This is a very hot topic right now, you can read great pieces here and here. I just wanted to toss in my two cents.
I feel incredibly disappointed by the actions of American Express. I understand that tucked away in their FAQs they explained that voting was only going to matter for the final round but that is absolutely not how the project was presented publicly. “Your Ideas. Your Decision. Our Money,” seems pretty clear.
Our community worked so hard to spread the word and get out votes. We funneled so many people onto the American Express website to vote. Against the odds we were able to generate enough votes to put Cure Fragile X at the #5 spot out of 1,200 projects, only to be told it wasn’t good enough. No one on the advisory board knew what it was, there wasn’t enough “buzz.” I have to say any doctor on that board who didn’t know what it was and didn’t even bother to do a damned Google search, isn’t worth whatever he is being paid.
I’ll admit, Fragile X is not a “sexy” disorder. It f*cking sucks, to put it bluntly. But we all work so hard to help our kids day in and day out while we hope that some day it will get better for them and for us. To have a giant corporation wave this under our noses only to snatch it away after all the hard work we put into getting out the vote was like a giant middle finger from American Express and I, for one, will never forget it.
If anyone feels like contacting the company I suggest one of these executive officers. There are two variations for each e-mail because some people at the company have a middle initial in their address and some do not. I’m not certain these will work but it may be worth trying 😉
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Vice Chairman, American Express Company and Group CEO, Business-to-Business
President, American Express Company
I don’t think AmEx realizes how “involved” fxs parents get. They are about too!!