Cory Anotado's Game Show Marathon Donation Gifts

[rebelwrest]

One of the pledge levels offered at the 2013 24-hour Game Show Marathon was for $65 you will get a Card Sharks sized deck of cards.  I made my donation at that level, and as of today I have never received the gift.  I know of at least one other person who pledged at that level and never received their gift.  I feel like I have a duty now to warn people against pledging to his marathon and expecting to receive a gift that was promised.

My occupation is non-profit auditor, and people, on a daily basis, place their trust in me to verify that a non-profit is fulfilling the promises stated in their mission.  Mr. Anotado did not fulfill those promises to those donors and in the process create one of the worst things that an organization can be viewed with, doubt.  Doubt is very serious as it could drain confidence, manpower, and money from an organization.  It does take a long time and a lot more effort to remove that doubt.   However, one of the worst things about Mr. Anotado's actions is that probably those donors will not donate to his next Marathon.  Which is sad, because the only people really being hurt in this situation is The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  He may be able to donate more than last year, but it will probably not be the most he could have donated.

Mr. Anotado, I have had to contact you many times asking whether you will be finished with my cards, and every time you have said you were busy but will get to them as soon as possible.  You have led me astray many times, and at this point I am not sure if you even intended to fulfill the promise.  If any of the readers are interested in donating money directly to the Children's Hospital of Philadelpia, you may do so here:

https://donate.chop.edu/site/SPageNavigator/Gift_of_Childhood/Donate/donate_online.html;jsessionid=A05A7F53A3CABE7534422E6DEED68FC4.app252b

Or if you want to, give to the closest Children's Hospital near you.  They do great work. 

Mr. Anotado, I hope you enjoyed the $60,000 you won on The Chase, and I hope it paid for your (or will pay for your upcoming) wedding.

Matthew Tad Hudkins, CPA, Game Show Fan

[pacdude]

Welp, let's nip this in the bud.

I have your cards on my desk at work. I'm sorry that I've taken so long to get out the rewards. Very few people have their rewards, and that's completely my fault. We're not doing rewards this year for this very reason—it's too much of my own personal money and time to get everyone's rewards out on time, which has failed miserably. Each deck of cards was supposed to be hand-printed and cut by me, myself and I. That's completely my fault and I have not forgotten anyone's rewards. I've got the spreadsheet. We neglected to take into account how much time and money it would cost to ship everything, and never took that money out of the donated money. That's because it's literally just three of us doing everything.

Everyone who was expecting rewards will get them, I promise you. I take full responsibility and we've taken steps to ensure that doesn't happen again.

1) This year, donations are going right to CHOP, through this page here: http://giving.chop.edu/goto/24HourGSM We've been working closely with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to make sure that this year, all your donations are legally tax-deductible.

2) We're tightening up our promotions and making sure we don't make promises we can't keep in a timely fashion. We're inviting everyone to come and watch us live in Philadelphia and join us online in our new Social Media station. There will be no rewards for donations other than knowing you're donating directly to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

3) We're making sure that the presentation this year is going above and beyond anything anyone has attempted to do. We have a wonderful studio in Philadelphia where we'll be broadcasting in crisp HD. We have fancy cameras and lights and we've streamlined all our processes so our technical limitations become advantages. And, we won't have Get Lucky playing every 10 minutes like last year.

I personally apologize to you, Matthew. Between juggling life, a fiancé, a full time job, and making sure donations get to where they need to go, it's a lot for three people. The first year we did this, I ended up in the hospital due to exhaustion. Needless to say, I do this because I care about game shows, I care about game show fans and I care about sick kids at a hospital that has touched the life of my family and families around the world. It's completely my fault you don't have your giant novelty cards yet. Not a single dime of that $65 you donated went to me, went to making those cards, or went to anyone but the American Cancer Society, the Kennedy Krieger Institute and GoFundMe to process your credit card. I promise you that your donation went to where it was intended and every single perk, t-shirt, printable and magnet that everyone has coming their way was paid for straight out of our pockets.

I hope that the steps that have already put in place before your post do some small part to renew your trust in our goofy charity drive. All we want to do is play game shows and help sick kids. We don't want to put anyone out, and I'm sorry that we did, in your eyes. I have your address and I will send you your deck of cards and a t-shirt (Are you an XL? I have XL shirts.) as soon as I can.

(PS: Between saving for a house and saving for a wedding and Sallie Mae, that $60,000 is donezo.)

Cory Anotado, PITA, Game Show Fan

[PYLdude]

It is kind of upsetting that this promise as it was didn't get fulfilled...but at the same time you seem like you're saying that the only reason you donated is for the gift. Which honestly says a lot more about your motives than it does his if this is the case.

