Tim Cook announces new charitable matching program for Apple
New Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent out an email to employees detailing a new program whereby Apple USA will match personal charitable donations up to $10,000 annually. The email reads:
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
Welcome to the post-Jobs era indeed.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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A very positive move.
$10,000 per person ?
Yes, per employee.
This is definitely the start of something new!
Donations = tax write-off.
Yes so a win-win but consider the impact it could have one 501c3's! Great move!
I wonder what Jobs thinks about this?
Does it matter?
Cook is the head honcho now.
Who cares. Jobs is on the board of directors and I'm sure if he had a problem he would be the only one. He may be the "head" of the directors but you need a vote from the otherss to do anything
Its about time that Apple has become more charitable because under good ole Steve Jobs they were not. Many reports came out last year that showed what companies were charitable and Apple was no where to be found, especially since Apple is such a consumer focused company. Good move Tim. I guess Steve does not know that God does not like ugly. I await the complaints from the fanboys.
Could also be that they are doing this as a way to not pay taxes - or pay less of them. Donations are 100% tax deductible. Not to take away from their "magic" but this, to me, comes across clearly as a business move in bad economic times.
Perhaps....
someone js mad...
So, trenen, your reasoning is that to escape a tax of (let's say) 40% on $10,000 (a net cost of $4,000), Apple are going to give the entire $10,000 instead?
When you car runs out of gas, do you set fire to it and buy a new one to avoid high pump prices?
And your reasoning is they are just being a loving and charitable, multi-billion dollar corporation with no interest in protecting their bottom-line? Okay...go for it if it makes you twitch in your happy place.
I note you aren't actually refuting my point. But thanks for making some feebleminded stuff up and assuming that's my point of view.
My take is that it is buying goodwill, both with the world at large and with its own employees. Silicon Valley is in a hiring binge, so things that make your staff feel warmer and squishier about staying with you instead of jumping ship to Facebook or Google is good business. Whether it's good enough to justify the costs of this program, I couldn't comment. Note that the cap is $10k per employee but it seems safe to assume that few employees would be making routine donations that are anywhere near that limit. It's possible Apple's actual costs from this program would be quite modest. It's almost certain they know what those costs are in a lot more detail than armchair pundits like us can.
And of course these donations will be tax structured cleverly, meaning a $10k donation does not cost Apple's bottom line $10k. But to suggest that Apple would choose to donate $10k purely in order to avoid a tax liability that is smaller than $10k is clearly nonsense.
Richard - this guy outlines a great point as to why I question the motive behind this. Sure, it looks "warm and squishy" to certain people (apparently others on this thread that think Apple has had a change of heart or something) - but Apple trying to maneuver around paying taxes is nothing new.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/01
Steve Jobs doesn't believe in God. He's an intelligent, rational-thinking person.
Let's say it another way. You can't take it with you as he is learning. So when you dont care for your fellow man and greed takes over this is the result.
Apple is a company...there is no death for it, unless it goes broke.
People give in different ways: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/management/bono-defends-jobs-record-on-charity-20110906-1juz5.html
"The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore."
Now, if you want to do a cross-sectional study to show that people who give to charity are less likely to develop cancers, go for it; there is a Nobel Prize in it for you. Otherwise, STFU.
Yup - because it's intelligent and rational-thinking to believe that the most complex designs in the universe just appeared by an absolute random chance without any external influence. Not calling it "god" - but when you really put things into perspective on a level of absolute "randomness" it's quite idiotic to think there wasn't something else involved somewhere along the line. Unless...Steve Jobs IS "god"? What a mind-fuck that is!
Kudos, Apple (and Tim). Good way to use your bank account.
His bank account? Don't you mean "apples" ?
Amazing that they haven't had a program like this before now.
Those of you who thought Cook's first announcement was gonna be iPhone 5 related, cough up the $
Apple will match the amount you lost on that bet 
and besides. Charities are more important then the iPhone 5.
Long overdue, considering Apple is years past the cash flow problems Jobs cited when he axed these problems in the 90s, but a welcome change nonetheless.
Thank you, Tim Cook.
I'm sure Apple did some things but they never made it public..
Apple is many things, but publicity-shy is not one of them.
Very late but hey its never too late lol
Hell, Cook could give away $1,000,000,000 and not take the tax deduction and you'd people would still find something to bitch about!
Exactly man. This is a super-positive approach. There shouldn't be any bad comments on this one. Now other posts...have at it but this is good stuff.
I guess people want cook to be just like jobs. Not gonna happen.
That's freakin' awesome! Kudos Apple/Cook!!!!
nice move Tim
Love it!
Timmy is in the game
I disagree with this decision. Apple is not a charity, and the money Tim's offering up here belongs to the shareholders.
-jcr
Did you read the article?
"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:"
I'd rather see the money be put to good use and charites is where its at my friend.
Glad to see Apple finnaly stepping it up. I'm also glad to see his first anoucement as CEO to talk about this rather then the next "magical" gadget.
do apple employees even give anything to charity? least i heard they were only in the business of making money or suing others....
'Bout time, we at Nike have been doing this for years.