BDTIからMeta/Facebook CEOマーク・ザッカーバーグ宛の手紙

公益社団法人会社役員育成機構（BDTI）がMeta Platforms, Inc.（旧称: Facebook, Inc.）の共同創業者兼会長兼CEOのマーク・ザッカーバーグへ日本の認定公益法人・公益財団法人がFBをファンドレイジングに使えるようにしてほしい 趣旨の手紙を送りました。BDTIも他の公益法人も、Facebookのファンドレイジング機能を利用して、他のFacebookユーザーから寄付を集めたいと願っています。しかしながら、Facebookのユーザーが寄付を行う際に選択できる募金先のメニューに日本の非営利法人が選択肢にありません。日本のユーザーが日本の非営利団体に寄付できないのは不条理です。 手紙は以下のの通りです。

=============================       

 July 27, 2022

Mr. Mark Zuckerberg
CEO
Meta/ Facebook
1 Hacker Way
Menlo Park, California
94025    USA

CC: copies also sent to
Director of Communications
Director of Fundraising Activities Team
Board of Director members via Corporate Secretary

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI), which I lead from here in Tokyo, is a “public interest” nonprofit certified as such by the Japanese government. We provide: 1) training about directorship and corporate governance in Japan; 2) analysis and information dissemination about corporate governance; and 3) structured long-term big data taken from three separate types of disclosure reports in Japan. These are our major activities as approved by Japan’s Cabinet Office.

For your information, “Public interest” nonprofit organizations (公益法人) in Japan must comply with stricter regulations than apply for 501(c ) 3 nonprofits in the U.S.  For instance, they are subject to periodic inspections, and must comply with detailed rules concerning such things as the use of funds, expense ratios, and special accounting principles. Based on the value to society of public interest activities and this “quasi-regulated” status, donors to “public interest” nonprofits receive significant tax benefits.

BDTI and other “public interest” nonprofit organizations in Japan would very much like to use Facebook’s fundraising function to gather donations from other Meta/Facebook users. However, this is currently not possible, because no Japanese nonprofits of our category (the highest category in Japan) appear on the list of country “registries” that determine the dropdown menu for fundraising recipient options that can be chosen from when users of Facebook’s user page wish to make a donation.

This is rather odd, because the list of certified 公益法人can be easily obtained at this web page of the Cabinet Office: https://www.koeki-info.go.jp/pictis-info/csa0001!show#prepage2 . I would be pleased to explain to your staff how this can be done, including downloading a CSV file list of certified organizations. I have already attempted to contact your firm’s employees here in Japan in order to alert them to this issue, and have used the feedback/help button in my account to do the same, but have received no response. Hence, I am writing this letter.

With great respect for Meta/Facebook’s efforts to contribute to society by offering a fundraising option, I would like to request (as a user) that your company include all (公益法人) of all types[1] as possible options in the dropdown menu to select recipients of donations via user accounts.

Thank you very much in advance. If you would be so kind as to introduce me to the persons in charge of such matters, we would be pleased to help work out any operational details.

Regards,

 

Nicholas Benes
CEO, The Board Director Training Institute of Japan
nbenes@bdti.or.jp
81-3-6432-2337

 

[1] There are two types, 公益社団法人 and　公益財団法人. I will be happy to explain such details.