The Pokémon Company is donating $200,000 to support Black Lives Matter and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in their fight for equality.
This donation means that both the main Pokémon Company and Pokémon Go developers Niantic are opening their wallets to help fight back against systematic oppression.
The Pokémon Company will be donating $100,000 to the NAACP, a civil rights organization that fights to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination. Along with that, it will also be donating another $100,000 directly to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Here at The Pokémon Company International, we believe in friendship, inclusivity, and equity,” The Pokémon Company’s statement said. “These are the values that anchor the Pokémon brand. There is no place for oppression within our community.”
Nintendo has not openly donated money to any causes, but multiple sources note that the company has been double-matching employee donations and not publicizing that information. This falls in line with former CEO Satoru Iwata’s company policy regarding charitable actions, being that Nintendo “do not feel that they should show their actions off to the world.”
Any further donations made by Nintendo affiliated companies or developers will have to be announced by those groups just like The Pokémon Company made its statement.
