The Open Hand Foundation, founded in part by Jirard Khalil (The Completionist) has been keeping and storing donations for 10 years.Muta's video: https://www....
Karl Jobst and SomeOrdinaryGamers (separate video linked here) have accused Jirard Khalil of lying to viewers about his charity.
Jirard is a YouTuber who runs a channel known as the Completionist, where he plays games to 100% completion and reviews them based on how enjoyable the experience was.
The Open Hand Foundation, which was co-founded by Jirard in 2014, was set up to raise money for dementia charities after his dementia-stricken mother passed away. However, their yearly filings with the IRS suggest that none of this money has been donated to charity.
Jacque (Jirard’s brother) responded to Karl’s emails to the Open Hand Foundation claiming that they are still searching for the correct charity to partner with and disburse these funds, whereas Jirard claimed that he was only aware that none of the funds had gone out last year, yet is still openly promoting Open Hand on stream and claiming they support the UCSF, Alzheimer’s Association, the AFTD and many other charities.
Yeah, unless it’s a specific fundraiser (as in, “We match all external donations up to X”), there’s no reason not to donate directly, in particular for cases where it’s easy enough to find a charity to directly support that isn’t someone’s personal tax deduction scheme.
Dan is a sex machine, and did hook up with fans before getting married. But none were minors, not even 18 years old. That part is false. What is Arin supposed to have done?
In all honesty I’m shocked. Jirard is one of the few YouTubers I have (well, had) a tonne of respect for.
Part of me wants to hope there’s a rational explanation for why he and his foundation sat on viewer donations for a whole decade whilst knowingly misleading donors that their funds were going to a charitable cause, but I really think this is going to end his career. Just wait until every other YouTuber picks this story up, or when it goes viral on Reddit…
Same with feeling shocked. He always seemed so wholesome and I like his videos. If this is a bad at it seems, then yeah. His channel is going to start hemorrhaging subscribers.
Either the OHF have been incompetent with filing their annual returns, have been incompetent with actually ensuring the money goes to the right people, or there’s some embezzlement going on.
Well, Jirard admitted on the call in the video that he knew almost two years ago that the charity had never donated to anything. So strike those options off your list.
At best, he didn’t know, which means he really didn’t care enough to even check to make sure the money was going to where it was supposed to be going? Like, the ONE thing a charity does? Even so, in 10 years, he wasn’t suspicious at all about not hearing back from these organizations (like a “Thank You for your donation letter”)? He didn’t give a shit about the charity, and used it to flaunt his own brand and ego. And that’s the BEST case scenario.
Worst case scenario he is knowingly committing charity fraud…by using his own Mother as bait. Fucking deplorable if you ask me.
I don’t know about anyone else but I usually check my account before taking out anything over a certain amount. Especially if it was in the thousands as he says.
As a board member of his own charity, he has to be aware of it at some point. Heck, he even acknowledged to know this since 2021 and still nothing happened.
I think I’ve watched maybe 2 The Completionist videos ever. I’m not in denial about anything here. I am waiting for the other side to respond, and possibly for the IRS to get involved before any final judgement. I just know his brothers statement sounded incredibly sketchy. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if he was embezzling money from the charity sketchy, while Jirard seemed genuine. Maybe Jirard is just a better actor/more charismatic, it is his job after all. Time will tell.
I don’t see how there’s any good explanation though for having a website quote thanking them for donating from someone who was fired for money issues 7 years prior.
Well, this is incredibly disappointing. I wasn’t aware the Completionist had a charity dedicated to dementia, but I’ve respected his commitment to preserving gaming media and history. Still none of this looks good and I’m struggling to find a good reason as to why you would just sit on donations for nearly a decade without dispersing them.
No, you don’t understand, this is decades long process for most NPOs and charities. Some will wait for a century or more to find the right organization. Doctors without Borders, for instance, has a notoriously difficult time performing their duties as the borders keep changing over time as they wait for the right fit–many of their doctors are, in fact, within borders.
My charity has a pile of gold that a dragon sits on until the dragon has found a CEO and board of trustees who can withstand 20k° of dragonfire. Until then, I’d be a fool not to collect interest, for charity of course.
And if you happen to use this interest and money to fund your company while you search for the right charities to support it’s OK. It’s all for charity sake after all!
I’d say watch both videos, Muta’s video is a little more in depth, but it is just odd to hold onto the money for so long. At least they aren’t spending it on nonsensical things, but if they get audited, that will be a big problem with how they filled out their taxes. I’m hoping for the best though, I do like Jirard and I can’t imagine how it is with your parent/family going through that
It’s more than odd, it’s deception. He has been talking to his donators as if the money has been going to charities for years. He has named specific charities that haven’t received a single dime from them.
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I wonder if Greg has any thoughts on this.
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Usually because it’s part of a fundraiser like this one.
Yeah, unless it’s a specific fundraiser (as in, “We match all external donations up to X”), there’s no reason not to donate directly, in particular for cases where it’s easy enough to find a charity to directly support that isn’t someone’s personal tax deduction scheme.
Because sometimes it’s nice to feel like you’re a part of a community. I get it.
I have only EVER heard nice and good things about Jirard, so I’m going to wait for some actual evidence before making any judgements.
Normal Boots seems to have attracted scummy people. Please don’t be one of them, PBG!
If it’s true. Fuck him
My grandfather is in the earliest stages of dementia and his side of the family dies of alzheimers a lot…
Never liked him, knew he was always a bad egg.
