Wilmingtom said: "Kad, I agree with Davenport that it would be fiscally irresponsible to fund the appearance in light of his investors having lost money on the production and with no, as yet, confirmed plans for a tour, he has nothing to promote. I doubt Davenport has funded the appearance. It seems more likely that someone or some consortium with personal ties and affection for DW is behind it. And if DW proposed trying to reimburse, it would have been churlish for Davenport to object. Of course the performance won't do Davenport any harm, but I'm not quite as cynical about it as are you and others.
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If you fully understood and appreciated best practices of non-profit governance and fundraising, you would be cynical. As I previously stated, there's nothing illegal about what they're doing. There is, however, something morally and ethically questionable about it. And no, they are not being transparent about it. If they were, we would understand how the money is being fronted and from who or what source. If the organization somehow has $200,000 in the bank to spend (I highly doubt it based on their 990 forms, which can be viewed at guidestar.org), that should be acknowledged and explained. They frame the content on the Kickstarter page to make contributors believe they must reach the $200,000 goal by June 11th or the performance won't happen. That's disingenuous and would never pass the "smell test" by leadership from any other respectable non-profit organization. I'm actually more disappointed in Deaf West than I am in Davenport because I expect more from Deaf West. Ken? Not so much....