With great power comes great responsibility…and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) seems to be delivering. The company successfully raised $50 million to be spent on charity.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook three years ago started a trend of matching charity donations given by its employees to an organization of their choosing; the tax status of the organization has to be 501c3. As per the program whenever an employee donates to an organization, Apple steps up and matches that figure by $10,000. This trend has allowed the tech giant to raise more than $50 million.
The program was initially launched in and restricted to the US only. It was later extended to a few other countries including the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and Singapore. The company announced on Thursday that the program will soon be extended to almost all the countries where Apple operates.
Vice President of global Human Resources of Apple, Denise Young Smith reported to a newspaper that the company takes inspiration from its employees who have shown great generosity by supporting issues they believe in.
Local charities have benefited greatly from this magnanimous act by Apple; it did not take them long to feel the improvements Apple’s charity brought to their causes. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has reported an increase in its free community services and programs because of the donations it gets from the company.
According to the Foundation’s Vice President (Philanthropy and Public Affairs), Apple’s contributions have been very vital to the group; he says that if it hadn’t been for these donations the group would not have been able to achieve its targets and goals; Apple helped them expand in many ways.
According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Peter Frumkin, Apple’s donation matching program is a great way for the company to build a good relationship with its local community and create a sense of loyalty among its workers.
It is great to see how active Apple employees have been; for them it is not just about being a passive donor. For the past few years around 40 of the company’s employees have been participating in a seven-day bike ride for AIDS/LifeCycle with the hope to raise as much money as possible. This shows Apple employees’ commitment to the cause that goes way beyond just signing a checking and doing their “duty”.
Another organization where Apple employees have been quite active is the National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy. The group doesn’t have a very big staff, with only about 12 members their efforts are supported hugely by Apple workers. These workers contribute in many ways, from providing technical support to weeding, they do not shy away from their responsibilities.
It is great to see that a company of Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) stature, which makes billions in profits every year, realizes its responsibility towards the community. Little contributions by the employees go a long way in making an impact on a much larger scale; therefore every big organization should follow in Apple’s footsteps to give back to society.