Muta is frothing at the mouth that he might seem like the sane party for once.
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What did Dan do? I hadn’t heard about any controversy with him, but I’m not entirely surprised there is.
He did some really suspicious things regarding interacting with minors and waiting until they were 18 and then meeting them.
Dan is a sex machine, and did hook up with fans before getting married. But none were minors, not even 18 years old. That part is false. What is Arin supposed to have done?
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tbh dude should still be cancelled for that imo
I heard that wasn’t true in the end, just some fucked up rumor some butthurt ex-fan started.
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I see he’s going for the career downfall completion
In all honesty I’m shocked. Jirard is one of the few YouTubers I have (well, had) a tonne of respect for.
Part of me wants to hope there’s a rational explanation for why he and his foundation sat on viewer donations for a whole decade whilst knowingly misleading donors that their funds were going to a charitable cause, but I really think this is going to end his career. Just wait until every other YouTuber picks this story up, or when it goes viral on Reddit…
Same with feeling shocked. He always seemed so wholesome and I like his videos. If this is a bad at it seems, then yeah. His channel is going to start hemorrhaging subscribers.
Hint: there is no excuse thats legitimate. Ive busted local charities the same way.
I think some explanations are worse than others.
Either the OHF have been incompetent with filing their annual returns, have been incompetent with actually ensuring the money goes to the right people, or there’s some embezzlement going on.
Well, Jirard admitted on the call in the video that he knew almost two years ago that the charity had never donated to anything. So strike those options off your list.
Watched it too, fan of both channels so this is strange.
There is a possibility that Jirard just wasn’t in the loop and didn’t know, but someone was (brother?) But regardless this is very suspect.
At best, he didn’t know, which means he really didn’t care enough to even check to make sure the money was going to where it was supposed to be going? Like, the ONE thing a charity does? Even so, in 10 years, he wasn’t suspicious at all about not hearing back from these organizations (like a “Thank You for your donation letter”)? He didn’t give a shit about the charity, and used it to flaunt his own brand and ego. And that’s the BEST case scenario.
Worst case scenario he is knowingly committing charity fraud…by using his own Mother as bait. Fucking deplorable if you ask me.
He admitted to taking money out for reimbursement, how the hell did he not know?
Yeah he had no qualms with 12k-30k annually being taken out for “expenses”.
I don’t know about anyone else but I usually check my account before taking out anything over a certain amount. Especially if it was in the thousands as he says.
As a board member of his own charity, he has to be aware of it at some point. Heck, he even acknowledged to know this since 2021 and still nothing happened.
He quickly corrected himself and said 2022.
It’s still a year later by now.
How in the fuck could he not be aware? It’s his channel isn’t it?
It seems like his brother was running things at the charity. Its plausible he just asked his brother where the money was going and trusted him.
That’s a huge stretch. You must be in denial.
No reason to defend him he’s just a stranger on the internet. He owes you nothing.
They are both in on it. Fucking bros for crying out loud.
How is that a huge stretch??
He’s listed as a director in the legal documents.
I think I’ve watched maybe 2 The Completionist videos ever. I’m not in denial about anything here. I am waiting for the other side to respond, and possibly for the IRS to get involved before any final judgement. I just know his brothers statement sounded incredibly sketchy. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if he was embezzling money from the charity sketchy, while Jirard seemed genuine. Maybe Jirard is just a better actor/more charismatic, it is his job after all. Time will tell.
Not sure, he told that he was aware on 2022, but in 2023 he said that they donated to several associations.
Everything is really weird.
I don’t see how there’s any good explanation though for having a website quote thanking them for donating from someone who was fired for money issues 7 years prior.
Well, this is incredibly disappointing. I wasn’t aware the Completionist had a charity dedicated to dementia, but I’ve respected his commitment to preserving gaming media and history. Still none of this looks good and I’m struggling to find a good reason as to why you would just sit on donations for nearly a decade without dispersing them.
Since 2014 huh?
Isn’t that something you should do before you start a donation drive? Wtf?
No, you don’t understand, this is decades long process for most NPOs and charities. Some will wait for a century or more to find the right organization. Doctors without Borders, for instance, has a notoriously difficult time performing their duties as the borders keep changing over time as they wait for the right fit–many of their doctors are, in fact, within borders.
My charity has a pile of gold that a dragon sits on until the dragon has found a CEO and board of trustees who can withstand 20k° of dragonfire. Until then, I’d be a fool not to collect interest, for charity of course.
And if you happen to use this interest and money to fund your company while you search for the right charities to support it’s OK. It’s all for charity sake after all!
It is standard practise to use part of the donations for expenses and administration after all
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I watched the video. It’s definitely not looking good for Jirard but I’ll reserve judgement until he responds. These allegations are really bad.
I haven’t watched this video, but watched the one by No Ordinary Gamer, and he included responses he got from Jirard. It didn’t look great.
I’d say watch both videos, Muta’s video is a little more in depth, but it is just odd to hold onto the money for so long. At least they aren’t spending it on nonsensical things, but if they get audited, that will be a big problem with how they filled out their taxes. I’m hoping for the best though, I do like Jirard and I can’t imagine how it is with your parent/family going through that
Just report him to the IRS and move on. Let them sort it out. If he’s legit the IRS won’t have issue.
It’s more than odd, it’s deception. He has been talking to his donators as if the money has been going to charities for years. He has named specific charities that haven’t received a single dime from them.
They pulled out like 30k two years 10-12k other years. No idea what that was spent on.