Flying Colors Foundation: A Little-known non-profit, issued a survey that aimed to be a census of the western anime community.
On the same day, fans expressed their dissatisfaction with the foundation’s lack of transparency.
Flying Colors Foundation : Website Reads
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We connect and share the community’s voice,” with little elaboration on how this will be accomplished. Fans questioned the survey’s motivations in subtle ways in the week after its release.
Because the study was conducted through YouTube influencers, I highlighted concerns in an earlier post that it would not reach the entire range of the western fan base. It’s difficult to find a fan who does not have an opinion on the census these days.
“To be honest, we were a little surprised that anime fans would care this much about it,” said spokesperson Daniel Suh, “although we did expect a lot of discussion over our organisation.” “We’ve gotten a lot of positive and negative feedback from Youtube, Twitter, and email, with the most vociferous critics on Twitter.”
I spoke with Flying Colors about some of the most often asked questions from fans regarding the survey and how the organisation plans to use the information gathered.
What is the purpose of the question about mental health in the survey
Near the end of the poll, respondents are asked if they’ve ever had social anxiety, body image concerns, drug addiction, or other “health complications.”
The survey website, on the other hand, makes no mention of how the data will be utilised, so it’s understandable that some respondents anticipated the worst.
“The purpose of the mental health question,” Suh explained, “is threefold: to let the community know that they are not alone, to prove that anime can literally alter lives by helping fans endure and grow through difficult circumstances, and to understand and measure the effects of anime on mental health.
” We want to show that anime is a worldwide medium with positive potential. We are aware of HIPAA requirements and, despite the fact that we are not a health-care provider, we follow the most stringent of them. Any mental health responses we receive will not be shared with anybody outside of FCF.”
Why did Flying Colors say that non-profit employees aren’t paid in their tweet
Flying Colors tweeted that because it is a 501(c)(3) organisation, its employees are not paid:
“Because FCF is a non-profit organisation, it does not keep or benefit from any profits.” OUR TEAM IS NOT COMPENSATED FOR THEIR SERVICES AND PARTICIPATION. We do everything on our own volition.”
Anyone who has worked for a 501(c)3 or is familiar with the legislation understands that many organisations have salaried workers. Suh claims that the tweet was misconstrued and that the message truly meant that Flying Colors employees are refusing to work for pay.
“I apologise if the statement caused confusion about the nature of our involvement due to the character constraints of Twitter,” he stated. “To put it simply, our team agreed not to accept any compensation or salaries from FCF until it could demonstrate sustainability and community acceptance.”
That means at least one staff member, Francisco Lee, who the group claims left a full-time job to work full-time for Flying Colors Foundation, is now unpaid.
“It’s not that we can’t accept a salary; it’s just that we’d rather not,” Suh stated. “We’re all 100 percent volunteers for FCF because we want to.”
How can fans be sure that Flying Colors will put their information to good use
The Flying Colors Foundation was not created out of thin air. The same group of people previously developed a for-profit enterprise called Otaku Pin Club, in which they sold pins in collaboration with YouTube influencers (some of whom they’re collaborating with for the census).
This was a big sticking point for Alicia Haddick, a fan who questioned the census and the group behind it in an in-depth Medium piece.
“I believe that every firm should be inspected and their procedures reviewed by the general public,” she said, “but I believe this is more true when it comes to non-profits.” “In order to have the trust they seek between the anime community and themselves, they must, in my opinion, be inspected to ensure that trust is well placed.”
Haddick wrote a follow-up with reactions from the Foundation after so many admirers saw the original post.
In a follow-up storey, Haddick learned that “the founders have divested from [Otaku Pin Club] and registered FCF as a non-profit company.”
In addition, Gigguk, a YouTube influencer who is working with the census, produced an essay titled The Truth Behind the Flying Colors Foundation. The census was started as a test to see if anime producers in Japan would be interested in collaborating with a nonprofit to better serve western viewers, according to the essay:
“The Census was supposed to be the initiative to determine whether any partners would officially want to cooperate with FCF beyond the conversations that had already taken place, but hey, it might still fall flat on its face.”
The true battle for the Flying Colors Foundation is in this area. Even if fans trust the group enough to fill out the Anime Census, it’s uncertain whether a small nonprofit can collect enough volunteer data to make it worthwhile for anime studios to invest their time. What’s to stop these same Japanese corporations from teaming up with western fandom behemoths like streaming services?
The Flying Colors Foundation’s biggest blunder was being an unknown entity in a small group that made it difficult for followers to get to know them right away. It’s a lesson for any firm seeking to stay afloat in the anime fandom: if you want our data, you’ll have to give us yours first.
