Speaking to CNN over the weekend, Keesey was adamant in defending Invisible Children. "There's nothing to hide. Invisible Children has been transparent since 2004, when we started," Keesey tells CNN. "That's our intention, and we want to show that this campaign is part of a strategy that's comprehensive." Others have been skeptic, though, and have gone as far as to label the organization as the brains of an elaborate cash-grab scheme with questionable motives. In the aftermath of the Kony 2012 video going live, a student blog called Visible Children produced a photograph of the non-profits founders posing with heavy weaponry alongside a LRA opposition military, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army,
The group is in favor of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan governments army and various other military forces, the blogs author claims. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan Peoples Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them.
Jason Russell, an Invisible Children co-founder photographed alongside the SPLA equipped with firearms, adds to CNN, I didnt know there was that much tension.
Were an unorthodox organization, Russell explains. We work outside of the traditional box of what you think about charity and nonprofit.
Addressing concerns that the group only spends one-third of its donations on the advocacy it calls for, Russell defends it as part of their business model. Thats who we are. Were not World Vision. We are not these other organizations that do amazing work on the ground. If you want to fund a cow or you want to help someone in a village in that component, you can do that. Thats a third of what we do, he says.
In 2011, Invisible Children spent around $8.7 million, with less than one-third going to direct services. Just under $3 million, on the other hand, went to staff compensation and travel expenses. The group is expected to address concerns over these figures in their soon-to-be-released video.
