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Apple Institutes New Charitable Matching Program for Employees

karlwig said:
This is a very nice incentive from Apple. That said, I'm wondering if they have considered the possibilities for a PR disaster when employees give to the not-so-admirable organisations, and Apple have to do the same. I mean, not everyone fight against hunger, aids and the like. Some are politically controversial, some are crazy while some just promote hate. These can still be non-profit.)
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Yes they can be non-profit but can they be 501c3.

In order to be a 501c3 your organization can spend only a very limited part of it's budget on political issues. Most of the money must go to some service. The IRS has some rules on this

A big organization like Apple will not have to worry because the views of their employees roughly match those of everyone else. So on whole Apple's giving will roughly match the public's opinion of what's best.
 
ChrisA said:
Yes they can be non-profit but can they be 501c3.

In order to be a 501c3 your organization can spend only a very limited part of it's budget on political issues. Most of the money must go to some service. The IRS has some rules on this

A big organization like Apple will not have to worry because the views of their employees roughly match those of everyone else. So on whole Apple's giving will roughly match the public's opinion of what's best.
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Apple will veto anything that is not in their interests

If an employee made a donation to the group that wants to build a mosque next to Ground Zero there is no way Apple would match it or if an employee wanted to donate to the church of that guy that wanted to burn the koran, same with abortion clinics, race hate groups, hate preachers both muslim and christian and so on, every donation will be carefully vetted without a doubt, Apple aren't that stupid
 
All charities are political. They advertise and lobby for funds, and some get the attention of celebrities. In the end, certain diseases become causes and get more support.

I absolutely don't think this matching fund thing is a good idea as it is now. Either the money should go to professional charity distributions organizations who have a good record of keeping track of things or there should be a list of eligible charities.

As for churches, I would allow contributions to a church's charitable branch, say subsidized senior housing, but not to the general fund where it would be used to advance a particular religion.
 
jetlife2 said:
I work for another very large (Fortune 10) corporation who have been doing this for years. Their limit is higher, $50,000 per year, but otherwise the program is the same. Last year the company match totaled $38 million. There are 300,000 employees worldwide, I would guess 200,000 in the USA.

The company matches any donation to a registered US 501 3 (c) charity. They verify that the organization is properly registered, and they verify that each gift that the employee/retiree claims was actually made. They do not screen the organizations in any way.

Separately the company through a foundation makes donations to causes it chooses to support, as is its right, as overseen by the board, and ultimately visible to shareholders. But the employee match has no screen.

I think it is a great move by Apple and I wish them well.
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This.

My company also has a plan like this in place. It will match any donation of $50 or more to a registered US 501 3 (c) charity. I've always appreciated that they do this, as have the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, March of Dimes, and many other organizations that I've made contributions to. Apple isn't the first big corporation that's done this...it's a way of encouraging their employees to give to charity, and it works very well. Whoever said that it's like giving a raise to the employees that decide to make a donation is nuts. The individual employees don't get a direct benefit, the charities that they donate to do.

I also find it funny that I've seen people here complain that Apple has too much money stockpiled. Now they decide to do something nice and socially responsible and people are screaming about it. Too funny.
 
iLunar said:
It's a really great idea, and doesn't effect Apple's bottom line much, either. If all 50,000 Apple employees gave a max of $10,000, it'd be $500 million dollars -- not a whole lot in the scheme of $76 billion dollars.
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er no, half-a-billion a year is a big deal to any business' cash holdings. (likely or not)
 
The Beatles said:
Haha, i don't think apple is going to get in the way of their employees political or religious views.

Can you imagine the dialog:

Apple: "Well, we don't believe in your god so we aren't going to match your contribution"

I just don't see it happening.
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Would Apple match the contributions to a hate group as well?

What about a group that seeks to remove gay rights? Or racial equality?
 
appleguy123 said:
Would Apple match the contributions to a hate group as well?

What about a group that seeks to remove gay rights? Or racial equality?
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"Hate group" and "charitable" doesn't really go together well. "Removing gay rights" doesn't seem to be charitable either. And "removing racial equality" doesn't sound very charitable.
 
how come some people are so angry and negative about a good thing, who cares if someone did it first or whatever, this is a good thing in general! :eek:
 
darkplanets said:
Exactly. They're not losing anything by doing this.
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What are you talking about? It just shows how people don't understand taxes... If you donate $10,000... you get to write off $10,000 in income, not deduct $10,000 from what you owe in taxes. So, they'll save around $4,000 per $10,000 written off... but they're still out $6,000. That's certainly something!
 
Mattie Num Nums said:
Yes and regardless of whether you are for or against it companies should not be using shareholders money to push politics.
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By diminishing the rights of a group of citizens and making it harder for them to have a full life while living in the State, then it makes it harder for Apple to attract the best and brightest people as some of the best and brightest will be in that group.

Politics shouldn't be using taxpayers money to push religious agendas.

*PS as a stockholder Only the initial share release value is your money. Anything above that is a punt you've taken on being about to get someone else in future to take a bigger punt.
 
appleguy123 said:
Would Apple match the contributions to a hate group as well?

What about a group that seeks to remove gay rights? Or racial equality?
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A lot of companies tell you what charities they will match to avoid being seen as discriminatory.


appleguy123 said:
If an employee donated to this organization, would their donation be matched? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Family_Association
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when you give money to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Apple will match your gift dollar-for-dollar
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Notice they didn't use the word any.

Of course, this is speculation. If they start discriminating based on their employees beliefs you can bet word will get out.
 
iChrist said:
How are you demi-god and not banned?
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*scratch* Why would they be? They aren't trolling, just have ridiculously lopsided opinions of SJ and consequently Apple. SJ leaving causes conflict with their beliefs about Apple but can't be reconciled until a later unknown date.
 
juliandroms said:
if you donate your money to help out a bunch of stray dogs and cats, and don't do much else, you are particularly useless.
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Most my donations go to animal causes. I don't make much money and I feel human causes get plenty of limelight and donations and it's not like we are a dieing species (unlike a lot of animals out there).

Besides, stray cats and dogs don't judge me based on what charity I decide to give to :D. And I just like animals better (They don't decide to be jerks to other people not related in the argument just to insult one person)

I'm sure there are charities you care about that I don't find all that important. But don't worry, I won't call you useless just cause you donate to them when I wouldn't donate to them. It's your money to give to who you care about.
 
The Human Fund

ar123021821456111.jpg

George decides to use the Whatley approach when giving out Christmas gifts at Kruger Industrial Smoothing; however, he makes up his own charity called "The Human Fund".

George's boss, Mr. Kruger, gives George a check for $20,000 to "The Human Fund" but later the accounting department informs him the charity doesn't exist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJvbZZWt9g4

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juliandroms said:
Get off your high horse. It doesn't make you a better person because you donate a wad of money to some lame charity when someone else is accomplishing far more by being productive, contributing to the economy, and paying taxes on their higher earnings.

This isn't a ****ing beauty pageant speech, this is the real world.

If Steve Jobs never contributed a dime, he's still a better person than you, he's contributed more to the world, supported more people during hard times through paying taxes than you ever will, by concentrating on something challenging yet valuable (Apple, Next and Pixar).

if you donate your money to help out a bunch of stray dogs and cats, and don't do much else, you are particularly useless.

And it's not always a "duty" to pay taxes. As Steve Jobs made clear in his comments to the bureaucrats in Cupertino, it's not out of the realm of possibility to build your headquarters in another tax jurisdiction. Maybe you should just say "thank you taxpayer" and move on.
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Whambulance.jpg
 
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