VRBangers Overcomes Barriers in Drive to Raise Money for Veterans

When adult virtual reality company VRBangers set out to make charitable donations to the American military veterans, the company quickly ran up against an obstacle all too familiar to adult entertainment brands: Charities often balk at accepting contributions from adult companies, fearing the negative publicity which may come with such contributions, if and when they become public knowledge.

Ultimately, what began as “a marketing campaign, created for the Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day” morphed into “a huge chain of events and interactions” with both positive and negative outcomes, according to a statement from VRBangers that documents at some length what the adult VR brand experienced when simply trying to donate money for the benefit of veterans.

The effort to contribute to veterans’ causes began simply enough, with VRBangers establishing a page at VRBangers.com/heroes, which the company launched after internal research revealed that “almost 37% of their US members were either currently active or retired military personnel.”

On top of VRBangers promoting the campaign, others in the adult industry joined in, including a variety of top brands and models, including Kendra Lust, Nicole Aniston, Ryan Kelly, Alina Lopez, Brandi Love, Reagan Foxx and Milana Ricci, who helped get the word out on social media and through other channels.

The campaign had two aspects:  complimentary access to VRBangers content for US military personnel worldwide for a period of two months and a percentage of the revenue from the campaign to be donated to a veteran-related charity. As it turned out, the second component of the campaign would prove significantly more challenging than the first.

As VRBangers noted in its statement detailing its experience in raising money for veterans, the company quickly found that trying to raise money for veterans “is much more complicated than it might seem.”

“Among the hundreds of messages that the company received as part of its charity work, many of them were extremely alarming,” VRBangers wrote in its statement.

According to VRBangers, one of the comments the company received was from a disabled 21 year-old veteran who wrote that while the notion of contributing to veterans charities was great, “supposed veteran support charities… are only required to use 11% of the total they get on vets.”

“Being one of veterans who need their help I haven’t found one of those supposed veteran-support sites that would actually help a veteran,” the comment continued. “The vets that they claim to help are designated veteran family members if veterans at all. I made it all the way to delta and I’ve been ripped off by VA and veteran support does not exist in this country. Sorry to tell you but it’s true.”

While alarmed by what the young veteran told them, VRBangers was still determined to find a good veterans’ charity to distribute the contributions the company received – which is where the story took its most discouraging turn.

“We received tremendous positive praise and feedback from the online community, with a very logical warning of wanting to witness us seeing it through and making good on our promises,” said VR Bangers’ Marketing Director, Igor Zhivago. “And this is exactly what we thought we could do, but this is where the obstacles started to arise. I personally contacted charities like The Gary Sinise Foundation, Semper Fi Fund, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Fisher House Foundation, Freedom Service Dogs of America, Air Warrior Courage Foundation, Operation Second Chance, Hope for the Warriors and another sixty-seven national and local charities, and they all ‘respectfully declined’ our charitable contribution to ‘maintain the positive public image of the company and to ensure continuous donations from regular donors.’”

As VRBangers sees it, that sort of excuse from the charities “does nothing but demonstrate how sanctimony and uncovered discrimination still take place in our society, even there where it seemed it could never be at all.”

Attempting to work around the hesitance of the charities, Zhivago decided to reach out to veterans directly, inviting them to participate in a video shoot to promote the company’s cause.

“I come from a military family,” Zhivago wrote in his communique to veterans. “Many of my friends are in the military. Some of them have done multiple tours in the war zones. Our enterprise statistics show that almost 37% of our US members are either current or past members of the Armed Forces. They were the first ones to bring some severe issues up on online forums. This is when we found out that the veteran-related charity only has to prove using 10% of all donations for the veteran affairs. We heard of the unfair and discriminatory treatment, expensive potlucks for donors and low-quality veteran care. This aggravates me yet again as I am writing this to you now. So, frankly, I got tired of hitting my head on the wall of ignorance and political correctness and brought up a different idea to the executives of our company. They approved, and this is the reason you are receiving this letter.”

“We can’t solve this troubling issue, but we can do something,” Zhivago continued. “This is why we reached out to the veterans like yourself directly and although we can’t help everyone, we would like to divide the proceeds from our initiative into individual donations and present a group of veterans who reached back to us with our donations. And yes, we understand that we won’t be able to claim it as a charitable tax deduction, because the money goes to individuals, not 501(c)3. We are ok with it. We want to be sure that 100%, not 10% is going to those who can truly use it. As a part of our promise to the world we want to be able to show that the donations are actually making it to the correct recipients, which is why we are kindly requesting you help us by signing the release form and allowing us to film presenting you with the donation. These segments will become a part of our report to the observing community as a socially responsible company that is not afraid to cut through the red tape and stands by its promises.”

Zhivago received many positive responses to his letter, including veteran Robert Clarke, who was willing to go on record and participate in a video interview with VRBangers, in which Clarke speaks about many of the issues facing veterans today.

In its statement, VRBangers said that after many attempts and “the use of ‘alternative’ and non-direct methods,” the company has “managed to proceed with the transfer of their donated funds to a number of actual veterans personally.” Still, as VRBangers noted in its statement, the larger issues of veterans’ charities declining donations from adult companies and passing along such small portions of donated funds remain unsolved.

“Only the time will show whether the reaction of public opinion will change anything in the way that charitable organizations currently operate,” the company said in its statement. “After all, it is unforgivable that within one of the most patriotic countries in the world you cannot freely donate to your chosen charity, and if, eventually, you will be allowed to, it is not even known whether your money will go to the right hands.”

Click here to read the full text of VRBangers’ statement about the company’s recent experience when raising money for veterans.