JP Morgan Chase & Company sponsored an online contest though the social networking system Facebook called The Chase Community Giving contest. The top one hundred nonprofit organizations receiving the most votes were to receive $25,000 and a chance at a $1 million donation. However, an e-mail from Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) informs us that “during the final days of the contest, Chase rigged their own system to obscure the vote count and then revoked the winnings of a few groups, including SSDP and the Marijuana Policy Project” (MPP). At the time according to unofficial vote counts both organizations were well within the top one hundred with SSDP being in fourteenth place. Chase stopped giving voting information three days before the contest ended and has announced the winners but is refusing to release the final vote tally.

The New York Timesstory on the controversy quotes Micah Daigle, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy as saying that, “They never gave us any indication that there was any problem with our organization qualifying. Now they’re completely stonewalling me.” The paper also reports that the two above groups “believe that Chase disqualified them over concerns about associating its name with their missions.”

Apparently, Chase Bank wishes to be associated with greater use of alcohol and a class based higher education system. You can join the boycott against Chase by clicking here.

Cross posted on The Trebach Report