[pacdude]

It is kind of upsetting that this promise as it was didn't get fulfilled...but at the same time you seem like you're saying that the only reason you donated is for the gift. Which honestly says a lot more about your motives than it does his if this is the case.

Absolutely it's upsetting. If I donated for something and it took a year, and it wasn't Kickstarter, I'd be pissed too. I take full responsibility. I loaded my plate up a bit too high in order to get a bunch of money for ACS and KKI. That was totally my fault and I'll do everything I can to make it right.

I'm talking with AdMagic (the people who printed up cards for Cards Against Humanity) about getting quality jumbo decks for the 5 people who still need their decks. (At any rate, each deck is far more than the $65 we set the goal for. Again, my fault. But I'm making this right. Each deck looks like it's going to cost me about $120 a deck.)

[DoorNumberFour]

I would also like to apologize.

Despite the title of this thread, the Marathon is handled by three people: that's me, Cory and Bob Hagh. We handle the social media, writing of game material, software programming, renting the space for the thing to happen, interviews with local media, donations/funding, editing all those teaser videos...not to mention the food/drink for our ~12-15 guests, out-of-studio living arrangements for the weekend, and camera and mic equipment. Everything comes out of our own pockets.

The blame can't be laid solely at the feet of one individual. We're a team through good and bad. And last year...well, we got overloaded. Every year, we underestimate the amount of work that goes into a project like this. But every year, we pull through because we love game shows, we love game show fans, and we love giving.

I hope that we don't truly seem like a gang of hucksters out to take your money. We're not. In the two years we've done the marathon, every penny went to its intended goal. These donation problems were isolated incidents, borne of the simultaneous exhaustion of our three-man team and our want to do more. I think the steps Cory has outlined above speak to our intentions.

Thanks, guys. We're looking forward to putting on an incredible show this year.

[PYLdude]

Hey, it was an honest mistake, you're owning it, and that's admirable. And sometimes you don't intend to stretch yourself thin but you do it anyway.

And if I'm misinterpreting what rebelwrest is saying that is my fault. I'm just calling it as I see it and to me, encouraging people not to participate in a charitable event that three people organized out of their desire to do something for charity just because you didn't get something reeks of sour grapes.

Either way here's to year 3. May y'all keep doing what ya do.

[BrandonFG]

Sometimes, it's easy to get so bogged down in your craft or passion that even the simplest things get lost in the shuffle or put on the backburner. And in the process, a day turns into a week turns into a month turns into six months turns into a year so forth.

Admitting your fault is very admirable, esp. when there's a lesson learned about stretching yourself too thin. It's still awesome what you guys are doing, and I hope that Matthew's incident doesn't deter other people away.

[mxc0427]

I'm the third member, Bob. I just want to echo the words of Cory and Christian here to say that we didn't mean for any of this to happen, and we take issues like this seriously. We always want to put on a great show every year, and I know we do that. We want to make all our viewers and donors happy for their support to such fantastic charities simply by playing games for an entire day. I assure you, as a team, we sincerely apologize for any issues that have arisen. We really work hard to provide this community an opportunity to look at how three individuals can use their passion to give back to those who are in true need of help. They are the real winners. We show support and awareness for those who just want a helping hand, and a smile to go with it. We're not perfect human beings, and quite frankly, no one is. What truly defines a humble individual, or group, is the ability to realize the shortcomings, and to learn from it. The Game Show Marathon team respects what everyone has to say, and we hope you have just as much fun this year as we do it all over again.

[rebelwrest]

First of all, APOLOGIES ACCEPTED   I did the original post mainly from the view of an auditor.  If they were going to give out rewards again but not fulfill the rewards of last year, then it would have been a problem.  We all try to do something good with something we absolutely love to do, and we sometimes go overboard.  However, people are very forgiving.  The best thing about this was we got to clear to air.  I would recommend you start e-mailing everyone who is due a reward explaining the situation, and say we will tell you when we ship it out.  There is no more doubt.  You have an excellent Marathon.  Hopefully, in my once a year trip to Philly to see the Union play a home game, we get to meet. 

Thank you,

P.S.  I am not sure if I should have started a new topic.  Because this Topic name will still be up there, but this feels like the correction to it on the bottom left corner of page A27.  Moderator, can we get a topic name change please.

[golden-road]

If it's any consolation, Rebelwrest, I won a magnet on Twitter, and haven't received it yet. I know they're busy men, and I understand the situation.

[DoorNumberFour]

I'd like to see the title of this thread amended/changed as well, seeing as how the situation was speedily and peacefully resolved. No reason for our names to be left in the mud.

[rebelwrest]

Thank you moderator for the name change.