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Apple launches charitable matching program for employees

by Dave Caolo Sep 8th 2011 at 3:30PM

MacRumors has confirmed that Apple has instituted a program to match its employees' charitable donations, up to US$10,000 per year. It's restricted to full-time employees in the U.S. for now, but the company hopes to expand that. Tim Cook announced the initiative to Apple's employees earlier today:

"Team:

I am very happy to announce that we are kicking off a matching gift program for charitable donations. We are all really inspired by the generosity of our co-workers who give back to the community and this program is going to help that individual giving go even farther.

Starting September 15, when you give money to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Apple will match your gift dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000 annually. This program will be for full-time employees in the US at first, and we'll expand it to other parts of the world over time.

Thank you all for working so hard to make a difference, both here at Apple and in the lives of others. I am incredibly proud to be part of this team.

If you'd like more information on the program, you can get it on HRWeb, which can be easily accessed through AppleWeb.

Tim"

Good on Apple and CEO Tim Cook. It sounds like a great program.



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MacRumors has confirmed that Apple has instituted a program to match its employees' charitable donations, up to US$10,000 per year....
 

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21 Comments

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trevorde

Steve *did* kill all the charitable contributions when he became CEO.

September 09 2011 at 8:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
OllyT

Well I went to a private school in the uk. Which is actually a registered charity as it is a not for profit organisation (all the fees get reinvested in the school). So if the program gets extended to the uk. If I pay for one of my kids. Will apple pay for the other?

September 08 2011 at 7:15 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to OllyT's comment
Evan

I kind of doubt that fees for services rendered count as charitable contributions. In fact, in the US, the value of any premiums that you receive (tote bags, mugs, etc.) are deducted from the tax-deductible value of your donation.

September 09 2011 at 11:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jones

Surely some people will find something to complain about, but in the end I wish more corporations would do stuff like this.

September 08 2011 at 6:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
yrthegood1staken

While I certainly don't think that charitable giving is a bad idea, I also don't think Jobs deserves all the disdain for his choices. Here's a very interesting analysis, from Harvard Business Review, on Jobs' line of thinking and the impact his choices have had.

http://pulse.me/s/1tz1q.

September 08 2011 at 5:26 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to yrthegood1staken's comment
JD

Certainly. All too often people over simplify things and think that the only way to give back is to hand money directly to the needy. It's absolutely an option, but job creation and increasing tax revenue for your state goes a really long way to improving the quality of life of your neighbors.

September 08 2011 at 5:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to JD's comment
Shannon Doherty

But that isn't the same thing as philanthropy. Yes, him and Apple making money helps others as well (including outsourcing and manufacturing overseas but I digress) but the recent hullabaloo was about actual charity.

September 08 2011 at 6:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
yrthegood1staken

Seriously, read the article. A major part of the author's point is that because Jobs worked to get Apple devices to market, people in need have seen significant impacts. The job creation, etc. is all icing on the cake, but people with various handicaps are finding the iPad/iPhone to be life-changing as it provides them different capabilities which may have been absurdly expensive when implemented through single-purpose devices.

If Jobs had spent more time focusing on charitable giving, he would have had less time to devote to making great devices. There was another article (just yesterday maybe, can't remember where) which had Warren Buffet's grandson as the subject; he's making moves to ensure that charities are efficient/accountable. There are plenty of people who are talented at charity-related tasks, if your talents lie elsewhere, focus on doing well there and ignore the parts of life where your contributions will have less of an impact.

September 08 2011 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
hmcnally

Finally.

September 08 2011 at 4:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Attila Von Stryker

If they are going to start burning the cash reserves ... Pay us stockholders a dividend instead.
Never had a complaint about dividends as long as the cash was in reserve ... but if you are gonna burn it, let us stockholders have it for reinvestment, and let individuals use their own reserves for donations.
Mr. Cook please stay true to the company and not a bunch of whining liberals.

September 08 2011 at 4:38 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Attila Von Stryker's comment
Croq

Didn't Steve kill all charities when he became CEO? :-)

September 08 2011 at 4:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adrian Sarli

Didn't Steve kill all charitable programs when he became CEO?

September 08 2011 at 3:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adrian Sarli

Didn't Steve kill all charitable contributions when he arrived?

September 08 2011 at 3:46 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
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