[JackKieser]

Before I say anything, full disclosure: I work at Chase.

Part of the federal Community Reinvestment Act states that banks have to "give back" to their communities in a monetary sense every year. This year, as opposed to previous years, Chase is asking for outside opinions on where to give this money.

Chase is going to give over $5 million dollars to various charities this year, and the charities that will receive these grants (and the amounts of the grants themselves) will be determined by popular vote. I want Child's Play to get one of the top spots, if not the top spot itself; as soon as I heard about the program, I knew that gamers could mobilize to get a lot of money for a lot of sick kids.

So, here's how it works:

1 ) There will be two rounds of voting. The first round, active right now, is a nomination process that will determine which charities get on the final ballot AND what order they are placed on it; the more nominations, the better placement. The second round of voting will determine a final global ranking of charities, and their placement on that ranking will determine how much (if any) the charity gets in grant money.

2 ) The first round of voting is supposed to be open only to Chase customers (more on that later). Right now, you can go to www.chasegiving.com, log in with your Chase.com user info, and nominate a charity. Obviously, I'm recommending you nominate Child's Play by simply searching for "Child's Play" (exactly like that, minus the " "'s, otherwise you'll get other unrelated charities in your results), and filling out the information it asks for (mainly if you know any updated contact info for the charity).

3 ) The second round of voting is open to EVERYONE, period, and will be done in two places: the Chase Giving site and Facebook. As stated earlier, this poll will be for final ranking, so every vote counts. The highest ranked charities will get mad cash monies. Incidentally, Chase is also guaranteeing a certain number (I don't know how many) of charities money IF they originate in Western Washington (which Child's Play does).

Now, even though the first round is only supposed to be open to Chase customers, there are reports on the PA forums that non-customers are able to vote. Reports have included situations such as changing the URL to back-door your way in, using old Chase.com logins from when you USED to be a customer, etc. Obviously, I cannot condone such practices. That being said, this is the internet, and I can't stop you from using them... so...

Anyway, I think Child's Play can really do well and get a LOT of money IF gamers everywhere mobilize. So, get the word out. PM other OCRemixer and let them know. Post about this on Twitter and Facebook. Crosspost this to other gaming blogs or forums. Email games sites, like PA or Kotaku, to get front-page recognition. Harass your friends and neighbors, whatever you need to do to get people moving.

...discuss.

EDIT:

So, I've got some more info for you, courtesy of the Chase Legal team:

Originally Posted by Chase Legal

JUNE 12 - JULY 9
Nominations

Chase customers and employees nominate their favorite charities to be a part of the program.

* Nominations open on June 12, 2012 and end on July 9, 2012 at 11:59:59 PM, ET.

* Chase customers and employees can nominate as many eligible charities as they like, so think of all the great local organizations around you.

* To start nominating, just go to Chase.com/ChaseGiving


AUGUST

Invitations

After nominations are in, we'll reach out to all of the eligible charities, inviting them to be a part of the program.

* We'll reach out to all of the eligible charities in August.

* All eligible charities will have the opportunity to move on to the voting phase.

* Charities accepting their invitations by Aug. 30 will equally share in an additional $2.5 million in grants


SEPT. 6 - 19

Voting

When voting opens, Chase customers can vote in 2 places- on Chase.com and Facebook. The eligible charities with the most votes will share in $5 million in grants!

* Voting will open on September 6, 2012 and end on September 19, 2012 at 11:59:59 PM, ET.

* 196 eligible charities will share in $5 million in grants.

[JackKieser]

Wow, sorry to double-post and self-bump and whatnot, but nothing so far? That's disconcerting.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

Nominated!

[BardicKnowledge]

Bumping for great justice here, but I'm not a Chase customer and refuse to cheat. Will vote when it opens up though!

[JackKieser]

So, this thread is at 170~ views, yet the Penny Arcade thread for this is at over 1.2 thousand. This is an issue.

[Cash and Change]

Originally Posted by JackKieser

So, this thread is at 170~ views, yet the Penny Arcade thread for this is at over 1.2 thousand. This is an issue.

OCR forums are not as popular as Penny Arcade, I'd imagine that has something to do with it.

I'll vote in the public round, as I'm not a Chase customer and I don't plan to be one. And I won't attempt to back door into the first round.

[JackKieser]

Bah. They're more popular than this thread is making it seem. I just checked the Members List; the forum has over 22 thousand total members. "But Jack," I'm hearing you type, "most of those accounts are inactive, and a lot of those people don't visit regularly." True, which is why I also sorted the list by last date of activity to see how many people are regulars.

If we're talking being active in the last couple of days, it's over 450 active members, which this thread is approaching. If we're talking the past month? Over 1200.

That's a lot more than this thread is getting views for. Which means, people aren't spreading the word to their fellow forum-goers. If this were just a random ad thread, I wouldn't consider it an issue, except this is to raise a LOT of money for sick kids. The least people could do is send PMs to people they know are even kind of active.

EDIT: WOW. Ok, so... how is it that a thread to help BGC's wife win a Facebook contest has over 650 views and 22 replies... but a thread that will help get a charity that helps sick children worldwide to get over (potentially) 25 thousand dollars has barely over 250 views and 6 replies, three being my own? Not trying to hate on BGC, 'cause I'm sure he's a cool dude... but seriously. This seems off to me.

[zircon]

I'm not participating because I don't believe Child's Play deserves the top spot. While getting video games for sick kids is nice, I would rather see charity money go toward things like curing disease, providing food, helping impoverished people start businesses, etc. It's a matter of priority for me.

[JackKieser]

You know, you can upvote multiple charities; it's not like only one will get cash. Unless you think that there are 195 more deserving charities than CP (because the top 195 charities with the most votes get cash monies), then you should be voting.

If I were a more cynical person, I'd think it's because this is a JackKieser thread. Good thing I'm not that cynical.

EDIT: I've added some info from official flyers to the OP; it explains some of the finer details, such as the fact that any charity that makes it to voting and responds to Chase's invitation to Round 2 in a timely manner gets to share in and extra 2.5 million dollars, whether they win the vote or not, much better than my OP.

So there's, you know, even more reason to nominate right now.

[Otakatt]

Well don't you have a lovely attitude? Guilt trips and calling out other threads specifically aren't the way to bring attention to this thread or cause.

Child's Play gets so much attention within the video game community as it is, I can totally understand a lot of people seeing this, but think "Well what about other charities..." CP is great and all, but every time I see anyone in the game community discuss a charity, it's ALWAYS Child's Play. It's not bad per se, but I am also at the point I'd like to see some love for other charities demonstrated by those within the gaming community.

But I'm not a Chase customer and I wouldn't feel right voting in the first phase. Could be a common sentiment, so maybe post more when the second phase starts.

You could also edit the thread a bit to try to draw more attention to it. Check out Liontamer's threads. How he does titles, and how he bolds and increases font size of important points. Draw attention to what you want people to read, because right now TL;DR.