Atheist Alliance International has been successfully helping atheists at risk for nearly 30 years, and in 2019 Atheist Support Network (ASN) a program dedicated to this work was created because of increasing need. Throughout those years we have run many fundraisers and have achieved a gold star for transparency from the charity rating service GuideStar. Among the many cases AAI has successfully undertaken and resolved over the years, only a single case has been stopped because of doubts about the validity of the case and concerns about the behavior of the person we were campaigning for.
So how did we respond when this happened very recently? The board of AAI convened an emergency committee to investigate the allegations against the subject of the case and within a week we had concluded our investigation and made a public announcement. In that announcement, we promised that over a 7-day period we would be reaching out to donors with instructions to receive full refunds. Our executive director achieved this laborious task in just under two days, contacting each donor personally and providing them with clear instructions on how to receive their refunds.
Furthermore, we will undertake a thorough review of our triage and vetting processes and make them better than ever. Any mistake is an opportunity to learn.
Our response to this one-off case demonstrates two of our core values, integrity, and diligence. We have proven just how transparent we truly are and we have shown how diligently we work.
Indeed, this case has prompted us to take our transparency to the next level. The board has decided to publish more detailed information on our campaigns than we have seen from any other charity. It will take a while to prepare our systems for this stringent level of disclosure but we are working on it and it will happen. Watch this space.
This is how you know you can trust Atheist Alliance International.
