“Bay Area technology firms, many of whose workers and leaders can smell smoke in their offices from distant wildfires, are donating money and services to the relief efforts for the many left without shelter by the blazes raging across Northern California,” Kate Galbraith reports for The San Francisco Chronicle.
“It’s the latest round of corporate giving in the wake of natural disasters,” Galbraith reports. “Many tech companies also pledged aid in the wake of devastating hurricanes that hit the Gulf and East coasts and Puerto Rico.”
Galbraith reports, “Apple said it plans a $1 million donation to fire-relief efforts and is also matching employee donations two-for-one.”
Our thoughts are with our Bay Area friends & neighbors affected by wildfires. Please stay safe! Apple is donating to aid relief efforts.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 10, 2017
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Godspeed to the firefighters!
Even a million dollars is less than a drop in the bucket for this wildfire calamity. How about 10 or 20 million? That’s less than pocket change for Apple.
Fair enough. But — Is it only corporations that are judged for empathy according to the amount they pledge, according to their net worth? Yet governments are expected to offer relief, irrespective of empathy, and private citizens are presumed to be as supportive as they are able, without suspicion. Is it only Apple, amongst corporations, that is excoriated for not giving more, regardless of the amount reported? Yes, because Apple is special. Is Apple being held to a different standard than other corporations? Yes, because Apple is special. What makes Apple special? There are two schools of thought. But enough bullshit theory. Screw Apple.
Yes you could say the amount of a company’s riches is because people have been generous & loyal with them and supported them to become the biggest company in the world. It never hurts to give back in proportion to the bottom line acquired, and great for PR too.
Apple is not responsible to fund help for the world’s disaster zones more than any other company is but the amount of money, even double digit millions, is nothing compared to the goodwill it creates. And further fortunes for Apple.
What is happening in north of the Bay Area is way past ugly and way past scary. These are not the usual fire season events that are normative for the region. My scan of news this morning showed that they do not have adequate numbers of firefighters and the potential for more loss is quite high.
A million Dollars is nice, but in light of the price of real estate in the area, it does not buy much. Tim, step up and help out the home team and open your wallet- not just Apple’s.
While I applaud their generosity, it creates a problem in that Apple won’t be able to, or may not want to, donate to victims of all disasters in the country. Are victims in the FL storm less deserving? How about the victims of the next storm? Will they get Apple’s help too?
What’s the problem? Apple and corporations like it are chartered to do one thing and one thing only: to maximize wealth creation. Most of the money Apple sucks from you and I sits in a vault in the Cayman Islands or wherever. Some is returned to shareholders and way too much of it goes to 4th and 5th vacation estates for overpaid executives. Slate reported that total corporate charity giving peaked at about 2% and has been in decline as incomes have climbed to new records. Private charitable donations have trended at double or more what corporations have offered.
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/08/corporations_don_t_give_to_charity_why_the_most_profitable_companies_are.html
However, gross statistics do gloss over the vast differences between corporate behavior. Some focus on short term hard results and others take a longer view. Some have no PR or consumer exposure, others rely intensely on it. So for Apple, needless to say, its progressive leaders know that fewer people (customers) will want to support ’em if Apple was show zero sense of empathy. The dirty secret is that it takes pocket change to manage people’s minds. The legions of unpaid fanboys and internet bots do the rest. Just look how easy it has been to hack Facebook, Yelp, and practically all internet search engines. Publicly declare a 0.005% income donation to a disaster relief and sites like MDN will sing your praises ad infinium. (Figure estimated).
The pittance Apple and other corporations spend on community goodwill building isn’t just for charity, it’s a factor in future success. Small measures to garner loyalty keeps the people and the politicians in Apple’s pocket for the long run.
If anything, Apple pays among the lowest percentage of its income for direct charitable causes compared to its peers. Instead Apple implemented a gift matching program so whatever its employees gave, that’s where Apple gave too. Nice but do you think there is a huge demand for handouts in Cupertino? How nice that the kids clubs there are posh. For a the richest entity in the world with global reach, it’s hardly inspired in its efforts to help those truly in need. Well we know why. Those people truly in need couldn’t possibly afford Apple products. Duh. The rich get richer, the disaster victims get whatever FEMA has, and corporations take care of their own. And if you asked a neocon, he would tell you that FEMA should not exist because that is socialism.
Not saying Apple shouldn’t donate to charities but for the sake of argument :
your quote “” The rich get richer,”
eh…
Apple was started by two guys in a garage.
Steve Jobs was an adopted kid abandoned by his dad , adopted by working class parents who had no college education.
People like you always sound as if Corporations existed by an Act of God or by Luck, born into the hands of Silver Spoon Playboys or something. The starters and employees work their butts off, the investor RISKED their money while other’s spent their money on bars, football games and watched TV.
Apple pays about 20-30% tax in USA and is the single largest taxpayer. No Apple’s USA cash in not put into ‘Cayman islands’ but paid All in USA. Billions of bucks. All from people sweating and risking and denying themselves pleasures others take for granted For years.
No cash or inheritance from parents etc I worked my butt off and invested in Apple etc instead of going on vacations etc for years, cent by cent and in bad times I see my stock sink (go to half in 2008) while the hockey watches laughed at me. (shit I didn’t even own a TV for years) Now I’ve got hundreds of thousands $$ in aapl. Now people like you say its so easy for you rich people owners of Apple …
It’s always like corporations are evil, give , give, give.
When I glanced around there are millions of garages, go do something.
Again not saying Apple shouldn’t donate but man your whine like “” The rich get richer,” in reference to Apple the garage startup: gimme a break.
Oh, ok, now that you say it, I guess I’ll try.
Taxpayers already paid for that disaster relief; It’s just that big gub’mnt is wasting it on the Pentagon as well as on uber costly secret programs which, as an aside, are even more unaccountable than the Pentagon. Donate, yes, but donating because you think that the gov. is poor is foolish.
Nice gesture. Don’t know what the money will be used for or who gets the money. I suppose it could be used to pay firefighters or bottled water or rebuild one home.
California is the world’s best city for producing wine. According to my knowledge 90% of the wine produced in the USA. Napa valley ita famous city where the wine is growing.