Quote
hampton
Has anyone encountered fundraising at Landmark? There was an event at a Landmark center to raise money for Landmark's opening into China. It was marketed as an event to honor a man who was a humanitarian or something – I had never heard of the person. Tickets were sold to the event, with higher priced tickets available for seats near the front. As with everything in Landmark, there was a hard sell to purchase tickets. I did not attend, but people who did in my course were invited afterward to "share" about the experience and they spoke of it in almost awe-inspiring terms. How very sad that a for-profit business can so effectively manipulate people to give more money so they can open more for-profit centers.
I was in a Landmark course after Hurricane Katrina and a basket was passed around for participants to give cash that would supposedly go to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. I could imagine that Landmark would give a fraction of the money away and keep the rest for themselves as an administrative fee for handling the donations. And where there is cash involved, the accounting books inevitably fly out the window. To continue the sentiment that Landmark is a warm and caring organization, the course leader announced that Landmark was giving "scholarships" to anyone from New Orleans to attend the Forum for free. How convenient – take people who are completely traumatized and probably at the lowest emotional point of their lives, and use their susceptibility to indoctrinate them in Landmark "technology."
In the same course, a participant stood up and invited everyone to attend a concert that he was throwing to raise money for his relatives who lost their home in Katrina. He was reprimanded by the course leader for self-promotion. Anyone see a contradiction here? :?
Fundraising at a privately owned, FOR-PROFIT company?
Has anyone ever heard of "fundraising" at General Electric? Coca-Cola? Or how about the poor CEOs of Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, or British Petroleum? What would people say if those FOR-PROFIT corporations started "fundraising" ?