apparel, will be apparel for sale on the website that do not, have not, will not benefit artist projects and arts non-profits. By trying to correct mistakes they've done in the past they are giving indications that the mistakes are still present. Who knows? Maybe they are and I haven't found them yet?
If you move on to the Prints section of the website, you get a similar banner/disclaimer. This one states "these prints benefit artist projects and arts non-profits". Again, by saying "these prints" they are implying that there are prints, have been prints or will be prints that won't benefit artist projects and arts non-profits.
A better choice would have been to say that all prints sold on the grantLOVE website will benefit artist projects and arts non-profits. THAT IS A CLEAR AND UNAMBIGUOUS STATEMENT. Those kinds of statements are rare on the grantLOVE website, but they are present.
Case in point, more new stuff on the website...
The person above is a new collaborator with grantLOVE Project making tote bags from upcycled materials. These new bags, as of today, are now on sale on the website (below). Notice, in the About grantLOVE Collaborations, how it states that "EACH grantLOVE ARTWORK AND PRODUCT BENEFITS AN ARTIST PROJECT, ARTS EDUCATION ORGANIZATION (arts education organization is not in their mission statement BTW), OR ARTS NONPROFIT." That is a clear and unambiguous statement. And, sure enough, the same banner/disclaimer that was made above the Prints page is now made above the listed items on the bags page.
Well... at least she is being consistent now. Or is she?
This collaborator is a professional quilter. There are currently two of her quilts for sale on the grantLOVE website. One benefits charity, the other does not.
Both these quilts are listed under the Home Goods section. Notice there is no banner/disclaimer above the listed items for this section. Hmm... Perhaps grantLOVE Project is aware that one of the items listed in this section is not benefiting charity and, as such, they do not want to make any blatantly false statements here? As such, they've omitted the banner/disclaimer in order to obfuscate the fact that there is an item in this section that will not benefit charity in any way. They opted to be misleading, rather that overtly lie.
Given this information, lets go back and have a closer look at those newly listed bags... Aha!! None of the listed bags mention charity in any way (below).
I don't believe this is an "accident." You don't spend precious time working on new listings and then "forget " to mention charity in any way on each of the various items? This is not an oversight. They are being deliberately misleading with their banner/disclaimer.
If grantLOVE Project openly declared that a fixed percentage of the profits of every item sold on the website benefited a specific charity, there would be no need for them to list these facts with every item. But, because the portion donated and the beneficiaries are variable throughout the website, this means that EVERY ITEM SHOULD HAVE THE CHARITY LISTED AS WELL AS WHAT PORTION OF THE PROFITS ARE GOING TO CHARITY. THIS SHOULD BE CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT THE WEBSITE. THERE IS NO CONSISTENCY AT ALL. THERE ARE ONLY ATTEMPTS AT OBSCURING THE TRUTH ABOUT WHERE THESE FUNDS ARE GOING.
In Summary:
They've removed 7 items (produced in Germany) that had no mention of charity, added 4 items (produced in the Netherlands) with no mention of charity and, threw in some meaningless (and misleading) statements for good measure.
Like I said earlier, if they are trying to clean up their act and make it appear like they are on the up and up, they are doing a very poor job of it. If you are going to do it, commit to it completely and be transparent about it. Be clear and make unambiguous statements. These careless attempts are just not good enough. Also, there is absolutely nothing you can do that will correct the transgressions of the past. What's done is done and much of it has been documented.
Also, as stated in my previous post (Where, Oh Where, Do the Charitable Funds Go?), one cannot make the assumption that because a banner says that the items in question will benefit charity that this will actually be the case. Loopholes are all the rage here. Beware and be aware...
I have a question. On the grantloveproject website there is a donate button. When you click on it, the information seems to indicate that you are donating to the Love house project. Who controls the project now and how does a donor know what the status is on that project? Is it under the control of Fulcrum Arts and are there any reports or records? It claims to be a charitable donation: Yes, we are a fiscally sponsored project of Fulcrum Arts Emerge Program, which is a public 501c3 organization recognized by the IRS. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent permissible by law.
ReplyDeleteYes, the LOVE House Project is fiscally sponsored by Fulcrum Arts (formerly known as The Pasadena Arts Council). They manage the funds for the The LOVE House Project through their EMERGE Program. They issue a tax receipt for any donation they receive and they take both a yearly fee of $100/year for managing the funds as well as 7% of the amount donated. I have written about the The LOVE House in this post https://grantloveproject-caution.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-love-house-12-years-of-empty_28.html and cover some of the questions you’ve asked in that post. There may be additional information there that you might find interesting.
DeleteAs for there being any reports or records regarding the status of The LOVE House Project, I have not found anything that is informative or useful thus far. I actually posed questions directly to Fulcrum Arts, regarding the status of the funds and how much was still required to complete the project, months ago and received no response.
The Fulcrum Arts EMERGE Program currently sponsors over 80 different projects. You can find a complete listing of those projects here https://www.fulcrumarts.org/project-directory/ and The LOVE House is listed among these.
Trinidad Ruiz is the Project Manager for The LOVE House and worked for Fulcrum Arts, managing their Emerge Program, for a period of 13 months (Jan 2019 – Jan 2020). This information can be found on his Linked In profile.
Currently, the only way to contribute to The Love House is through Fulcrum Arts. There are no items for sale on the grantLOVE Project website that benefit The LOVE House in any way. I personally find this appalling. The grantLOVE Project was originally started as a way to raise funds for The LOVE House. It still has not been completed. They are still requesting funds for it through Fulcrum Arts (which means they still need funds to complete it) yet they (grantLOVE) is not contributing any of its charitable assets or funds to help complete it.
Alexandra Grant stated in this video dated May 1, 2019, at the 18:38 mark, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aUiD4Siag0 that it was 10 years later and that The LOVE House was about to be completed. This was almost 2 years ago and nothing’s changed. They are still soliciting funds and there is still no progress update on the project.
I hope this answered some of your questions.
Thank you