BicketyBuckBumble
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2021
They sure are, they still have tens of thousands of dollars not accounted for on their tax filings. Jirard's excuse of IndieLand and the Golf Cup being really expensive is full of shit considering they earn sponsors for both events, have aspects like catering, raffle prizes, and prize money for contests covered by said sponsors, and not only use funds donated through Indieland to cover expenses but also bits and subs donated (which of course he claimed countless times during Indieland streams that none of that money would be used for expenses).
This is just one example where he acts like bits and subs are a part of the donation amount but there are a ton more in the IndieLand streams.
From the 2023 Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon section:
Jirard also does a deceptive tactic in his response where he bunches the total expenses from 2014 to 2022 together to make them seem more expensive. However, they have their year by year expenses marked on their tax filings. Let's take the most expensive year, 2021, where their expenses were $29,906. That year, they earned $113,146.33 through IndieLand (we'll take 5 percent away to account for Tiltify's fee, equaling 107489.014). That year they also earned 25,000 from Jamie Lee Curtis, equaling to 132,489.014.
But then we take what they potentially earned from the PBD cup in 2021.
We did the math for this earlier in the thread but we have 2 diamond sponsorships, 1 platinum sponsorship, 6 gold sponsorships, 2 titanium sponsorships (which I'll count as silver sponsorships since it's less than gold but more than player sponsorships based on its placement), and 4 player sponsorships. We have 2(10,000) + 7,500 + 6(6,500) + 2(3,000) + 4 (750) = 75,500. So in total, they potentially earned 207,989.014 in income. Considering that they use thousands of dollars from Indieland donations (based on Jirard's own word on the call with Muta and Karl), as well as using bits and subs, they usually get more than enough to cover expenses.
But what if there was a year where they didn't hold the PBD Cup? Perhaps, we could use that to estimate the expenses for IndieLand by itself. Based on what Jirard said in his response and the posts by US Tournament Golf, the event wasn't held in 2020 (there's no photo gallery for it and US Tournament Golf doesn't mention a 2020 Cup on their Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn).
This isn't full proof, since IndieLand began being hosted as an in person event starting in 2022, but it does account for the 2018 to 2021 Indielands. In 2020, the expenses for Open Hand were only $6,140.
That year they also had at least one sponsor, Chrono.gg. However, notice how he says "sponsors" as a plural.
From the 2020 Button City segment:
In the call, Jirard's specific claim was that they spent "no more than a few thousand dollars depending on the year". So if the expenses for Indieland (assuming Chrono was their only sponsor, they typically get multiple who also contribute by giving them raffle items) is only $6,140, then it is possible that the rest of the expenses were covered using the charity funds (from donations, bits, and subs). He intentionally keeps his wording vague and for all we know, 6k is only a "few thousand dollars" in his mind.
It's also worth mentioning that they earned 5k from G-Fuel
From the 2020 Metal Unit segment:
Also I posted about this earlier in the thread but Jirard hasn't acknowledged why he claimed that Open Hand were helping families with recently diagnosed loved ones take the first steps to getting appropriate treatment and doctors (likely because Muta and Karl haven't brought these claims up in their videos).
(Notice the special thanks to G-Fuel at the bottom. This clip is also from 2020, from the Vernal Edge segment)
Links:
https://youtu.be/MkfN3puf0eA?si=aHDLKNCDqksKHNPq (Archive)
https://youtu.be/iV7hT2tFTPU?si=RSREyomtdwUvC4pB (Archive)
https://nintendosoup.com/the-messenger-directors-joins-indieland-fundraiser-for-dementia/ (Archvie)
