Apple has launched a charity matching program for employees. According to a team letter leaked to MacRumors, Apple will match charity donations for employees dollar for dollar up to US$10,000 per year.
That letter:
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
Those keeping score at home may note that this new program comes in the wake of a New York Times column taking a critical stance on the lack of any kind of a public record for charitable donations by chairman and former CEO Steve Jobs. That column sparked U2 frontman Bono to publicly come to Mr. Jobs’s defense and point out (among other things) that Apple has contributed tens of millions of dollars to Bono’s own (RED) AIDS-fighting charity.
The new employee matching program may or may not be in response to those events, but no matter how you slice it, this move represents an increase in Apple’s corporate profile of charitable donations.
Thanks to iStockPhoto for some images in this article.