News

In November, Water of Life asked its supporters to help us win $25K through the Fall 2011 Chase Community Giveaway contest on Facebook. The contest gave nonprofit organizations the chance to win up to $250K by obtaining the most "votes” on Facebook. Organizations with the most votes and ending in the Top 100 would be awarded at least $25K.

Water of Life is thankful for its supporters, and in the areas of loyalty and taking action, our supporters are among the very best and most dedicated! We were confident that our passionate fans would create a strong social media movement that could help carry us to the Top 100 Charities and help us win funding for new water well projects in Africa and India.

Water of Life was right about our supporters. As each day of the contest passed, Water of Life quickly climbed the ranks. With just a couple of days of concerted effort, our voters pushed the organization closer to the Top 100. Unfortunately, while the contest was still ongoing and with time to vote remaining, Water of Life’s participation in the Chase Community Giveaway contest was abruptly ended. Hundreds of votes, many comments of support, and a climbing rank in the contest had suddenly vanished from Facebook with no explanation from Chase.

Water of Life was disappointed about not reaching the Top 100 and losing an opportunity at $25K, but more importantly, we were concerned that the quick action of our supporters’ was for nothing. Further, we understood that all of our voters were forced to accept a Chase Facebook App in order for their vote to count, and because they accepted the App on our behalf, we wanted to find out more detail as to why we were suddenly eliminated.

After weeks of contacting Chase and trying to find some-one who could tell us why our organization was suddenly removed from the contest, a Chase representative informed Water of Life that Water of Life was disqualified from the Chase Community Giveaway contest because of language, such as "Jesus” and the "Gospel,” in the organization’s mission and website. Essentially, Chase made the decision to disqualify Water of Life because we are an openly Christian organization. Water of Life provides clean water to the sick, dying, and thirsty-regardless of their religion. Unfortunately, the part of our work that includes sharing the hope of Jesus with the hopeless disqualified Water of Life and voided your votes.

Water of Life would like to issue a formal apology to those who took the time to vote for Water of Life during the Facebook Chase Community Giveaway contest. We truly believed we were an eligible organization. Since it was a votes-based contest, we also believed that the likelihood of our winning was significant. We did not intend to waste your time or knowingly ask you to participate in an illegitimate effort. If you voted for Water of Life on Facebook and would like to remove the Chase App from your profile, you can do so with the following steps:

-Sign in to your Facebook account
-Go to the Home page that contains Newsfeeds
-In the left-side column, find the area that contains the title "Apps”
-In this column, you will see an icon and title for the Chase App
-With your mouse, hover over the Chase App
-A small "pencil” will appear to the left
-Click the small "pencil”
-Click the "Remove App” option

Thank you to those who participated and helped support Water of Life. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but we do not apologize for being an openly Christian organization. Water of Life is disappointed that Chase could not see past the words "Jesus” and "Gospel” in order to help provide clean water to the desperate and save lives.